Artist in various media and architect, born and died in London, his father Austrian, his mother French. Was educated at Archbishop Tenison’s Grammar School and John Lyon’s, Harrow-on-the-Hill, studying aged 14, with special permission, at Heatherley’s School of Fine Art, then at St Martin’s School of Art. Hofler was articled to a firm of London architects, studying in the evenings for five years at the Royal Academy Schools, where he qualified: became an RIBA associate, 1922, a fellow, 1933. Practised as an architect until World War II, painting or sketching in his spare time. Success at exhibitions, such as the RA, ROI, RI, SMA and elsewhere, brought Hofler in touch with dealers and publishers, enabling him to abandon architecture full-time, although his command of architectural detail remained one of his strengths.