Lars Thalian Backer was a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 architect.

Backer was educated at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts

Oslo National Academy of the Arts

The Oslo National Academy of the Arts is a university college in Oslo, Norway, that provides education in visual arts, design and performing arts...

 under the supervision of Herman Major Schirmer

Herman Major Schirmer

Herman Major Schirmer was a Norwegian architect and historian of art. Born in Kristiania , he taught at the Royal Drawing School for 39 years...

 and the Royal Institute of Technology

Royal Institute of Technology

The Royal Institute of Technology is a university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH was founded in 1827 as Sweden's first polytechnic and is one of Scandinavia's largest institutions of higher education in technology. KTH accounts for one-third of Sweden’s technical research and engineering education...

 in Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

, from which he graduated in 1915.

He served as an apprentice with several notable contemporary architects in Norway, including Harald Hals, Arnstein Arneberg

Arnstein Arneberg

Arnstein Rynning Arneberg was a Norwegian architect. He was active as an architect for 50 years and is often considered the leading architect in Norway of his time. -Background:...

, Ole Sverre, and Magnus Poulsson

Magnus Poulsson

Magnus Poulsson was a Norwegian architect.-Biography:Magnus Poulsson was born in Drammen, Buskerud county, Norway. His parents were Søren Anton Poulsson and Ina Bolette Jørgensen...

. After completing an internship at the Architectural Association School in London, he started his own practice in Kristiania.

Backer was responsible for several notable Scandinavian works, including the residence of the crown prince and princess at Skaugum

Skaugum

Skaugum is the official residence of Crown Prince Haakon of Norway and of his wife Crown Princess Mette-Marit.The estate is located in Asker municipality, about 15 miles southwest of Oslo. Owned by the Church in the Middle Ages, it passed through several owners until 1909, when Fritz Wedel...

, the Skansen and Ekeberg

Ekeberg

Ekeberg is a neighborhood in the city of Oslo, Norway. The Norway Cup soccer tournament takes place at Ekebergsletta every summer. "Sletta" means plateau. The painting "the Scream" by Edvard Munch is painted from Utsikten a part of Ekeberg.In the area are a number of old Iron Age grave mounds and...

 restaurants in Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

, and the first high-rise office building in the city. His Skansen restaurant, completed in 1927, was the first modernist

Modernism

Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...

 building in Norway, earning Backer lasting fame as a pioneer of Scandinavian Functionalism

Functionalism (architecture)

Functionalism, in architecture, is the principle that architects should design a building based on the purpose of that building. This statement is less self-evident than it first appears, and is a matter of confusion and controversy within the profession, particularly in regard to modern...

.

Backer died at the age of 38 from a streptococcal infection

Group A streptococcal infection

The group A streptococcus bacterium is a form of β-hemolytic Streptococcus bacteria responsible for most cases of streptococcal illness. Other types may also cause infection...

, but several members of his firm carried on his work and made names of their own, including Frithjof Stoud Platou, Helge B.Thams, Ingeborg Krafft, Jacob Hanssen, Hagbart Nielsen, and Georg Foss.