Bernhard Bielenstein

Bernhard Bielenstein

Bernhard Max August Bielenstein ( Latvian Bernhards Bīlenšteins ; * 9 August ^July / 21 August  1877 ^greg. In Doblen , Kurland Governorate ; † April 14, 1959 in Heilbronn ) was a Baltic German architect. He is considered one of the most important representatives of Riga Art Nouveau .

family

Bernhard Bielenstein was the youngest son of the pastor, ethnographer and linguist August Bielenstein and his wife Erna, b. from Bordelius. His siblings were Max Bielenstein (1855–1860), the pastor Louis Johann Emil Bielenstein (1858–1943), the author Martha Bielenstein (1860–1938), the pastor and martyr Hans Bielenstein (1863–1919), Johanna Bielenstein (1864–1938) 1864), Emma Bielenstein (1865–1887), the painter and graphic artist Siegfried Bielenstein (1869–1949) and the pastor Walter Adolf Axel Bielenstein (1872–1961).

Life

In 1904 Bernhard Bielenstein graduated from the Rīgas Politehniskais institūts (RPI). From 1904 to 1905 he worked at the Polytechnic Institute in Charlottenburg (Berlin) . From 1905 he ran a private architecture office in Riga . At the same time he was an appraiser ("taxator") of the Riga mortgage company. In 1907 Bernhard Bielenstein married Betty von Bergmann (1885–1963). They had six children from their marriage.

Until 1917 Bielenstein did his military service in the First World War in the military administration of the Russian Army in Pskov and Vitebsk . Then he was able to resume his work as an architect in Riga. In 1925 Bielenstein was elected secretary of the German house owners' association in Riga, and in 1931 he was also elected to the board of a health insurance company.

Due to the resettlement following the Hitler-Stalin Pact , Bielenstein and his family had to leave their homeland; he came to Posen (Polish: Poznań) and worked as a valuer until the end of the war. In 1945 he fled the Warthegau to Eggenthal in Bavaria, and in 1958 he moved to Neckarsulm . Bernhard Bielenstein died in Heilbronn in 1959.

Bielenstein's most famous, preserved buildings in Riga

Bielenstein's buildings are characterized by clear lines and the economical use of facade decorations. They belong to the phase of "national romanticism" of Riga Art Nouveau. This replaced the phase of eclectic Art Nouveau, of which Mikhail Eisenstein was the main representative . About 30 buildings in Riga originate from him. Above all, its representative tenement houses have been preserved.

In the era of Art Nouveau there was an enormous expansion of residential areas in Riga. A lot of effort was invested in decorating the facades. The buildings from this period are still famous today as the world's largest Art Nouveau ensemble. The German street names are the names used during Bielenstein's work as an architect in Riga. The Latvian street names correspond to today's city map.

	Street name
Construction year	German	Latvian	House number	Function of the structure
1908	Dorpater Street	Tērbatas iela	6/8	Apartment building with shops (together with Karl Ehmcke)
1909	Rumpenhöfsche Strasse	Augusta Deglava iela	2	Tenement house with shops
1909	Kiev Street	Kijevas iela	15th	Tenement house
1909-1910	Colonnaded street	Stabu iela	91/93	Tenement house with shops
1910	Gertrudstrasse / Schmiedestrasse	Ģertrūdes iela	56	Tenement house with shops
1910	Kiev Street	Kijevas iela	17th	Tenement house
1910	Wallstrasse	Vaļņu iela	22a	Pastorate and school “St. Petri "(together with Henry van de Velde )
1911	Ritterstrasse	Bruņinieku iela	27	Tenement house with shops
1911	Nikolaistrasse	Krišjāņa Valdemāra iela	57/59	Tenement house with shops
1912	Goldinger Strasse	Kuldīgas iela	43/45	Municipal retirement home "Peterhaus" (Pētera nams)
1912	Helenenstrasse	Lienes iela	12	Tenement house with shops
1912	Matthäistrasse	Matīsa iela	45	Tenement house with shops
1912-1914	Alexanderstrasse	Brīvības iela	84	Apartment building with shops (together with N. Jakovlev)
1913	Alexanderstrasse	Brīvības iela	82	Tenement house with shops
1913	Lüneburger Strasse / Füreckerstrasse	Sudrabu Edžus iela	16	Your own villa in the Kaiserwald ( Mežaparks )
1913	Matthäistrasse	Matīsa iela	86a	Tenement house with shops
1913	Artilleriestrasse	Artilērijas iela	58	Tenement house
1913	Palisadenstrasse	Krāslavas iela	18th	Tenement house with shops
1914	Laidsensche Strasse	Laidzes / Laidzenes iela	49	Tenement house
1914	Rabenstrasse	Vārnu iela	2	Tenement house with shops

Fonts

• Bernhard Bielenstein: memories. In: Baltic booklets. Volume 13 (1967), Harro von Hirschheydt Verlag, Hannover-Döhren 1967, pp. 128-214.
• Bernhard Bielenstein: But the houses stayed / Bet mājas palika . Jumava Publishing House, Riga 1998, ISBN 3-88758-058-3 . (bilingual German / Latvian; translation into Latvian by Ināra Korsaka and edited by Peter-Jochen Bosse).

