Franz Georg Himpler

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Franz Alexander Aloysius Georg Himpler (born May 14, 1833 in Ottweiler ; † September 13, 1916 in Hoboken , USA ) was a German architect who emigrated to the USA with his family in 1867 and designed and predominantly sacred buildings in various US states carried out.

Life

Architect Franz Georg Himpler (1833–1916)

Franz Georg Himpler was born in Ottweiler as the son of the stonemason Leonhard Himpler and his Trier- born wife Christina Himpler (née Hasborn). Himpler first made an apprenticeship as a bricklayer and passed the master's examination. From 1857 he studied architecture at the Berlin Building Academy under the art historian Wilhelm Lübke , who had a strong influence on him. At the tunnel in Mettlach on the Saar railway Himpler worked with in years 1858 and 1860th Himpler had been building the neo-Gothic Katharinenkirche in Wallerfangen since 1859. He then also lived in Wallerfangen in 1860. On June 13, 1863, Himpler married Maria Magdalena Bier, a boatman's daughter born in Wallerfangen , who was born there in 1839 and who gave birth to a daughter in 1864 and 1866. The young family lived in a house on the corner of Leoniestraße and Hauptstraße. Himpler was a member of the Wallerfanger local council as well as the board of trustees of the Wallerfanger Sophienstiftung since 1864.

In 1867, Himpler's half-brother Franz Josef Karl, who was a locksmith by trade, broke into the rectory in Trierweiler and stole 200 thalers. When he was surprised by the rectory housekeeper Anna Maria Fisch, he killed her. Franz Josef Karl Himpler was arrested and sentenced to death. Presumably out of shame about these events, Franz Georg Himpler broke all bridges in his home country and emigrated with his wife and two daughters to the USA, where he arrived in July 1867. Here he was able to continue working as a church architect just 14 days after his arrival, supported by several letters of recommendation. He built St. Benedict Abbey in Atchison (Kansas) , which was then the largest Benedictine abbey in the USA. Presumably without Himpler's knowledge and without financial compensation, the Trier General Vicariate allowed the parish of Roxheim to reuse Himpler's plans for the Church of St. Medardus in Neuforweiler. In the USA, Himpler himself used his own plans of churches that he had built in Saarland in a slightly different form: While the Church of St. Joseph in Detroit is an enlarged version of the neo-Gothic Wallerfanger Katharinenkirche, the Marienkirche in Rome near New York is one A scaled-down version of the Wallerfang sacred building. Peter Joseph Schmitt, the pastor in Rome, knew Himpler from his time as chaplain in Germany and commissioned him with the construction.

In addition to church buildings, Himpler also built numerous public buildings. He also worked as an entrepreneur, appraiser and engineer. Himpler finally settled in Hoboken near Manhattan, where he belonged to the upper class. When he died in 1916, the New York Times printed an obituary. Himpler left his own finds to the Bonn fossil collector Ludwig Schultze for his collection.

Buildings and designs

With the plans presented in 1859 for the parish church of St. Katharina in Wallerfangen , which were realized in the years 1861 to 1863, the chapel of St. Joseph built in Wallerfangen in 1864 (demolished in 1878/1879, moved to Mettlach and there rebuilt in 1882) and the expansion of the parish church of St. Maximin in Klotten between 1864 and 1868 , Franz Georg Himpler became known nationwide.

In the years 1863–1868 he built the parish church of St. Marien in Ensdorf and in the years 1864–1866 the parish church of St. Medardus in Neuforweiler .

In addition, he seems to have been involved in the planning of a building project that was not carried out until three years after his emigration, namely the Catholic parish church of St. Clemens in Ruwer , built by Reinhold Wirtz in the years 1870–1871 .

After moving to the USA, he created numerous sacred and secular buildings there between 1867 and 1905 .

  • Religious buildings by Franz Georg Himplers

  • St. Katharina, Wallerfangen

  • St. Joseph Chapel, Mettlach

  • St. Maximin, Klotten, extension

  • St. Medardus, Neuforweiler, later changes to the tower

  • St. Marien, Ensdorf, later expansion and changes to the tower

  • St. Clemens, Trier-Ruwer

  • Saint Joseph, Catholic Church (Detroit, MI)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johannes A. Bodwig: Article "A murder caused him to emigrate - Wallerfangen Research Association gave interesting insights into the life of Franz Georg Himpler", in: Saarbrücker Zeitung, February 28, 2013, No. 50, page C 3. "
  2. ↑ a b Johannes A. Bodwig: Article "From the life and work of an architect - lecture on Franz Georg Himpler in Wallerfangen", in: Saarbrücker Zeitung, February 18, 2013, No. 41, page C 2.
  3. ↑ Johannes Werres: Not unique, that is unique . Surprise for the 150th birthday: The Neuforweiler Church has a double. In: Saarbrücker Zeitung, local section Dillingen . March 21, 2016, p. C 1 ( online ).
  4. ↑ Johannes A. Bodwig: Article "A murder caused him to emigrate - the Wallerfangen Research Association gave interesting insights into the life of Franz Georg Himpler, in: Saarbrücker Zeitung, February 28, 2013, No. 50, page C 3."
  5. ↑ Ludwig Schultze: Monograph of the Echinoderma des Eifeler Kalkes. In: Memorandum of the K. Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Classe, Volume 26. Vienna 1866, pp. 113–229. ( Digitized version )
  6. ↑ Georg Himpler had already built the first historic parish church on the Saar in 1862 with St. Katharina in Wallerfangen. , accessed on August 11, 2013.
  7. ↑ On the trail of a great catfish catcher. (PDF; 2.7 MB), accessed on August 11, 2013.
  8. ↑ Kristine Marschall: Sacral Buildings of Classicism and Historicism in Saarland, (publications by the Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland, vol. 40), Saarbrücken 2002, pp. 360–361 and p. 600.
  9. ↑ Rupert Schreiber: A neo-Gothic jewel with a "moving" history, The St. Josef Chapel in Mettlach, in: Saargeschichten, 2, 2017, issue 47, ed. from the Historical Association for the Saar Region e. V. and the regional association of the historical-cultural associations of Saarland eV, pp. 17–23.
  10. ^ Arthur Fontaine: The St. Josef Chapel in Mettlach and their Way of the Cross, 2nd edition, Norderstedt 2017.
  11. ↑ Sebastian Staudhamer : Principles for Church Expansion. In: Die christliche Kunst , 45th year 1917/1918, p. 137f., Especially p. 138.
  12. ↑ Reinhold Schommers : The church expansion in Klotten (1864-1868). One of the most exemplary neo-Gothic building projects in the Rhineland. In: Yearbook District Cochem-Zell , 1990.
  13. ↑ Kristine Marschall: Sacral Buildings of Classicism and Historicism in Saarland, (publications by the Institute for Regional Studies in Saarland, vol. 40), Saarbrücken 2002, p. 385.
  14. ^ Entry on St. Clemens in the database of cultural assets in the Trier region ; Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  15. ^ Family history sheets with a portrait of Franz Georg Himpler. (PDF; 194 kB) West German Society for Family Studies e. V., Cologne, December 2006, accessed on August 5, 2013 .
personal data
SURNAME Himpler, Franz Georg
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Himpler, Franz Alexander Aloysius Georg (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German architect
DATE OF BIRTH May 14, 1833
PLACE OF BIRTH Ottweiler
DATE OF DEATH September 13, 1916
Place of death Hoboken , USA