Walter Gropius

Walter Gropius, the German visionary behind the Bauhaus School, was a man who truly thought outside the box. Or rather, he designed a new kind of box, a functional, minimalist box, and then taught everyone else how to make them too. His influence is so pervasive that if you've ever admired a clean line or a well-placed window in a modern building, you're essentially kvelling over Gropius's ghost.

Born into an established Berlin family, Gropius had no known Jewish ancestry, identity, or practice. His architectural journey began in earnest after studying in Munich and Berlin, and a stint in Peter Behrens's office, where he rubbed elbows with other future titans like Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier. He then proceeded to revolutionize art and design education, bringing together craft and art in a way that had everyone saying, "Why didn't we think of that?"

The Bauhaus, under his direction, became a beacon of modernism, though its radical ideas eventually earned it the ire of the Nazis, leading to its closure. Gropius, ever the pragmatist, relocated to England and then to the United States, where he continued to spread the gospel of functional design at Harvard. He built houses, schools, and even helped design the Pan Am Building, leaving an indelible mark on the skylines of the world. Just imagine if he had been Jewish — the chutzpah would have been off the charts.