“Before I was going to meet Charles Paterson—the architect, hotelier, and patron who passed away on Aug. 8 at age 89 in Aspen, Colo.—a mutual friend gave me his autobiography Escape Home: Rebuilding a Life After the Anschluss,” writes Aaron Betsky, President of the School of Architecture at Taliesin in a tribute to Charles Paterson published in ARCHITECT.

“I barely put the book down from the moment I started reading. Paterson, as well as his father and his whole family, led extraordinary lives, ones that intertwined architecture, culture, skiing, the First and Second World War, and such diverse communities as Vienna, Pilsen, and Aspen.”

Paterson was among the last group of apprentices to study under the master architect in the late 1950s.

Read Aaron Betsky’s entire piece here.

Photos: Charles Paterson at Taliesin circa 1958. Paterson Family Archive.