Christian Döring (master builder)

Christian Döring (born September 18, 1677 in Leipzig ; † December 24, 1750 ibid) was a Leipzig architect and builder of the baroque era . He created several representative town houses between 1715 and 1725, which helped shape the cityscape of the trade fair city until they were destroyed in World War II .

Live and act

The master builder Christian Döring, whose art-historical importance for Leipzig can be compared with Johann Gregor Fuchs , David Schatz or George Werner , was largely ignored in local historical research for a long time. This may be due to the fact that, on the one hand, his most important buildings fell victim to the destruction of Leipzig in the Second World War, and, on the other hand, Döring had to give way to George Werner's competition after 1725 and was thus mistakenly perceived as the master builder of the stylistic transition from Fuchs to Werner. Nikolaus Pevsner and Wolfgang Hocquél deserve the joint merit of having reassessed and recognized Döring's work.

“ If you think of the row of his buildings, then you realize that you will not forget them all because they - each an artistic being in itself - are all creatures of a rich and flourishing personality, an artist to whom no one is a down-to-earth and can deny bourgeois genius in the best sense of the word. "

- Nikolaus Pevsner, 1928

Katharinenstrasse 16, 14 and 12 (destroyed 1943–1963), engraving by Johann George Schreiber around 1720

The son of an old family of craftsmen from Leipzig became a journeyman with George Rotzsch in 1699 . He became a master bricklayer in 1705 and carried out independent work since 1708, in which he first demonstrated his extraordinary ability and thus gained the attention of the wholesale merchant Peter Hohmann , who promoted him in the years to come. In 1715 Döring joined the shooting society.

Christian Döring carried out the most important building contracts in Leipzig between 1715 and 1725, such as the "Döringschen houses" later named after him at Katharinenstrasse 12, 14 (so-called Schellhaffersches, from 1727 Oertelsches house , where Bach played) and 16 (so-called. Hohmannsches Haus ), whereby the shell of the last-named building was completed by Gregor Fuchs, who died on August 16, 1715. The builders Fuchs, Döring, Werner and Seltendorff designed with their baroque buildings the Katharinenstraße into a boulevard that was known far beyond the borders of Leipzig in the 18th century, with Döring mainly shaping the eastern side of the street, which was destroyed in the Second World War.

Bürgerhaus Kleine Fleischergasse 4 ("Zum Arabischen Coffe Baum")

From 1719 onwards, Döring used more ornate style elements, which he probably got to know during his trip (s) to Bohemia and Prague . However, after 1725 he was less in demand as an architect and master builder, as his Leipzig clients followed a change that had already been made in Dresden , Prussia and the Thuringian states and now dispensed with lively, lively decorations on their buildings. Döring, however, stuck to his architectural style and therefore had to gradually give way to George Werner, who dominated the Leipzig building scene until 1755. The most important late work of Christian Döring, who was promoted to master mason in 1740, remained the hood of today's Old Town Hall , which was redesigned in 1744 .

According to Pevsner, Döring is also said to have renewed the outside of the still preserved town house, Kleine Fleischergasse 4 (" Zum Arabischen Coffe Baum ") , which was converted by A. Jacob in 1718/19 .

The married Christian Döring was the father of 16 children between 1700 and 1727, including the later important council carpenter Christoph Döring (* 1700 in Leipzig; † 9 February 1763 ibid.), Who worked independently since 1737, and the master bricklayer Johann Gottfried Döring (* January 28, 1708 in Leipzig, † May 28, 1778 ibid.), Who created the garden pavilion at Seeburgstrasse 45 ( Linck's garden house ). The master carpenter Johann Gottlob Döring (Christoph's son) and the master mason Gottlob Friedrich Döring (Johann Gottfried's son, † July 11, 1796) were also among the much sought-after craftsmen of the Döring family.

Works (selection)

• Bürgerhaus, Kleine Fleischergasse 29 (1708, no longer preserved)
• Town houses Katharinenstraße 12, 14 ( Zimmermannsches Kaffeehaus ) and 16 ( "Döringsche Houses" , all from 1715 to 1717, No. 14 & 16 destroyed in World War II, No. 12 undamaged but demolished in 1963/64)
• Conversion or new building of the Hôtels de Saxe , Klostergasse 9 (1717, destroyed in the Second World War)
• Decoration of the exterior facade in the coffee house " Zum Arabischen Coffe Baum " , Kleine Fleischergasse 4, (around 1718)
• Bürgerhaus Petersstraße 21 (1719, destroyed in World War II)
• Bürgerhaus Neumarkt 12 (around 1720, destroyed in World War II)
• Baumgärtner's crypt in the old Johannis cemetery (1725 or 1726)
• Bürgerhaus Brühl 27 (Winckler's house from 1733 to 1735, possibly together with his son Christoph Döring, no longer preserved)
• Portal to Jöcher's house (1736)
• Baroque tower dome of the Old Town Hall (1744)

literature

• Rose-Marie Frenzel and Wolfgang G. Schröter: Hermann Walter , Photographs from Leipzig 1862-1909 . Fotokinoverlag, Leipzig 1988.
• Wolfgang Hocquél , Leipzig - Builders and Buildings - From the Romanesque to the Present , Tourist Verlag, Berlin / Leipzig, 1990, ISBN 3-350-00333-8 .
• Wolfgang Hocquél (editor), Leipzig, VEB EA Seemann Verlag Leipzig, 1983.
• Nikolaus Pevsner , Leipziger Barock - Die Baukunst der Barockzeit in Leipzig , EA Seemann Verlag, Leipzig 1st edition 1990 (reprint of the edition of the publishing house by Wolfgang Jess , Dresden. 1st edition 1928) ISBN 3-363-00457- 5 .

Remarks

1. ↑ Quotation from: Nikolaus Pevsner, Leipziger Barock, p. 83 and Wolfgang Hocquél, Leipzig - Baumeister und Bauten, p. 221
2. ↑ George Rotzsch became a journeyman with Christian Richter in 1663 , master craftsman in 1670 and master mason in 1692. In addition to Christian Döring, he also trained Adam Jacob (1671–1743), the builder of the community center at Kleine Fleischergasse 4 (“Zum Arabischen Coffe Baum”). Rotzsch died in 1700.
3. ↑ Nikolaus Pevsner: Leipziger Barock , p. 80
4. ↑ The builders were the large merchants Dr. Polycarp Gottlieb Schacher (No. 12), Johann Schellhaffer (No. 14) and Peter Hohmann (No. 16)
5. ↑ http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=124815385&postcount=41
6. ↑ The Hôtel de Saxe served as the quarters of the Saxon ruling family, Napoleons, Gneisenaus and Blüchers. In 1848 revolutionaries used the hotel as a meeting place, later meetings of the workers' movement took place there.