August Menken

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August Menken in Rome, photo taken between May 1886 and May 1889

August Menken (born June 23, 1858 in Cologne , † September 18, 1903 in Berlin ; full name: August Aloysius Johannes Menken ) was a German architect of historicism with a focus on Catholic sacred buildings .

life and work

Born in Cologne, August Menken, son of the lawyer and center politician Clemens Menken , studied architecture from 1877 at the Berlin Building Academy , which later became the Technical University of (Berlin-) Charlottenburg , initially with Johann Eduard Jacobsthal and Julius Carl Raschdorff ; Then, from 1882 to 1884, he worked as a site manager with Carl Schäfer and Hermann Eggert . His main role model as a church architect was his teacher Carl Schäfer, who at the end of the 19th century was the most important representative of late neo-Gothic in Germany.

Even during his student days, Menken showed himself to be an extremely active, versatile and hard-working student. In 1883 he was accepted as a new member of the Architects and Engineers Association in Berlin . As the design drawings in the Architecture Museum of the Technical University of Berlin show, he successfully participated in competitions during his studies. In 1885 he won the coveted Schinkel Prize with “drafts for a textile goods exchange”. He completed his studies in 1886 with the 2nd state examination and was then appointed government master builder ( assessor in the public building administration).

Numerous and distant changes of location mark his first professional years in the assessor. Drafts and construction work are known from these first four years, but are unsecured. For example, drafts of barracks that were created later are related to the stay from November 1886 in Königsberg in East Prussia. From his two-year stay in Italy from May 1887 to May 1889, two published architectural drawings and two landscape watercolors (privately owned) have survived. During his subsequent six-month stay in his hometown of Cologne, he not only celebrated his wedding, the sources also mention a renovation project.

From 1890, when he finally relocated to Berlin, his professional activity can be traced back with certainty. From 1890-1891 he led the construction of the Erlöserkirche in Berlin-Rummelsburg, then from 1892 the construction of the Resurrection Church in Berlin-Friedrichshain. This already revealed an urge to be self-employed, because in Friedrichshain he was probably responsible for rescheduling the main entrance tower. In 1892 August Menken resigned from the civil service and founded his own architecture office (“Atelier for Building Construction and Applied Arts”) on Kurfürstendamm. From 1899 the office operated under the name of “Atelier for Building Construction and Construction”. The name change indicates that Menken initially set itself the goal of holistically planning and designing its church interiors, ie right through to the church furnishings . He refrained from this additional task at the turn of the century and shifted his professional activity to secular building .

The very first building project in Berlin is one of his largest and most famous works today: the building of the Catholic garrison church, the Johannes Basilica (1894–1897), in Berlin-Neukölln . At that time, the room size of around 1,500 seats and construction costs of 780,000 marks were enormous. In addition, the great appreciation at the time it was built is evident in the fact that at the inauguration on May 8, 1897, the imperial couple , Wilhelm II and Auguste Viktoria , was present. Characteristic for him, Menken chose the forms of the Rhenish-Romanesque transition style and a light tuff stone facing , which clearly set him apart from the architectural styles prevailing in Berlin at the time, such as the north German brick Gothic based on the school of the architect Conrad Wilhelm Hase . The nearby Protestant garrison church of the architect Ernst August Roßteuscher in neo -Gothic style made of light gray sandstone serves as a counterexample.

Among the most outstanding, also in stone planned buildings his then formed Catholic belongs Ludwigskirche (Ludwig-Windthorst Memorial Church) (1895-1897) in Berlin-Wilmersdorf . Balanced in its proportions, restrained in its structural elements and rising with its centralized crossing tower, Menken achieved a graceful and monumental effect at the same time. However, it was then implemented as a brick church. The other churches in Berlin (St. Gertrud and St. Clara) were also built as brick churches. This also applies to his churches in what is now Polish territory: Graudenz (1896–1898), Oborniki in the province of Posen (1899–1901), Ostrowo (1903), Danzig- Emaus-Schidlitz (1904–1906) and Ruda Śląska (1904– 1905).

