August Schönborn

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Construction work on the Capitol, 1860
Construction work on the Capitol, 1861

August Gottlieb Schönborn (born October 20, 1827 in Suhl , † January 24, 1902 in Washington, DC ) was a German-American architect and is considered the idea generator and builder of the dome of the Capitol in Washington, DC

Life

August Gottlieb Schönborn was born on October 20, 1827 in Suhl, Thuringia, and was baptized as a Protestant on November 4, 1827. His father ran a pastry shop in Suhl. At the age of 16, after attending school in Suhl, he moved to Erfurt, where from 1843 he attended the “Royal Provincial School of Arts and Crafts”. During the four-year training he learned geometric and architectural drawing, freehand drawing and modeling. At the same time he worked as a stonemason and carried out various works on the Erfurt Cathedral . In April 1847 he received the certificate to go to Berlin as early as 1848. There he wanted to continue his training with the architect August Soller , but the March Revolution of 1848 ended his stay in Berlin. At this uncertain time, August Gottlieb Schönborn decided to emigrate and in November 1849 traveled to New York City and from there to the US state of Wisconsin . He found a job two years later with the Architect of the Capitol , whose incumbent is responsible for the maintenance, operation, development and maintenance of the Capitol complex in Washington. In the years 1851 to 1863 extensive renovations took place on the United States Capitol . The dome of the Capitol was designed by August Schönborn, who was inspired by St. Peter's Basilica in Rome , St. Paul's Cathedral in London and the Invalides in Paris . Building a dome of these dimensions was a technical venture in 1851, as it was the first time that cast iron was used to build such a large dome. However, it is unclear and controversial which role August Gottlieb Schönborn really played in the design and construction of the new dome of the Capitol. He worked for the Architect of the Capitol until his death in 1902, during which time he drew over 6,000 designs and sketches. August Gottlieb Schönborn lived in what was then B-Street and had been married to Helene Klee since 1851, with whom they had a total of nine children. He died in Washington on January 24, 1902 at the age of 74 and was buried in Prospect Hill Cemetery, north of the Capitol. The tomb, which is well worth seeing, is still preserved today in the D-South section.

literature

  • Tom Fleischhauer: "August is my right hand ..." How the Thuringian architect August Gottlieb Schönborn (1827–1902) designed the dome of the Capitol in Washington, DC. In: Communications of the Association for the History and Antiquity of Erfurt , Vol. 76 (2015), pp. 198-219.
  • August Gottlieb Schoenborn: Sketch of my Education and Connection with the Extension of the United States Capitol, Washington, DC In: Turpin C. Bannister : The Genealogy of the Dome of the United States Capitol (= Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol . 7, No. 1/2, 1948), pp. 17-23.
  • Henry Hope Reed: The United States Capitol. Its architecture and decoration. New York 2005, p. 29f.
  • William C. Allen: The History of the United States Capitol. A Chronicle of Design, Construction, and Politics. Washington 2001, pp. 201, 226, 335, 373, 378, 388.

Web links

References and comments

  1. ↑ Tom Fleischhauer: "August is my right hand ..." How the Thuringian architect August Gottlieb Schönborn (1827-1902) designed the dome of the Capitol in Washington, DC. In: Communications of the Association for the History and Antiquity of Erfurt, Vol. 76 (2015), pp. 210-214.
personal data
SURNAME Schönborn, August
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schönborn, August Gottlieb (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-American architect
DATE OF BIRTH October 20, 1827
PLACE OF BIRTH Suhl
DATE OF DEATH January 24, 1902
Place of death Washington, DC