Franz Andreas Meyer

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Andreas Meyer

Franz Andreas Meyer (born December 6, 1837 in Hamburg , † March 17, 1901 in Bad Wildungen ; full name: Franz Ferdinand Carl Andreas Meyer ) was a German civil engineer who worked from 1872 to 1901 alongside the long-term head of Hamburg's structural engineering Carl Johann Christian Zimmermann played a key role in shaping the image of the city of Hamburg. Above all, he is honored as the creator of the Speicherstadt .

origin

Meyer's family had lived in Hamburg for several generations. His father Ferdinand Wilhelm Meyer (1800–1862) was a businessman who had to give up his business in 1851 due to economic difficulties. Eduard Meyer and Kuno Meyer were cousins ​​of Franz Andreas Meyer.

Life

Meyer grew up in Hamburg, after attending Elise Averdieck's boys' preschool , he switched to the Johanneum 's school for scholars in 1846 . In 1854 he left school prematurely to enroll at the Hanover Polytechnic . During his studies he was decisively influenced by one of his teachers, Conrad Wilhelm Hase , and he joined the Hanover School of Architecture , according to whose ideas he built his entire life. After successfully completing his studies in 1858, he first worked for one year in Conrad Wilhelm Hase's office, then moved to the general management of the Royal Hanover State Railways to help build the Packhof. He then went to Bremerhaven , where he helped build the main train station in Geestemünde .

He returned to Hamburg when he got a job with the shipping and port deputation in 1862 . In the following five years Meyer was mainly involved in the construction of the new Sandtorhafen and in the new surveying of the Elbe from Ritzebüttel to Hamburg. In 1865 Meyer was appointed engineer and technical office manager under Hydraulic Engineering Director Johannes Dalmann (1823–1875). When the position of the district engineer of the inner city became vacant, Meyer changed within the building deputation in 1868. In the same year he married Antonie Mathilde Goßler (1848–1920), a niece of the Hamburg Senator Hermann Goßler .

Franz Andreas Meyer's grave

After his superior Christian Wilhelm Plath (1820-1894) retired in 1872, Meyer was appointed chief engineer, he was responsible for the traffic and public facilities, the civil engineering of the city and the area, including the associated hydraulic and bridge construction , the irrigation and drainage and for the surveying with the plans for the city expansion . In this position he shaped Hamburg until his early death. Meyer died at the age of 63 after going to a doctor friend in Bad Wildungen to alleviate his acute symptoms. Meyer was a member of the Hamburg Artists' Association from 1832 .

Speicherstadt

When the construction of the Speicherstadt became more concrete in 1883 , Meyer became the chief planner and designer of the Speicherstadt. On the one hand, because the construction deputation was entrusted with the engineering planning and implementation of the project. In addition, Meyer was an advisor to the Hamburger Freihafen-Lagerhaus-Gesellschaft , which had been re-established in 1885 to guarantee the construction and operation of the warehouse buildings. As a consultant, he was able to provide the architects involved, Wilhelm Emil Meerwein , Bernhard Georg Hanssen , Hugo Stammann (1831–1909) and Gustav Zinnow (1846–1934), with detailed design specifications that they had to implement.

Cross-section of the Speicherstadt with Meyer's signature

Public buildings and facilities

During his service time, the Hamburg population grew from 200,000 to 700,000 people. This made a variety of new buildings necessary. Most of the buildings were carried out by Meyer's employees, over whom he was in charge. Meyer designed some important buildings himself, including the Trostbrücke , Heiligengeistbrücke, Feenteichbrücke , Krugkoppelbrücke , Brooksbrücke , Schwanenwikbrücke and Hohe Brücke . In the area of ​​water art, this includes the Vierländerin fountain . Meyer was in charge of the renovation of Bergedorf Castle from 1897 to 1901.

Meyer's particular interest was the establishment of systems that served public health. He planned the Alsterbadeanstalt at the Lombard Bridge in 1886 and the Hohe Weide public bath in Hamburg-Eimsbüttel, built in 1897 . Meyer had already planned the water filtration system at Kaltehofe , which was completed in 1893, in the mid-1880s. He took up a project that William Lindley had called for in 1860 . The Hamburg citizenship stopped and delayed the project this time too. Only after 8,600 deaths were to be mourned during the cholera epidemic of 1892 , mainly due to the unfiltered water, the construction was carried out with the help of soldiers and an operating building with laboratories to control the water quality was built.

Meyer is also responsible for the majority of the inner-city parks. He planned the bank areas of the Alsterpark , redesigned the Hamburg ramparts , was heavily involved in the design of the Ohlsdorf cemetery and built the Innocentiapark and the park in front of the Eppendorfer hospital .

Meyer worked out a general plan for Hamburg in order to be able to plan water pipes and other supply networks. This plan, which was completed in 1896 after several years of preparatory work, later had the function of a development plan, as planned public spaces, canals and railway lines were drawn. The future square of the Hamburg city park was also planned there.

Appreciation

Alongside Lindley and Fritz Schumacher, Meyer was one of the most influential figures in today's Hamburg, and his largely implemented master plan from 1896 also laid the foundations for this. Nevertheless, his reputation faded relatively quickly, mainly because the Hanover Architecture School was not very popular in Hamburg. He was not involved in building the new town hall. Meyer was a sought-after specialist internationally. In 1900 he created an incinerator for Warsaw as a commissioned work and in 1878 advised the city of Strasbourg on its planned expansion of the city. Meyer was also involved in the expansion of the port facilities in Kiel due to the opening of the Kiel Canal .

Honors

The Andreas-Meyer-Brücke and the Andreas-Meyer-Strasse in Hamburg-Billbrook are named in his memory. Andreasstrasse in Hamburg-Winterhude was named after him by the private builder Sierich as a thank you for Meyer's advice on the development in 1866.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Katrin Maak: The warehouse district in the Hamburg free port. Hamburg 1985, ISBN 3-7672-0907-1 , p. 71.
  2. ^ Matthias von Popowski: Franz Andreas Meyer (1837-1901). Senior engineer and head of engineering from 1872 to 1901. In: Dieter Skull (Hrsg.): How the work of art Hamburg came about. Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-937904-35-2 .
  3. ^ Matthias von Popowski: Franz Andreas Meyer (1837-1901). Senior engineer and head of engineering from 1872 to 1901. In: Dieter Skull (Hrsg.): How the work of art Hamburg came about. Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-937904-35-2 , p. 77.
  4. ↑ Horst Beckershaus: The Hamburg street names. Hamburg 1997, ISBN 3-8225-0421-1 , p. 28.
personal data
SURNAME Meyer, Franz Andreas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Meyer, Andreas; Meyer, Franz Ferdinand Carl Andreas (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German civil engineer
DATE OF BIRTH December 6, 1837
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH March 17, 1901
Place of death Bad Wildungen