His Catholic sacred buildings, which were built in Central Germany , are made of solid ashlar: the Josephskirche (1894–1895) in Essen (destroyed), the Antoniuskirche (1898–1900) in Frankfurt am Main , the Rosary Church (1898–1901) in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler , the Apostle Church (1899–1900) in Dortmund and the Herz-Jesu-Kirche (1903–1905) in Dresden-Johannstadt . Only the church in Kamen (1901–1902) and its two monasteries in Cologne-Lindenthal (1898–1899) (destroyed) and Koblenz-Pfaffendorf (1903–1904) were built as plastered buildings. The neo-Gothic and the neo-Romanesque were the main architectural styles. They were mostly based on the strict, simple style of the Gothic of the early 13th century as well as on the “transition style” with a neo-Romanesque-neo-Gothic canon of forms (Neuenahr, Ruda). It is characteristic of his church buildings, which were built around and after the turn of the century, that their structural elements are greatly reduced and purist. Their structures appear massive, monumental and expressive.

Corresponding to the function and taking up the regional styles, Menken designed his secular buildings either in the style of the North German, Brandenburg brick Gothic , the Neo-Renaissance or in the New Baroque . In Menken's secular buildings in particular, it is noticeable that occasional decorative elements or window bars start to swing under the influence of Art Nouveau . An example of this are his neo-renaissance buildings, such as the catholic club house “Treviris” (1897–1900) in Trier, the officers 'dining establishment (1901–1902) in Fulda or the officers' villa (1903–1905) in Berlin-Mitte (all destroyed). Idiosyncratic changes in shape crept into his brick Gothic building complexes, such as the artillery barracks (1899–1901) in Fulda (partially preserved) or the extension of the St. Johann Nepomuk Catholic Hospital (1902–1903) in Erfurt (Menkens construction phase hardly received).

Tomb for August Menken in the
Melaten cemetery in Cologne

On September 18, 1903, August Menken died at the age of 45 after an operation due to pneumonia in the St. Hedwig Hospital in Berlin.

Menken's closest collaborators included the architects M. Schlenzig and George Hartmann with Ernst Rensch, who took over the studio after his death.

meaning

August Menken was one of the architects who took on an important mediating role in the transition period between tradition and modernity. On the one hand, stylistically anchored in the historicist building tradition, which he endeavored to continue, he adapted modern stylistic influences around and after the turn of the century: monumentality in the large building forms with art nouveau echoes in the details.

Menken achieved outstanding achievements as a church architect. His productivity was enormous: between 1892 and 1903 he created 16 city churches, 14 of them Catholic, and 38 design and secular building projects. Of the four church architects of the same age who worked with Menken in Berlin and built in a similar style, August Menken was the one who created most of the major Catholic churches in just eleven years of creativity. The operating range of Max Hasak (1856-1934) focused on the construction of banking and residential buildings, only later were added churches. Only a few sacred buildings are known by Carl Doflein (1856–1943), Fritz Gottlob (1859–1920) and Engelbert Seibertz (1856–1929). They built in the style of the Brandenburg brick Gothic.

Alongside Christoph Hehl (1847–1911) and Max Hasak, who was eleven years his senior, Menken was one of the architects who built Catholic churches in Protestant-dominated regions.

He was an artist of historicism insofar as he felt committed to the fairness of materials and holism. The church equipment was planned by him and the building materials were of high quality. But he was also an artist who was open to modernism, in that he used new materials at the time, such as reinforced concrete foundations or iron-glass constructions in secular buildings (hospitals, bath houses).

