Cremer & Wolffenstein
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The Cremer & Wolffenstein architecture firm was founded in 1882 by Richard Wolffenstein (1846-1919) and Wilhelm Cremer (1854-1919) and existed up to the death of its two founders. During the so-called Gründerzeit in Berlin, the years of rapid industrial expansion in Germany at the end of 19th century, the architects specialized in office buildings and high-rises, hotels and mansions. They were also involved in planning the Hochbahn overhead railway installation between Kreuzberg and Nollendorfplatz.[1] Public housing and school buildings are completely missing in the output of the two architects.
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[edit] Synagogues
Synagogues were a speciality of the office, perhaps because of Wolffenstein's Jewish background. The two architects are considered the most important representatives of the building of synagogues of the Gründerzeit. For their work in this field they found inspiration in the Dresden Synagogue (destroyed in 1938 during the Kristallnacht), the only sacral building by Gottfried Semper, with its simple basic concept and cube formed arrangements. Of the eleven synagogues designed by Cremer & Wolffenstein, eight were built. But all suffered the same fate as their model in Dresden and were destroyed during the Kristallnacht.
In 1996, the Lindenstraße Synagogue was the subject of a memorial designed by Zvi Hecker, Eyal Weizmann, and sculptor Micha Ullman. In the courtyard of the present office building, they designed an arrangement of concrete benches placed in the pattern of the seating in the original synagogue.[2] The courtyard and memorial is accessed through a large ground floor opening, much like the central passageway that figured prominently in the Cremer & Wolffenstein synagogue.
[edit] Style
The Cremer & Wolffenstein firm was renowned for its simple and functional designs. Initially the two architects preferred Neo-Renaissance influences. Later however they would use a variety of historical styles. The houses and office buildings in the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Straße were among the first Neo-baroque buildings of Berlin. In some works Jugendstil influences can already be found, though their overall tendency was towards eclecticism.
[edit] References
[edit] Further reading
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- Fredric Bedoire, Robert Tanner. The Jewish Contribution to Modern Architecture, 1830-1930. KTAV Publishing House ISBN 0881258083
- Carol Herselle Krinsky, 1996. Synagogues of Europe: Architecture, History, Meaning Dover Publications. ISBN 0486290786
[edit] Gallery
 Ball room in the house of the Geselliger Verein der Freundschaft und der Freude (1887; destroyed) |
 Facade of the administrative building of AEG at Schiffbauerdamm 22 in Berlin (1888-1890; destroyed) |
 Residential houses at Mathäikirchstraße 32 and 33 (1893-1894; destroyed) |
 Kaiser-Wilhelm-Straße with its front buildings by Cremer & Wolffenstein (around 1900) |
 The overhead railway and original dome of U-Bahn station Nollendorfplatz (1902) |
 Administrative building at Oranienplatz/Ornanienstraße 40/41 (1913) |
 Administrative building of Orenstein & Koppel at Tempelhofer Ufer 23-24 in Berlin (1913-1914) |
 Project for a market hall in Berlin (1914) |
 Residential house Steinthal - entrance hall (destroyed) |
 Mossehaus, corner of Jerusalemer Straße and Schützenstraße. In 1921-1923 Erich Mendelsohn added futuristic extra storeys to a damaged building from 1901-1903 by Cremer & Wolffenstein. |
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