Winold Reiss was born in Karlsruhe, Germany and studied at the Munich Academy. In 1913 he settled in New York, where amongst other things he founded the Modern Art Collector, 1915-1918. Reiss was commissioned to record interiors as well as exteriors of public spaces including the Longchamps Restaurant in the Empire State Building, the Hotel St. George in Brooklyn, New York and the Cincinnati Union Terminal with 21 glass mosaic panels.

In his designs up to the 1930's Winold Reiss often followed the concepts of Viennese artists and introduced this new style to America. This Manhattan apartment with its innovative colour schemes, reveals particularly strong influences of the Viennese School