Richard Lucae

Richard Lucae
Born Johannes Theodor Volcmar Richard Lucae
(1829-04-12)April 12, 1829
Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia
Died November 26, 1877(1877-11-26) (aged 48)
Berlin, German Empire
Occupation Architect
Spouse(s) Marie Schacht
Buildings Alte Oper
Borsig Palace

Richard Lucae (12 April 1829 – 26 November 1877 ; full name: Johannes Theodor Volcmar Richard Lucae) was a German architect and from 1873 director of the Berliner Bauakademie.

Early life

Richard Lucae came from an old Berlin pharmacy family. His father was Dr. Phil. h.c. August Friedrich Theodor Lucae (1800 – 1848), pharmacist and owner of the Rothen Adler-Apotheke. His mother was Caroline Lucae, born Wendel (1803 – 1870), daughter of Johann Georg Wendel (1754 – 1834), a professor of drawing arts at the Gymnasium in Erfurt. One of Richard's siblings was noted otologist Dr. August Lucae. Richard's early diverse artistic inclinations were greatly influenced by his uncle, August Soller, a Prussian government construction officer and an important architect of the Schinkel school.[1]

Education

Lucae received training as a surveyor 1847–49. In 1850 he began studies in plasterwork at the Berlin Academy of Architecture (German: Berliner Bauakademie) at the instigation of Johann Gottfried Schadow. He could not pass the entrance examination, so Schadow asked him to simply paint a human ear from memory. When Lucae was able to do it with ease, Schadow admitted him to the class contrary to all the rules.[2] Lucae completed his studies in 1852 and then received practical experience in the construction of Cologne Cathedral from 1853 to 1855. He then returned to the Bauakademie for advanced studies (1855–1859), taught there from 1859 onward, joined the academic committee in 1863, and in 1873 became its Director.[1]

Career

Richard Lucae's first complete work is the Church of the Resurrection at Kattowitz, in the Prussian Province of Silesia. Built in cooperation with architect Friedrich August Stüler, the foundation stone was laid on July 17, 1856. The hall building was completed in Rundbogenstil, the then popular German Neo-Renaissance architectural style. Apart from a Romanesque Revival and Art Nouveau transept added in 1900, the core of the building is Lucae's, including the main tower, the apse, part of the nave, the façade, and the rose window.

Residential buildings

Villa Joachim, Berlin

After a study journey to Italy in 1859, Lucae was at first unable to find work in Berlin. All public building was tightly controlled by the Prussian government. He therefore started his own architectural business and focused on private residential buildings, such as Villa Kamel (1860) and Villa Siemens (1874-76). He then began work on the monumental Borsig Palace (1875–77), completed for industrialist Albert Borsig, one of the grandest Italianate villas ever built in Germany[3] Its walls, enlivened with sculpted window aediculae, also marked a new period in Berlin's architectural history.[1]

Public buildings

Alte Oper, Frankfurt
Technical University, Berlin

Richard Lucae's residential work solidified his reputation and brought him into contact with prominent industrialists of the period. He went on to win design competitions for large public projects in 1873, including the Magdeburg Stadttheater (built 1873–76) and the Alte Oper in Frankfurt am Main (built 1873–1888). The floor plan of the Opera was influenced by the style of Gottfried Semper and the panther quadriga on the Renaissance-style building recalls the famous Semper Opera House in Dresden.[4] In 1874 Lucae began plans for the complete reconstruction of the interiors of the Bauakademie itself, which were complete in 1875.

In 1876 the new German government initiated plans to create theKöniglich Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg (Royal Technical University Charlottenburg) in a merger of the Bauakademie and the Königliche Gewerbeakademie (Royal Trade Academy). Richard Lucae was called upon to design the new main building for the university, at that time the largest construction project in Berlin. He completed the grand Neo-Renaissance plans shortly before his death, with architect Friedrich Hitzig and master builder Julius Raschdorff making alterations during execution of the project. The new university opened in 1879.[1][5]

Other work

Lucae was a prolific lecturer and writer. He became a critic of the existing architectural styles and deplored housing of the era for its lack of natural lighting, ventilation, and functionality.[6] In particular he was fascinated by the new iron and glass buildings exemplified by the Crystal Palace. In contrast to conservative architects of the day, Lucae embraced this technology as a new way of defining architectural space.[7]

