George André Lenoir
George André Lenoir (born February 5, 1825 in Kassel ; † November 2, 1909 in Meran ( South Tyrol )) was a German chemist , physicist , entrepreneur and patron .
Life
Youth and education
George André Lenoir grew up in Kassel. His father, Jérôme Henri Lenoir, had immigrated as a Huguenot from Metz , where his mother, Katharina Elisabeth, born in Kassel, was born. Cook, married and prospered as a merchant. On December 23, 1832, his brother Jean Conrad Nicolas Lenoir was born. After primary school, George André studied physics and chemistry at what was then the Polytechnic in Kassel, a forerunner of today's university , where professors Robert Wilhelm Bunsen and Friedrich Wöhler , among others , had taught. Then he continued his studies in Paris .
Business activity in Vienna
Lenoir settled in Vienna around 1850 , took on Austrian citizenship and founded a business there that initially dealt with the manufacture and sale of microscopes . Other physical instruments, chemical and pharmaceutical preparations as well as scientific and other teaching aids were added later. His business and apartment were located at Magdalenenstrasse 14 in Vienna's 6th district , where he was registered as a manufacturer of "chemical and pharmaceutical apparatus" in 1886. In 1855 he was the Austrian agency for microscopic specimens for the Swiss company " Microscopic Institute Engel & Comp. " From Wabern near Bern. In 1857 he sold two models of steam engines to Kremsmünster Abbey , where they are still in the museum today. With his products he took part in several trade exhibitions, such as the Paris World Exhibition in 1867 .
In the 1850s he ran a publishing business with his brother, who had moved to Vienna, which, among other things, brought out a collection of lithographs by prominent naturalists in 1856. However, this activity was ended by Jean Conrad's untimely death on July 11, 1872.
In 1875 Lenoir took on the chemist Dr. Karl Forster as a partner, which has since been run as an OHG under the company " Lenoir & Forster ". In 1888 the company moved to the 4th district of Vienna , Waaggasse 5, next to the Palais Colloredo , and in the following year took on Max Hlawaczek as a third partner. At that time, objects were apparently no longer manufactured in-house, but instead limited to the sale of scientific teaching aids of all kinds, such as microscopic preparations, microscopes, laboratory equipment and chemicals. Suppliers were among others the anatomist Heinrich Frey and the optical works JD Möller . In 1888, at the age of 63, Lenoir sold his company shares to his partners and withdrew from Vienna. The trading company was then continued by Forster and Hlawacek, in 1925 it was converted into a GmbH under the name " Lenoir & Forster GmbH Successor Hlawaczek & Co. " and after Max Hlawaczek's death in 1938 it was deleted on January 29, 1940.
Real estate ventures
_2.jpg)
By the 1870s, Lenoir had already amassed a considerable fortune, which he successfully invested in real estate. In doing so, he knew how to take advantage of the drop in prices caused by the Vienna stock market crash of 1873 .
In 1878 he acquired the Sliač spa (then Szliács, also Sliatsch) in central Slovakia and developed it into an elegant fashion spa , which around 1900 was particularly popular with affluent Hungarian society.
In 1886 he acquired the ruins of the Grand Hotel “ Meraner Hof ” in Merano from the troubled Allgemeine Wiener Baugesellschaft . He had the hotel completed in 1887 and sold it in 1889 to the entrepreneur Friedrich Freytag from Bad Homburg .
Foundation, endowment
In the 90s, the lifelong bachelor realized "You can't take anything with you". Impressed by the ideas of the pedagogue Heinrich Pestalozzi , the idea matured in him to use his fortune for the orphans of the city of Kassel. On February 14, 1891, he wrote to the then Lord Mayor of Kassel, Emil Weise : “ As a lasting expression of loyal love and devotion, I offer my hometown Cassel the establishment of a humanitarian foundation under the name of the brothers George and Conrad Lenoir, at my expense. for the primary purpose of bringing up orphans regardless of confession, place or country of the parents ... “. On October 25, 1893, he finally founded the legally responsible " Foundation of the Brothers George and Conrad Lenoir " and initially transferred 2 million gold marks to the city of Kassel . He later increased the foundation's capital to 6.5 million gold marks, creating what is still the largest social foundation in Hesse today. The fact that the facility came to Fürstenhagen (today a district of Hessisch Lichtenau ) was due to the acquisition of the Teichhof estate. With the proceeds from the 140 hectare farm, from the Sliač spa and from the sale of the Grandhotel Meraner Hof , the orphanage should be able to run. In 1903 the construction of the mausoleum began . It was only four years later that construction of the Lenoir Foundation began under the direction of the Kassel architect Julius Eubell. On April 1, 1909, 20 girls moved into the main building, later the socio-pedagogical college, with an outbuilding. At an advanced age, Lenoir was able to experience how children in his foundation grew up in family-like groups. He had his own donor room on the second floor of the middle house during his numerous visits. On October 8, 1909, George André Lenoir celebrated his father's birthday there with the orphans, and less than a month later, on November 2, 1909, he died of dropsy in Merano . He was buried on November 9, 1909 in the foundation's mausoleum in Fürstenhagen, where his parents, Jérôme and Elizabeth, as well as his brother Conrad and 8 other orphans, find their final resting place.
.jpg)
However, as much as the shrewd businessman George André Lenoir tried to make his work permanent, the historical changes of this century soon after the First World War meant that the fortune was largely lost. The buildings he built, now a listed building , have an eventful history behind them: They included three orphanages , the neighboring Gut Teichhof, a Pestalozzi monument, a waterworks , two mills and a bakery . The Lenoir Foundation's houses were later used as resettlers' dormitories.
The Lenoir Foundation has now been sold. An unknown bidder was awarded the contract for the building that was previously owned by the State of Hesse for € 460,000 .
Awards
- 1867 Awards at the Paris World Exhibition
- 1893 honorary citizen of the city of Kassel
- Name of the Meraner-Hof -Steg in " Lenoir-Steg "
literature
- Otto Fitz: A collection tells a story. (= Notices from the Institute for Soil Research and Building Geology, Dept. Building Geology. Special Issue 1). University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna 1993, DNB 944819710 .
- Wilhelm Niemeyer: benefactor of the city of Kassel and its foundations. Ms., Kassel 1960, DNB 453584667 , pp. 24-26.
- Johannes Ortner: The Meraner-Hof-Steg, the Lenoirsteg. In: Meraner Stadtanzeiger. 01/2013. issuu.com
- Karl Heinz A. Rosenbauer: Microscopic Preparations. Volume 1, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester 2003, ISBN 3-928865-36-6 .
- Erika Wegner: The Kassel Lenoir Foundation and the Bad Sliac. On the 75th anniversary of GA Lenoir's death. In: Yearbook Landkreis Kassel 1986. pp. 87–96.
- Werra-Rundschau: Like a castle: The mausoleum in Fürstenhagen. Werra Verlag Kluthe, Eschwege 2015. werra-rundschau.de
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Peter Csendes 1996, cit. according to Rosenbauer 2003.
- ↑ documented for 1886, Rosenbauer 2003.
- ↑ documented for 1883, Rosenbauer 2003.
- ↑ Johannes Ortner 2013.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Lenoir, George André |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German chemist and physicist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 5, 1825 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | kassel |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 2, 1909 |
| Place of death | Meran , South Tyrol |