literature

• Aina Balaško / Ilze Krokša (ed.): Vacu arhitekti Latvijā / German architects in Latvia. Published by Latvijas Vācu Savienība / Association of Germans in Latvia, Riga 2013, ISBN 978-9984-49-671-9 (on pages 140-145 an article by Jānis Krastiņš about Bernhard Bielenstein).
• Baltic Historical Commission (ed.): Entry to Bielenstein, Bernhard. In: BBLD - Baltic Biographical Lexicon digital
• Silvija Grosa: Jūgendstila perioda plastiskais un gleznieciskais dekors Rīgas 19th gs. un 20. gs. mijas arhitektūrā / Plastic and pictorial décor of the Art Nouveau period in the architecture of Rīga at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries . Summary of her dissertation at the Latvian Art Academy, Riga 2008, as a PDF file (bilingual: Latvian / English).
• Alexander von Knorre (ed.): Art Nouveau in the Baltic States . (= Baltic Seminars , Volume 18). Carl Schirren Society, Lüneburg 2012. ISBN 978-3-923149-60-5 .
• Jānis Krastiņš: Jūgendstils Rīgas arhitektūrā . Zinātne Publishing House, Riga 1980.
• Jānis Krastiņš: Art Nouveau in Riga Architecture . Translated from Latvian by Lidija Vēvere. Verlag Neuthor, Michelstadt 1992, ISBN 3-88758-044-3 .
• Jānis Krastiņš: Rīga. Art Nouveau metropolis . Translated from Latvian by Lidija Vēvere. Izdevniecība Baltika, Riga 1996. ISBN 9984-9178-1-9 .
• Jānis Lejnieks: Rīgas Arhitektūra. Photo albums . Avots Publishing House, Riga 1989 (with pictures of the houses Brīvības Iela 82 and Vaļņu Iela 22a).
• Anda Juta Zālīte: Rīgas ielu, laukumu, parku un tiltu nosaukumu rādītājs . Rīgas Nacionālā bibliotēka / Rīgas vēstures un kuģniecības muzejs 2000, ISBN 9984-607-31-3 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Bernhard Bielenstein in the family tree of the von Bordelius family.
2. ^ Jānis Krastiņš: Rīga. Art Nouveau metropolis . Izdevniecība Baltika, Riga 1996. p. 39.
3. ^ Family of August Bielenstein in the family tree of the family von Bordelius.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Jānis Krastiņš: Rīga. Art Nouveau metropolis . Izdevniecība Baltika, Riga 1996. p. 339.
5. ^ Bernhard Bielenstein elected secretary of the house owners' association in 1925.
6. ↑ Bernhard Bielenstein elected as employer representative in 1931.
7. ↑ Balaško (2013), page 145
8. ↑ Barbara Bielenstein and Peter-Jochen Bosse read from Bernhard Bielenstein's memories.
9. ^ Jānis Krastiņš: Rīga. Art Nouveau metropolis . Izdevniecība Baltika, Riga 1996. pp. 39-41.
10. ↑ Agrita Tipāne: Art Nouveau in Riga . In: Alexander von Knorre (ed.): Art Nouveau in the Baltic States (= Baltic Seminars, Volume 18). Carl Schirren Society, Lüneburg 2012. ISBN 978-3-923149-60-5 . Pp. 151-166.
11. ↑ A clear distinction is not always made between eclecticism and art nouveau . Silvija Grosa (2008) refers to decorative elements derived from catalogs and manuals. Bielenstein's buildings in Stabu iela 91/93 are highlighted as examples of Art Nouveau decoration.
12. ↑ According to Zālīte (2000).
13. ↑ According to Krastiņš (1992).
14. ↑ Images of the houses near Bielenstein (1998), also the Villa Bergenas iela (Bergensche Straße) 1/3 from 1929.
15. ↑ Figure in Balaško (2013), page 142
16. ↑ In Bielenstein (1998) Krastiņš names the street Katoļu iela (Catholic street).
17. ↑ Figures, floor plan and view in: Jānis Krastiņš: Rīga. Art Nouveau metropolis . Izdevniecība Baltika, Riga 1996. pp. 322–325 and in Balaško (2013), pp. 140–141
18. ↑ Figures, floor plan and view in: Jānis Krastiņš: Rīga. Art Nouveau metropolis . Izdevniecība Baltika, Riga 1996. pp. 224–225 and in Balaško (2013), pp. 144–145
19. ^ Architecture in the Kaiserwald district . With images of the 5 houses based on Bielenstein's plans.
20. ↑ According to Krastiņš (1992): Laicēna iela . In Bielenstein (1998) Krastiņš names the street Nometņu iela (Great Camp Street) / Lapu iela (Leaf Street).
21. ^ Review in Diena of October 8, 1998 (Latvian).
22. ^ Review on the website of the Infobalt eV association