Hans Hindermann

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Hans (Johann Jakob) Hindermann (born August 15, 1877 in Basel ; † January 9, 1963 in Bern ) was a Swiss architect whose residential architecture shaped the image of the city of Basel in the 20th century.

Hans Hindermann, around 1907
Early bookplate by Hans Hindermann. Woodcut (1906) by Max Bucherer ; Lake Constance landscape near Steckborn , view of Gaienhofen and the Hegau .

life and work

After graduating from the upper secondary school in Basel in 1895, Hans Hindermann initially did an “architectural apprenticeship” in a Basel construction business, attended Emil Faesch's trade school and worked in his architectural office “Faesch & Werz”. In 1898 he began studying architecture at the Technical University of Munich , which he completed in 1900. His academic teacher was u. a. Friedrich von Thiersch . After completing his studies, Hindermann temporarily found work in the architectural office “Friedrich & Werz” in Wiesbaden . With his college friend Hans Bernoulli he went on a study trip through Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands in 1902 ; after that they parted ways. Bernoulli went to Berlin, Hindermann initially stayed in Wiesbaden, where he opened his own architectural office in 1903, which he gave up in the same year in favor of a position as a curator at the Basel industrial museum. Although referred to as his "position in life", the work as a conservator did not seem to fill him and Hindermann continued to pursue his interests in the field of architecture.

"Haus Hesse" in Gaienhofen, contemporary postcard of the house (1907–1912). Architect: Hans Hindermann
Signatures of the client and the architect, Hermann Hesse and Hans Hindermann, under the building plan from 1907.

As Hindermann 1905 an order for the boarding school Schloss Glarisegg in Steckborn got, he announced his position in Basel, sold the local family home and moved with his friend Nuremberg painter and graphic artist Bruno Goldschmitt to Berlingen on the submarine . In 1906 he married Hedwig Tanner, a cousin of his friend Hans Bernoulli, with whom he had two daughters. In 1907, Hindermann received the order from Hermann Hesse and his then wife Mia Hesse-Bernoulli to build their house in Gaienhofen , a country house villa in the style of reform architecture ; likewise for the family of the writer and doctor Ludwig Finckh , who was friends with Hesse at the time , also in Gaienhofen. During the construction period in 1907, Hindermann moved from Berlingen to the neighboring Steckborn, opposite Gaienhofen. In the same year he also built the house for the local tailor Josef Köpfler in Gaienhofen. In his “Künstlerhaus”, a studio was set up on the first floor for the graphic artist Max Bucherer, who was friends with Hesse and Finckh at the time , followed by Otto Blümel and Ludwig Renner .

In 1909, Hindermann initially took a position in the architecture firm “Bracher & Widmer ” in Bern, which at that time owned the “Hotel National”, Bundesplatz 2 (since 1919 the seat of the “Schweizerische Kreditanstalt”) and the administration building of the “Schweizerische Volksbank” in the Christoffelgasse realized. In Bern, Hindermann was then co-owner of the “(Gottfried) Schneider & Hindermann” office between 1911 and 1927, which built the “home-style residential development” on Weststrasse in 1914/15 and later the terraced housing estate on Engeriedweg. During this time, Hindermann also built his first own house in Muri (1913) and in 1920 he moved with the family to the new settlement on Engeriedweg. During his time in Bern, he also became involved in the “Swiss Free Land and Free Money Association” .

After his divorce in 1928, he was married to Frieda Kuratle from Bern for the second time. In 1927/1928, Hindermann was “discovered” by the Basel real estate entrepreneur Wilhelm Emil Baumgartner (1893–1946), who brought him back to Basel, initially to succeed Hans Bernoulli as his new construction specialist, to design the “Grossgarage C. Schlotterbeck” in Basel, Viaduktstrasse 40 to conclude. Hindermann stayed in Basel and in 1929 founded the architecture firm Baumgartner & Hindermann with Baumgartner, which built 306 houses of the same shape in Basel over the next nine years, 302 of which still exist today: the so-called "Baumgartner houses", four and five-story buildings a total of around 1,500 apartments for the middle class. The designs of the head buildings of the popular Baumgartnerhäuser ensemble, which characterizes the cityscape, all come from Hindermann as Baumgartner's leading architect. "Baumgartner & Hindermann" saw themselves as traditional architects and were more interested in continuing to build the city of Basel according to traditional models than in introducing innovative residential architecture. In Basel, in addition to single and multi-family houses, Hindermann also built individual administrative and industrial buildings, a school building and an indoor swimming pool. In 1939 Hindermann ended his collaboration with Baumgartner after 12 years and also left the joint architecture office after ten years. Long trips and stays abroad followed.

Hindermann, who lived temporarily with his wife in Portugal and was increasingly staying in Bern's rock castle as his “second home”, died in Bern in early January 1963 at the age of 85.

literature

  • Thomas Scheuffelen: Hermann Hesse's house in Gaienhofen on Lake Constance (= tracks 3). German Schiller Society, Marbach 1990.
  • Rebekka Brandenberger, Ulrike Zophoniasson, Marco Zünd: The Baumgartner Houses - Basel 1926–1938. Birkhäuser, Basel 2002; 2nd edition 2010, ISBN 978-3-03460693-6 ; here the chapter: “The entrepreneur and his architect”, p. 37 ff.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See on this and for all of the following information on life and work: Rebekka Brandenberger, Ulrike Zophoniasson, Marco Zünd: Die Baumgartnerhäuser - Basel 1926–1938. Birkhäuser, Basel 2002; 2nd edition 2010, ISBN 978-3-03460693-6 ; here the chapter: The entrepreneur and his architect, p. 37 ff.
  2. ↑ Facsimile of the building plan in: Thomas Scheuffelen: Hermann Hesse's house in Gaienhofen on Lake Constance (= traces, 3rd) Deutsche Schillergesellschaft, Marbach 1990.
  3. ^ Thomas Scheuffelen: Hermann Hesse's house in Gaienhofen on Lake Constance (= traces, 3rd) German Schiller Society, Marbach 1990; as an enclosure there also the plan drawings by Hindermann as a facsimile .
  4. ↑ See: Architektonische Rundschau , Issue 1, 1909, 2nd supplement: Two poets' apartments on Lake Constance. Engelhorn, Stuttgart 1909; Digitized version of Heidelberg University Library, online .
  5. ↑ See: Ludwig Finckh: Gaienhofener Idylle. Memories of Hermann Hesse . Knödler, Reutlingen 1981, ISBN 3-87421-107-X , p. 55 ff .; Digital version of the building application with 5 construction plans from Hindermann (1906) on: LEO-BW-Landeskunde discover online.
  6. ↑ See Urs Widmer: The former large garage C. Schlotterbeck. In: Industrie-Kultur (IN.KU) , October 5, 1992, online (PDF).
  7. ↑ Oliver Braams: The story behind the popular Baumgartner apartments. In: Tageswoche, April 20, 2015, accessed on July 12, 2019.
  8. ↑ Cf. Lutz Windhöfel: Basels Andere Moderne. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , February 21, 2001, accessed on July 12, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Hindermann, Hans
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hindermann, Johann Jakob (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss architect
DATE OF BIRTH August 15, 1877
PLACE OF BIRTH Basel
DATE OF DEATH January 9, 1963
Place of death Bern