Anton Brenner was an Austrian architect and an important representative of modern social housing in the interwar period. He studied at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts from 1920 to 1922 under Oskar Strnad and Josef Frank, before continuing his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna from 1922 to 1926, where he was taught by Peter Behrens and Clemens Holzmeister.
In 1926, Brenner worked at the municipal building department in Frankfurt am Main, where he collaborated with Ernst May on housing projects. During this period, he developed innovative designs for access-gallery housing (Laubenganghäuser), combining the advantages of terraced houses with those of multi-storey apartment buildings. In 1928, he returned to Vienna as an independent architect, and in 1929 he became head of the architecture department at the Bauhaus in Dessau.
Brenner was particularly interested in affordable housing and the rational use of limited living space. His architectural approach focused on functional layouts and practical solutions to everyday domestic needs. These ideas are also reflected in his contribution to the Vienna Werkbund Estate (Werkbundsiedlung), built between 1929 and 1932. He designed two houses, numbers 15 and 16, at Engelbrechtweg 9 and 11 respectively.
After the Second World War, Brenner continued his architectural work in Vienna and abroad. From 1951 to 1953, he was a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, India. Following his return to Vienna, he worked with his son, Anton Brenner, who was also an architect. He died in a car accident near Vienna in November 1957.
An important example of Brenner's architectural philosophy can still be visited in Vienna today: the apartment at Rauchfangkehrergasse 26, which he designed and subsequently occupied with his family. Completed in 1925, the 38-square-metre flat was conceived as a model of efficient and affordable living. Brenner designed not only the layout but also the integrated furniture, built-in cupboards and other space-saving fittings. The kitchen, developed in collaboration with his assistant Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, is considered a precursor to the famous Frankfurt Kitchen. Much of the apartment's original interior has been preserved and is now presented as the Anton Brenner Apartment Museum.
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