Walter Horn; Specialist in Medieval Architecture

Walter Horn, 87, specialist in medieval architecture who taught art history at UC Berkeley for more than 35 years. Raised in Heidelberg, Germany, Horn studied at the Universities of Heidelberg and Berlin. He fled Germany in opposition to the Nazi regime and did graduate studies at the German Art Institute in Florence, Italy, then moved to the United States and to Berkeley in 1938. During World War II, Horn served in the U.S. Army, interrogating prisoners of war, and rose to the rank of captain. He served after the war as a special investigator in the Army’s Fine Arts and Archives Section in Germany, tracking down art that was stolen or hidden by Nazis. Horn was particularly noted for his studies of three-aisled timber structures found in medieval churches and other buildings, including the monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland. Later he shifted his focus to medieval Celtic roundhouses. On Tuesday in Point Richmond, Calif., of pneumonia.