Erwin Marx

This article describes Erwin Alexander Marx. For information on the engineering scientist Erwin Otto Marx see there.

Erwin Alexander Marx (born January 16, 1841 in Dresden , † January 29, 1901 in Darmstadt ) was a German architect and university professor .

Life

Erwin Marx was granted citizenship of the city of Dresden on July 19, 1864. Marx completed his studies on October 13, 1870 with a diploma as a "certified master builder". He then worked as an agricultural inspector in the Saxon civil service in Dresden. From this position he was appointed to the third professorship for architecture at the Polytechnic School Darmstadt on August 29, 1873 . The expansion of the architecture faculty was a late consequence of the increasing construction activity in the early days , but the number of students during this time was a few dozen.

With the conversion of the polytechnic school into a technical college in 1877, the training of architects was also intensified. In the study program, great emphasis was placed on extensive knowledge and skills. a. the art and building history as well as historical building structures.

In the late 1880s and early 1890s, Marx was (co-) author of some of the volumes of the Handbuch der Architektur , which was published between 1880 and 1943 a. a. was (co) edited by his Darmstadt colleague Heinrich Wagner .

As a result of the upswing of the technical university in the 1880s, which was justified by the establishment of the first chair for electrical engineering ( Erasmus Kittler ), a structural expansion at another location was necessary. Erwin Marx was commissioned to design and build the two institute buildings for electrical engineering / physics and chemistry on the north side of Hochschulstrasse. On the opposite side, Heinrich Wagner erected the main building (today the "old main building").

The groundbreaking ceremony for the entire building complex took place on February 28, 1893. The two institute buildings of Marx were occupied in January 1895 and at Easter 1896 (chemistry building). In their original form, the institute buildings consisted of two completely separate structures. Due to the different design of the two structures compared to the symmetrical design of the main building by Wagner, a certain loosening of the entire complex was created. The construction costs of the entire facility including the outbuildings and the land costs amounted to over 2.6 million marks .

Erwin Marx was dean of the architecture faculty several times (1879–1883, 1889–1895, 1897–1898) and rector of the university in 1886/1887 . On October 28, 1895, the day the new institute building was inaugurated, he was appointed a secret building officer because of his services to these new buildings .

Marx participated in the drafts for the necessary further expansion of the university, but died in January 1901 of a serious illness. In 1902 Heinrich Walbe was appointed to the architecture faculty of the Technical University of Darmstadt as his successor .

Honors

• September 12, 1887: Knight's Cross 1st Class of the Order of Merit of Philip the Magnanimous
• October 28, 1895: Secret building officer
• November 25, 1900: Cross of Honor of the Order of Merit of Philip the Magnanimous

literature

• The new building of the Grand Ducal Technical University of Darmstadt. Festschrift for the inauguration of the new buildings on October 28, 1895. Darmstadt 1895.
• Christa Wolf, Marianne Viefhaus: Directory of professors at TH Darmstadt. Darmstadt 1977.
• Marianne Viefhaus: Marx, Erwin. In: Stadtlexikon Darmstadt. Theiss, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-8062-1930-3 , p. 610.
• Lars Adler: Award list "Cross of Honor of the Order of Merit of Philip the Generous 1900–1918". German Society for Ordinance , o. O. 2016, p. 5. ( online as PDF; 668 kB)