Paul Mebes

Paul Louis Adolf Mebes

Memorial plaque
Born (1872-01-23)23 January 1872
Magdeburg, Germany
Died 9 April 1938(1938-04-09) (aged 66)
Berlin, Germany
Nationality German
Occupation Architect
Known for Apartment housing estates

Paul Louis Adolf Mebes (23 January 1872 – 9 April 1938) was a German architect, architectural theorist and university professor.

Life

Paul Mebes was born on 23 January 1872 in Magdeburg. He completed practical training as a carpenter and then studied at the Braunschweig University of Technology and the Berlin Institute of Technology in Charlottenburg. After graduating he worked as a government architect (assessor) in the public works department.

By 1906 (according to some sources as early as 1902) Mebes was working for the Berlin Civil Servants Dwelling Association. From 1909 to 1919, he served as a part-time member of its technical board. From 1911, he and Paul Emmerich ran the architectural firm of "Mebes and Emmerich", which was devoted mainly to the Dwelling Association's buildings. The firm also created designs for other buildings, including schools and administrative buildings. On 19 November 1920 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Braunschweig University of Technology. In 1931 Mebes became a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts. He resigned this membership on 15 May 1933.

Mebes died on 9 April 1938 in Berlin. His memorial grave is located in the Städtischer Friedhof Berlin-Zehlendorf.. The "Paul Mebes Park" on Potsdamer Strasse at the corner of Fischer-Dieskau-way in Zehlendorf, Berlin was named in his honor.

Style

Former commerce building of the Iduna insurance company at Charlottenstraße No. 82 in Berlin-Kreuzberg. It was built in 1913 to a design by Paul Mebes. The building has been designated as a cultural heritage monument.

Mebes' designs were innovative and won him recognition in Europe. He was one of the pioneers of housing estates before the First World War. His apartment building designs for the Berlin Civil Servants Dwelling Association and the Kroch village in Leipzig were particularly notable.

The activity of Mebes can be divided into three periods: the early phase (1909–1918), an expressive phase (1918–1924) and the substantive phase that continued until his death (1925–1938). The early phase was characterized by work within the traditional architecture of Berlin's early days, with elaborate stucco facades and indiscriminate eclecticism. Here, Mebes worked entirely within existing styles: particularly often using classical details, but various forms of North German or Baroque Dutch details, and even early Gothic forms, occur.

In the expressive phase, residential buildings were created with expressive, but sparingly used elements, such as contrasting colors of alternating brick and plaster, jagged protruding stairways and pointed windows. From the second half of the 1920s he created buildings in a classical modernism style. Mebes was less concerned about the details than before, but still designed aesthetically coherent works. He continued to emphasize color effects. He made carefully considered floor plans, with bright and well ventilated apartments.

Buildings

Building ensemble Innsbrucker Platz 4/Martin Luther Straße 126, 1922–28 by Mebes und Emmerich
Building ensemble Innsbrucker Platz 4/Martin Luther Straße 126, 1922–28 by Mebes und Emmerich

Bibliography

Notes and references

Citations

  1. ↑ Denkmalliste Berlin im Internet
  2. ↑ Handbuch der Deutschen Kunstdenkmäler: Berlin.

Further reading

External links

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