By 1877 he was also serving as a Privy Councillor in the Prussian government's Technical Construction Department and was a member of both the Prussian Academy of Arts (German: Kunstakademie) and the Art Association (German: Kunstverein). He was friends with Theodor Fontane and F. Kugler through his membership in the literary club Tunnel über der Spree, which influenced literary life in Berlin for more than seventy years.[8]

One of Lucae's students at the Bauakademie was Alfred Messel, who became one of the most well-known German architects at the turn of the 20th century[9] He created new architectural style which bridged the transition from historicism to modernism, reflected in his designs for such buildings as the Pergamon Museum and Wertheim department store.[10]

Legacy

Several of Richard Lucae's buildings went on to lead interesting lives in the history of Germany. Many were subsequently damaged or destroyed during World War II, with a few repaired or restored. His most notable buildings and their current status include:

Alte Oper and the Lucae Fountain, Frankfurt, destroyed in 1944 and rebuilt in 1981.
Full-sized canvas model of the Bauakademie in 2013. Reconstruction begins 2017.
The Deutsche Studentenschaft parades in front of the Institute for Sexual Research on May 6, 1933, before hauling out the contents to be burned in the streets.
Post-war ruins of the central facade of Technical University of Berlin, 1951.

List of works

Writings

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Börsch-Supan, Eva (1987), "Lucae, Richard", Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) (in German), 15, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 268–269; (full text online) retrieved 11 Jan 2017.
  2. Fontane, Theodor (1882): "Saalow, ein Kapitel vom alten Schadow" in Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg IV: Spreeland. Berlin: Hofenberg (reprinted 2016). ISBN 9783843047227.
  3. Kolinsky, Eva and Van der Will, Wilfried (1998): The Cambridge Companion to Modern German Culture. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521568708. p. 283
  4. 1 2 "Chronik und Historie" (in German). Alte Oper Frankfurt, 2017, retrieved 13 Jan 2017.
  5. Dorling Kindersley Ltd (2016): DK Eyewitness Travel Guide Berlin New York: DK Publishing. p. 159 ISBN 978-1465461612.
  6. Mallgrave, H.F. (2009): Modern Architectural Theory: A Historical Survey, 1673--1968. Cambridge University Press. p 178 ISBN 978-1-13-944340-1
  7. Lucae, pp. 265-306
  8. 1 2 NDB, p. 269
  9. Bedoire, p. 254
  10. Blauert
  11. Pond, Elizabeth. "Frankfurt reopens opera house - 'the most beautiful ruin in Germany'" (in English).The Christian Science Monitor. 1 Sep 1981, retrieved 13 Jan 2017.
  12. "Kein Exportschlager für Baukultur: Bauakademie-Attrappe in Berlin fertig" (in German). BauNetz, 8 Nov 2004, retrieved 13 Jan 2017.
  13. "62 Millionen für Wiederaufbau der Schinkelschen Bauakademie". Berliner Morgenpost. 11 Nov 2016, retrieved 13 Jan 2016
  14. Demps, pp. 141f
  15. Oosterhuis, Harry, ed. "Homosexuality and Male Bonding in Pre-Nazi Germany: Transcripts from Der Eigene, the first gay journal in the world." Journal of Homosexuality Volume 1991, Part 2. LCCN 91027666
  16. Eshbach, Robert W. "Villa Joachim, Berlin." Joseph Joachim, Biography and Research. University of New Hampshire, 26 Sep 2014, retrieved 12 Jan 2017.
  17. Dorling, p. 159
  18. Zick, p. 9
  19. "Richard Lucae and Eilhard Mitscherlin" (in German). Gemeinnütziger Förderverein EFEU e.V., 2012, retrieved 12 Jan 2017.
  20. "Villa Heckman." Europeana. Retrieved 26 Jan 2017.
  21. "Abriss der Henschel-Villa in der Krise." Hessische/Niedersächsische Allgemeine 07 Jun 2010. Retrieved 26 Jan 2017.

References

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