Franz Elpel

Franz Elpel (born October 24, 1855 in Cöpenick near Berlin ; † March 21, 1934 in Nuremberg ) had been the city ​​gardener / gardening inspector from August 1, 1887 , and gardening director in Nuremberg from December 1906 . After his retirement on April 1, 1921, he continued the official business until the end of February 1922. Overall, Elpel served the city of Nuremberg for 40 years.

Education and years of work

Elpel, the son of a Royal Prussian hydraulic engineer , learned the gardening trade in the royal greenhouses in Sanssouci from 1872–1874 and then attended the Royal Gardening School in Potsdam , which he left as a horticultural artist . He worked in the Flora-Establishment Palmen- und Blumen-Gardens ( Berlin-Charlottenburg ) from April 1, 1876 to April 14, 1877. From spring 1878 to March 21, 1879 he worked in a tree nursery in England, the Elvaston Nurseries, who created the famous gardens of Elvaston Castle. An activity in the Royal State Tree Nursery in Potsdam lasted from October 26, 1879 to May 1, 1881, then he took a job in Berlin parks until October 1881.

From November 7, 1881, Franz Elpel worked as the first assistant in the Nuremberg city nursery, and in 1883 he was promoted to garden inspector . On August 25, 1882, he received a large bronze medal for a garden plan in the 1st Bavarian State, Industry, Trade and Art Exhibition in Nuremberg in 1882 . In April 1887 Elpel took over as acting head by Adolf Kowalleks freed departure point of a city gardener for several months. On August 1, 1887, the office was officially assigned to him by the city council. From 1888 he moved into house no. 13 on Fenitzer Strasse, located near the city park, as an official apartment and city gardening shop.

Activity in Nuremberg

In 1891 Elpel had to maintain an area of ​​around 30.14  hectares of public green spaces. Nuremberg thus took 12th place among German cities. The expansion of the Maxfeld to a city park in connection with the Second Bavarian State, Industry and Trade Exhibition in 1896, the green planning for the 1906 state exhibition in Luitpoldhain, and the green planning for the zoo at Dutzendteich 1911/1912 are outstanding projects under Elpel's administration. He also carried out the expansion of the ramparts and city walls.

The Nuremberg Horticultural Association (founded in 1851) awarded its long-time member Franz Elpel honorary membership. Elpel joined the horticultural association in 1882 and served it as its secretary from 1887 to December 1907, i.e. for 20 years. Elpel also organized several flower exhibitions and flower decoration competitions for the horticultural association.

Elpel's grave is in the Nuremberg Johannisfriedhof.

literature

Several references to Elpel's activity in Nuremberg can be found at

• Ute Burkart: The Rosenau, the Platnersanlage, the Colleggarten and the Cramer-Klett-Park. Four small parks from the 19th century. Origin, development and public structures until 1945 . Master's thesis in the Philosophical Faculty I of the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, without a year (1995?).