Adolf Koch (architect)

House Wanebach and Salzhaus in Wedelgasse. (1893)
(from: From Frankfurt's past. Architectural studies drawn and described from nature. )

Gustav Adolf Koch (born April 4, 1845 in Frankfurt am Main ; † April 3, 1904 there ) was a German architect , draftsman , etcher and specialist writer .

Life

Nothing is known about Koch's parental home or childhood and youth. He attended the Städelschule around 1860 , where he received training in drawing. In 1863 he went to Karlsruhe to study architecture at the Polytechnic until 1864 .

After completing his studies, he worked from 1866 to 1869 for a private architecture firm in Zurich , and from 1869 to 1874 in Vienna and Graz . In Austria he worked for the state railway's structural engineering office and at least three other private construction companies. In 1874 he was called back to his hometown as a building inspector .

In Frankfurt since then he has mainly been busy planning the construction of new schools, for which there was a great need in the then rapidly expanding city. In addition, he led the sometimes very complex renovations of important monuments, such as the Salt House , House Wanebach , House Löwenstein and the Canvas House . In addition, he was a member of the Roman Construction Commission, which worked out plans for the extension of the city ​​hall . As a result, they commissioned Max Meckel , Franz von Hoven and Ludwig Neher in 1889 and 1897 with the redesign or the new building of the Roman and its annex buildings.

The breakthrough in Braubachstrasse - here in a picture around 1906 - actually destroyed over 100 houses in the oldest part of the city
(photography by Carl Friedrich Fay)

In addition to publications about the new school buildings and his collaboration on Frankfurt's first architectural-historical work, Frankfurt am Main and its buildings (1886), Koch left behind a large number of architectural and landscape images . These are partly pencil and partly pen drawings. Only a small percentage shows motifs from his time abroad, the focus is Frankfurt am Main and the surrounding area, but above all the old town .

In 1894 Koch published 25 such motifs in a portfolio that is very popular today under the title From Frankfurt's Past in collotype . His personal foreword suggests that, similar to Carl Theodor Reiffenstein, he recorded many things in drawings, worried that the old town would gradually disappear due to the penetrating modernity - he indirectly refers to the Braubachstrasse breakthrough carried out in 1904–1906 :

"[...] in particular the implementation of new streets through the old town, decided by the city authorities, will result in the change or even the complete disappearance of the old streetscape. The endeavor to provide the old town with streets that allow air and light access, as well as space for urban transport, will remain and the removal of the homes of our ancestors will only be a question not too long ago. [...] "

Koch died in Frankfurt am Main and was buried in the main cemetery, the whereabouts and possible location of the grave are unknown.

Fonts (selection)

• Frankfurt Architects and Engineers Association (ed.): Frankfurt am Main and its buildings. Frankfurt am Main 1886. (Collaboration)
• In memory of the rebuilding of the Justitia Fountain on the Römerberg in Frankfurt am Main on May 10, 1887. [Donated by Gustav D. Manskopf to his hometown] Frankfurt a. M. 1887.
• From Frankfurt's past. Architectural studies drawn and described from nature . Published by Heinrich Keller, Frankfurt am Main 1894 ( Commons ).
• The design and equipment of the municipal schools in Frankfurt am Main. Publisher by Franz Benjamin Auffarth, Frankfurt am Main 1900.
• The newer school buildings in the city of Frankfurt am Main. Published by Franz Benjamin Auffarth, Frankfurt am Main 1904.

literature

• Albert Dessoff (edit.): Biographical Lexicon of Frankfurt Artists in the Nineteenth Century. (= Art and artists in Frankfurt am Main in the nineteenth century. Volume 2.) Joseph Baer & Co., Carl Jügel's Verlag (Moritz Abendroth), Heinrich Keller, FAC Prestel, Frankfurt am Main 1909, p. 77.
• Koch, Adolf . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 21 : Knip – Kruger . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1927, p. 65 .
• Wolfgang Klötzer (Hrsg.): Frankfurter Biographie . Personal history lexicon . First volume. A – L (=  publications of the Frankfurt Historical Commission . Volume XIX , no. 1 ). Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1994, ISBN 3-7829-0444-3 .

Web links

Commons : Adolf Koch  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Koch, Gustav Adolf. Hessian biography. (As of October 29, 2019). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).