Moritz KUNDIG

1925 - 2024

Moritz Kundig, a prolific Spokane architect, humanist, and avid lover of mountains in his native Switzerland and North America, died February 10, 2024, after a short stay in hospice. He was 98.

Kundig was renowned for his distinctive midcentury modern buildings, which included the Spokane Civic Theater, two Unitarian Universalist Church buildings, a chapel at Washington state's McNeill Island prison, and dozens of private residences.

He was born September 8, 1925, in Winterthur, Switzerland. His father, August Kundig, was an elementary school teacher and his mother, Ida Kundig-Hildebrandt, was a pianist and homemaker. He grew up hiking and skiing in the Alps, nurturing a lifelong love of nature. He met his future wife, Dorli Obrist, at an athletic club as a young man.

He earned his architecture degree in 1951 from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, where he was inspired by lectures from eminent architects, including Frank Lloyd Wright. According to a memoir he wrote in 2005, architecture seemed an ideal blend of his rational and artistic talents.

At 26, he left Switzerland on the Queen Mary for Salt Lake City after a distant uncle sponsored him for a visa and urged him to try life in America. After landing an architecture job, he asked Dora to join him. They were married in a Unitarian Universalist church, a liberal outlier in Mormon Utah, in 1952.

After moving to Spokane in 1955, he and Dora joined the UU congregation. The couple chose Spokane in part because of its proximity to mountain landscapes. They made many lifelong friends through the Unitarian Church, including prominent artist Harold Balazs, with whom he collaborated on various projects, including doorway art in private homes and the large entry doors at the UU Church.

Moritz and Dora had three children: Tom; Henry (children Tobias, Ursula, and Andrea, and seven grandchildren); and Sylvia, (daughter Sophie).

As Kundig rose to prominence in Spokane, he made his mark by creating midcentury modern buildings with special sensitivity to setting and local materials. He received several awards from the American Institute of Architects and received its highest honor, AIA Fellow, in 1984.

He started his own firm in Spokane, which later merged with Ron Tan and Dale Brookie's into Tan Brookie Kundig (TBK) Architects. That firm was chosen to design some of the Expo '74 buildings. TBK later merged with another firm into Northwest Architectural Company (NAC), which has expanded far beyond Spokane and Seattle.

Later in his career, Kundig worried about the demolition of many historic buildings in Spokane and helped to establish the Historic Preservation Office at City Hall in the former Montgomery Ward Building, which his firm helped remodel and which remains the seat of city government today.

In 2017, he was inducted into the Spokane Citizen Hall of Fame, sponsored by the Spokane Public Library Foundation and the city, recognizing people who have made significant contributions to Spokane.

After a 58-year marriage, Moritz's beloved wife, Dora, died in 2010.

In addition to his children and their progeny, he is survived by two siblings, his sister, Magdalena Kuhn and brother, Ulrich Kundig, both of Switzerland; his older brother, Peter Kundig, predeceased him. A memorial service will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spokane on June 26, 2024, at 2 pm. In lieu of flowers, consider a donation in his memory to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spokane or Spokane Preservation Advocates.