Carl Witzmann was born in 1883 in Vienna, and trained as a carpenter before studying architecture from 1900 till 1904 at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Arts) under Hermann Herdtle and Josef Hoffmann. As early as 1901, while still studying, he was already working as a popular architect and interior decorator in and around Vienna. He was never short of projects and, as a proponent of the 'Gesamtkunstwerk' concept, he designed his own furniture, lighting, carpets and fabrics, which were executed by leading factories of the time such as Thonet, Backhausen, Lobmeyer and - of course - Loetz. From 1908 till 1915 he taught at the Kunstgewerbeschule.
Villa Bergmann, Pressbaum, Vienna, 1902
Villa Kortschak, Hietzing, Vienna, 1913
Linen design, executed by Joh. Backhausen & Soehne, 1911
In 1915, Witzmann joined the army and at the end of WW1 he became a professor at the Kunstgewerbeschule. He continuued his pre-war work, and was especially well known for interior design of cafés and restaurants. Two of his biggest projects were redesigning the interiors of the Theater in der Josefstadt in Vienna and the Teatro la Fenice in Venice.
Theater in der Josefstadt, 1924
After the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938, he designed exhibitions used for propaganda purposes, and this led to him being banned from working after the defeat of Germany. In 1948, he was briefly employed as an associate professor at the Kunstgewerbeschule, but retired the same year. He died in Vienna in 1952.