Heinrich Becker (architect)

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Heinrich Becker (born August 26, 1868 in Schwerin ; † October 31, 1922 there ; full name Heinrich Louis Friedrich Becker ) was a German architect who lived and worked in China from 1898 to 1911.

Life

Heinrich Becker was born on August 26, 1868 in Schwerin. After studying architecture in Munich, he worked in Cairo for five years , for which he received a high distinction from the Egyptian government.

When he arrived in Shanghai in 1898, he was - according to the current state of research - the first German architect in China. In addition to various villas for the resident German merchants, he built almost all of the Chinese branches of the German-Asian Bank and the “Club Concordia” for German merchants.

On March 4, 1911, Becker left China to return to his hometown Schwerin after a short break in Australia, where he built numerous buildings until his death on October 31, 1922, around 20 new buildings and conversions in Schwerin are known to date. Even today, some of his buildings in China have been preserved despite the ongoing building boom and give Shanghai the atmosphere of its very early cosmopolitanism.

Buildings (selection)

  • 1899–1902: Russo-Chinese Bank Building in Shanghai, The Bund 15 (very well preserved)
  • 1902–1905: Post office of the Imperial German Post in Shanghai, Foochow Road 6 (preserved)
  • 1904–1907: Club Concordia in Shanghai, The Bund 22 (demolished in 1934 for the new Bank of China building)
  • 1906–1907: German-Asian Bank in Beijing, Dongjiaomin Xiang (sister building of Club Concordia, first plans for monument protection in 1991, demolished in 1992)
  • 1913: Own house in Schwerin , Franzosenweg 6
  • 1919–1920: Wismarsche Strasse 241–255 / John-Brinckman-Strasse 1 and 3 sub-assembly in Schwerin

literature

  • Torsten Warner: German architecture in China. Architecture transfer. Ernst & Sohn, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-433-02429-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Schwerin City Archives , MD / BA cat. 3128
  2. ↑ Schwerin City Archives, MD / BA cat. 1045 D to L
personal data
SURNAME Becker, Heinrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES China-Becker; Becker, Heinrich Louis Friedrich (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German architect in China
DATE OF BIRTH August 26, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH Schwerin
DATE OF DEATH October 31, 1922
Place of death Schwerin