Buildings and designs

Church and monastery buildings

St. Joseph Church , Essen (destroyed)
Church of the Resurrection, Berlin-Friedrichshain (around 1896)
St. Ludwig Church, Berlin-Wilmersdorf
Rosary Church, Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler (photo taken around 1970 by Helena Steinborn)
  • 1882: Münchenlohra , restoration of the Cistercian Church of St. Gangolf as construction manager under Carl Schäfer (preserved)
  • 1894–1895 (planning 1889): Essen-Mitte, cath. St. Joseph Church (destroyed)
  • 1890/1891: Berlin-Rummelsburg / -Lichtenberg, building management, Protestant Church of the Redeemer (preserved)
  • 1892–1895: Berlin-Friedrichshain, construction management, Protestant Resurrection Church (outer walls preserved)
  • 1894–1896 / 1897 (planning 1892): Berlin-Kreuzberg, cath. Garrison Church of St. John (preserved)
  • 1893: Berlin-Schöneberg, competition design for the cath. St. Matthias Church
  • 1895–1897 (planning 1893): Berlin-Wilmersdorf, cath. St. Ludwig Church (preserved)
  • 1895/1896 (planning 1894): Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg, cath. Gertrud Chapel of the Katharinenstift (preserved)
  • 1895–1897: Berlin-Neukölln, cath. St. Clara Church (preserved)
  • 1898–1900 (planning 1896): Frankfurt am Main, cath. Church of St. Antonius (preserved)
  • 1896–1903 (planning 1896–1903): Ostrowo, draft of a cath. Church (preserved)
  • 1896–1898: Graudenz, Protestant parish church, today Catholic. Marienkirche (preserved)
  • 1898–1901 (planning 1897): Bad Neuenahr, cath. Rosary Church (preserved)
  • 1899–1900 (planning 1897): Dortmund, cath. Apostle Church (preserved)
  • 1897/1898 and 1900: Cologne, competition design for the cath. St. Paul Church
  • 1904–1906 (planning 1897): Danzig-Emaus-Schidlitz, cath. Church of St. Francis (preserved)
  • 1898–1899: Cologne-Lindenthal, Carmelite convent (destroyed)
  • 1899–1901 (planning 1898): Oborniki , Protestant Josephskirche (preserved)
  • 1899–1902 (planning 1898): Kamen, cath. Church of the Holy Family (preserved)
  • 1911–1913 (planning 1901): Danzig-Langfuhr, draft for the Catholic. Herz-Jesu-Kirche (preserved)
  • 1904–1905 (planning around 1902): Ruda , cath. Church of St. Joseph (preserved)
  • 1903–1904 (planned in 1902): Koblenz-Pfaffendorf, Capuchin Convent of Perpetual Adoration, the Bethlehem monastery (preserved)
  • 1903: Trier, competition design for the cath. St. Paul Church
  • 1903–1905: Dresden-Striesen-Johannstadt, cath. Herz-Jesu-Kirche (preserved)

Secular buildings

Former staff building of the barracks in Fulda, 1899–1901 (today: Marquardstrasse 31–33)
Officer's villa on the corner of Chausseestrasse and Kesselstrasse in Berlin-Mitte, 1903–1905 (destroyed)
  • 1883: As a construction manager under Hermann Eggert, participation in the construction of the main train station in Frankfurt am Main and the Imperial Palace in Strasbourg (both preserved)
  • 1884/1885: Berlin, Schinkel competition , draft textile goods exchange building
  • 1893: Elberfeld, competition design for the town hall
  • 1894/1895: Stuttgart, competition design for the town hall
  • 1895: Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg, extension of the Katharinenstift (residential building; preserved)
  • 1897–1900: Trier, cath. Treviris clubhouse (destroyed)
  • around 1897: administration building
  • 1897: Ayl near Trier, renovation and extension of the Damian Goertz castle (preserved)
  • 1899–1900 (planning 1898): Berlin-Mitte, extension of the cath. St. Hedwigs Hospital (preserved)
  • 1898–1900: Danzig, extension of the cath. St. Mary's Hospital
  • 1899–1901: Fulda, artillery barracks (partially preserved)
  • 1901–1902 (planning 1899): Fulda, officers 'dining establishment (officers' mess) at the cattle market (destroyed)
  • 1899/1903: Ostrowo, construction of a rectory (preserved)
  • 1899: Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg, House Savigny (destroyed)
  • 1899–1902: Berlin-Prenzlauer-Berg, orphanage (preserved)
  • 1902/03: Erfurt, extension of the cath. St. Nepomuk Hospital (only partially preserved)
  • around 1902/03: Bad Salzschlirf, design for the bathhouse
  • 1903–1905: Goslar, washing and disinfection building (preserved)
  • 1905–1909 (planning 1903): Halberstadt, infantry barracks (largely destroyed)
  • 1903–1905: Berlin-Mitte, officers canteen (officers' mess) of the Guard Fusilier Regiment (destroyed)
  • 1903: Berlin, competition design for the Kaiser Wilhelm Academy for military doctors
  • 1903: Cologne, competition design for the commercial school

