Bothe & Ehrmann
The art furniture factories and joinery, Bothe & Ehrmann - JW Müller Aktiengesellschaft was a furniture manufacturer based in Vienna .
history
The furniture company "Bothe & Ehrmann" went back to the merger of Eugen Ferdinand Bothe (1842 Milan - 12 October 1922 Vienna) and Salomon Ehrmann († February 1920). Bothe was a Croatian entrepreneur who specialized in the trade of spices in 1861. In 1872 his business interests shifted to the arts and crafts. In 1889 he opened the "Largest Furniture Hall and Upholstered Furniture Factory EF Bothe" in Zagreb. In 1893 he made his assistant Salomon Ehrmann a business partner. He came from a Jewish industrial family who worked in the wood industry. Together they founded the furniture company "Bothe & Ehrmann" in October 1895, based in Zagreb. In 1898 they received the title of "Imperial and Royal Court Suppliers". In 1910 the company was converted into a public limited company. In 1919 Salomon Ehrmann's two cousins, the brothers Aleksandar (September 14, 1879 Pidbusch - April 13, 1965 Zagreb) and Oskar Ehrmann took over the business. Aleksandar Ehrmann took on a decisive management position and was able to gain extensive experience in the wood industry, among others for the " Freundlich brothers " in Munich (1899 to 1901), the " Engel brothers " in Vienna (1901 to 1903) and for the family company "Slavonija" in Slavonski Brod, Croatia (1916 to 1934). His many years of experience contributed to the fact that "Bothe & Ehrmann" continued to operate successfully in the newly founded Yugoslavia even after the collapse of the imperial era, and until 1934 employed around 500 people. In 1937 the Croatian company was dissolved due to the global economic crisis.
From 1898 the company had a branch in Vienna, where they changed location several times. In 1912/1913 the new company building was built in 1912/1913 according to plans by the architect Ernst Epstein (January 4, 1881 Vienna - May 21, 1938 Vienna) and the builder Guido Gröger (April 20, 1874 Berging near Ybbs an der Donau - December 23, 1950 Vienna) of Schlossgasse 14 in Vienna V. The company concentrated on the production and trading of joinery, decoration and wallpapering work. On December 6, 1915, the Viennese company was converted into a limited liability company under the management of Salomon Ehrmann and Leopold Pilzer (1871–1959). The new corporate form resulted in independent action from the Croatian company. On October 25, 1927, the company was converted into a stock corporation. On October 2, 2013, the Viennese company announced its bankruptcy.
"Bothe & Ehrmann" was considered one of the most important furniture manufacturers in the Austro-Hungarian Danube Monarchy, based in Zagreb and Vienna. Their activities focused on equipping public and private facilities such as apartments, offices, banks, hotels, cafes and restaurants. Her work included the first Croatian savings bank in Zagreb (1899/1900), the Südbahnhotel am Semmering (1909), the Otto Wagner apartment at Döblergasse 4 in Vienna VII (1912) and the Postsparkasse in Vienna I (1912/1913) . The company exported its period furniture to Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy and Egypt and participated in international exhibitions such as the World Exhibition in Paris in 1878 , the Millennium Exhibition in Budapest in 1896 , and the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900 .
literature
- Stefan Üner: Bothe & Ehrmann. Chronology of an architectural jewel. In: stones speak. Journal of the Austrian Society for Monument and Local Conservation , No. 154, Vienna 2019, pp. 52–56
- Stefan Üner: Bothe & Ehrmann- In: Wagner, Hoffmann, Loos and the furniture design of Viennese modernism. Artist, client, producer , ed. v. Eva B. Ottillinger, exhib. Cat. Imperial Furniture Collection, Vienna March 20–7. 10.2018, pp. 138-140, ISBN 978-3-205-20786-3 .