Carl Otto Hager

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Carl Otto Hager (born October 16, 1813 in Dresden , Kingdom of Saxony ; † October 8, 1898 in Stellenbosch , Cape Colony ) was a German architect . He is considered one of the first important representatives of the neo-Gothic style in South Africa .

Life

“De Eiken” (The Oaks) in Stellenbosch , the house in which Carl Otto Hager lived between 1854 and 1898.

Hager studied architecture at the Dresden Art Academy from 1828 to 1834 . He then studied for another three years. After a practical training, he emigrated to the Cape Colony in December 1838 with his fellow student Carel Sparmann . Both opened a design office in Cape Town . In 1840 they were entrusted with the planning of St. Mary's Cathedral there. After their completion, Sparmann and Hager parted ways.

Hager moved to Stellenbosch in 1841 , and the following year to Paarl , where he worked as a portrait painter . In April 1845 he returned to Germany, but in December 1846 he went back to South Africa with his widowed mother and opened a tobacco shop in Cape Town. In 1861 Hager settled in Stellenbosch again. His most famous building was erected there between 1862 and 1865 with the redesign of the Moederkerk , with which he significantly influenced the use of Gothic elements in church construction in South Africa.

buildings

The Moederkerk in Stellenbosch
personal data
SURNAME Hager, Carl Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German architect
DATE OF BIRTH October 16, 1813
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden , Kingdom of Saxony
DATE OF DEATH October 8, 1898
Place of death Stellenbosch , Cape Colony