Small projects and the unsecured

  • 1886–1889: Rome, building projects
  • 1889: Cologne-Deutz, conversion of the Otto Kellner gas factory (destroyed)
  • 1892: Berlin-Hohenschönhausen, cemetery wall and grave digger house (preserved)
  • 1895–1896: Berlin-Hermsdorf, high school for boys (authorship uncertain; destroyed)
  • 1899: Ayl near Trier, ceiling fresco draft for the Bartholomäuskirche (preserved)
  • 1899/1900: Danzig, ceiling painting draft for the chapel of the Marienkrankenhaus
  • around 1896–1898: Graudenz, "German House"
  • around 1900: Pillau, Glatz, Wreschen, Schrimm, Braunschweig, drafts for barracks
  • around 1900: Oels, barracks
  • around 1900: Gelsenkirchen and (Unna-) Königsborn, acquisition attempts for the construction of family apartments
  • around 1900: Bochum, acquisition attempts for the construction of workers' housing estate
  • 1901–1902: Hünfeld, Communicant Home
  • 1903: Bad Neuenahr, prayer room of a holy house (preserved)
  • July 1903: Koblenz-Pfaffendorf, renovation of the Villa Emmaus
  • 1903: Koblenz-Ehrenbreitstein, conversion of the Reinhard house
  • 1904–1906 (planning 1903): Cologne-Braunsfeld, Dreifaltigkeits-Krankenhaus (authorship unsecured; preserved)

Design drawings (gallery)

literature

  • August Menken. In: Journal for Christian Art , 9 (1896), No. 12, Col. 369–378.
  • Anne Koelblin: August Menken (1858–1903). Late historian between Cologne, Berlin and Danzig. Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2004. (also dissertation, University of Freiburg im Breisgau, 2003)
  • Wolfgang Valerius: Once Trier's jewel. In: New Trierisches Jahrbuch 2000 , Trier 2000, pp. 85-100.
  • Hans-Berthold Busse: Rosary Church Bad Neuenahr. Neuenahr-Ahrweiler 1990.
  • Government architect August Menken †. In: Deutsche Bauzeitung , Volume 37, 1903, No. 77 (from September 26, 1903), p. 499 (date of death given as September 10, 1903)
  • A [nton] Adams: August Menken †. In: Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung , Volume 23, 1903, No. 77 (from September 26, 1903), p. 484 (date of death given as September 18, 1903)
  • nn: Menken. In: The spiritual Germany at the end of the 19th century. German contemporary artist lexicon in biographical sketches. Processed on the basis of personal submissions. Berlin / Leipzig 1898, p. 455 f.

Web links

Commons : August Menken  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Archives of the AIV Berlin: Buff's application for admission to the board of directors of the AIV Berlin dated May 8, 1883: "Introduced by: Eggert, Königl. Landbauinspector, Buff, government builder".
  2. ^ Travel sketches by August Menken, architect in Berlin, in: Berliner Architekturwelt , 2nd year 1899/1900, p. 324. (Fig. 430: Tre Pile, Rome and Fig. 431: From the tomb of Pietro di Toledo in S. Giacomo degli Spabnuoli in Naples)
  3. Landesarchiv Berlin, until 1999 branch at Breitestrasse 30/31: Auferstehungskirche A Rep. 004-02-1, serial no. No. 187 and 188, file volumes. 1 and 2, here: December 9, 1892, pagination 133.
  4. see: Atelier stamp on Menken's letterhead in the building files, e.g. B. Landesarchiv Prenzlauer Berg, letter from Menken to the Police Presidium Department III in Berlin dated August 15, 1894.
  5. ^ Draft specifications in: folder of excellent competition drafts , booklet XXVI (1893).
  6. Small communications: The two new garrison churches. In: Der Bär, Illustrierte Berliner Wochenschrift , 23rd year 1897, p. 513 (with illus. P. 508 f).
  7. ^ Hans-Berthold Busse: Bad Neuenahr, parish church Rosenkranzkönigin. In: "Archive for Middle Rhine Church History", 57th year 2005, p. 556 f.