David Anton Kufahl

David Anton Kufahl (born August 29, 1763 in Güstrow ; † November 8, 1831 in Wismar ) was a German architect and builder of the early classicism .

Life

Town hall in Güstrow

After training as a bricklayer from 1778 to 1781, David Anton Kufahl went on a journey via Berlin to St. Petersburg . During these years, under Tsarina Catherine II , many magnificent residential and town houses were built in the up-and-coming metropolis. It was here that Kufahl gained experience and was impressed by the representative buildings, but also by the elegant, simple residential buildings of the wealthy Petersburg residents. He then traveled to Denmark , where he was a member of the masons' guild from 1787 to 1790. During these years he attended the Art Academy in Copenhagen and studied architecture. Then Kufahl continued his studies in Berlin with David Gilly , one of the pioneers of classicism in Germany. He settled in Güstrow in Mecklenburg and received the order to extensively rebuild and expand the town's too small town hall . In 1797/98 the new town hall was designed from four gabled houses. From 1804 to 1808 he built the houses at Am Markt 17 and 33 . With a clear and strict structure, Kufahl succeeded in using early classical elements, which, although they show the Berlin School, speak their own language.

The tasks in Güstrow were not sufficient for the busy master craftsman, he worked as master carpenter and mason in Schwerin from 1809 to 1811 , in Rostock from 1811 to 1822 and in Wismar from 1822 to his death in 1831 . In the last years of his life, David Anton Kufahl was increasingly socially active, so in 1825 he founded a Sunday school for building craftsmen in Wismar, the concept of which has proven itself for the training of young craftsmen and was also spread in many places in Germany.

Literature and Sources

• Gerhard Steiniger: Master builder in Mecklenburg from eight centuries. Reinhard Thon Verlag, Schwerin 1998, ISBN 3-928820-88-5