Olbrich studied architecture at the
University of Applied Arts Vienna (
Wiener Staatsgewerbeschule) and the
Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, where he won several prizes. These included the
Prix de Rome, for which he traveled to Italy and North Africa. In 1893, he started working for
Otto Wagner, the Austrian architect, where he worked on Wagner's
Wiener Stadtbahn (Metropolitan Railway) buildings. The building combined a church-like entrance hall with a warehouse-like exhibition space. In the following years, Olbrich executed diverse architectural commissions and experimented in applied arts and design. He designed pottery, furniture, book bindings, and musical instruments. His courtyard and interiors at the
St. Louis World's Fair won the highest prize at the exhibition. At the time, the
St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote of his pavilion, "The interior decorators of the United States are now talking about the Olbrich Pavilion. It is already indicated as one of the things at the World's Fair which will leave a permanent mark upon American life." He was subsequently appointed corresponding member of the
American Institute of Architects. His architectural works, especially his exhibition buildings for the Vienna and Darmstadt Secessions, had a strong influence on the development of the
Art Nouveau style. Shortly after his daughter Marianne's birth on 19 July 1908, Olbrich died from
leukemia in
Düsseldorf on 8 August, aged 40. ==Works==