Heinrich Johann Freyse

Heinrich Johann Freyse (born February 4, 1809 in Essen , † October 4, 1850 in Krefeld ) was a German architect and construction clerk .

Life

Heinrich Johann Freyse was married to Christiane Leopoldine Nefe on May 23, 1841. His sons were Heinrich Georg (born June 24, 1841) and August (born September 8, 1844).

The son of the Essen city architect Heinrich Theodor Freyse (1774-1851) and his wife Catharina Bleckmann attended the Royal High School in Essen until late autumn 1825. Both he and his six years younger brother Carl Wilhelm Theodor took up the profession of architect at the request of their father .

Therefore, after finishing school, Johann devoted himself to the "theoretical sciences of architecture as well as the practical learning of some building trades, namely masonry, carpentry and carpentry work". His first design for a house was made in 1827, but at the time he was still under the supervision of his father. It was a house with outbuildings for the mayor of Essen, Heinrich Arnold Huyssen . Work for the Jacobi, Haniel & Huyssen shipyard followed. Among other things, he planned the interior fittings of luxuriously designed ships. He had to break off his work at the shipyard in 1832 to do the one-year military service. He then worked on Haus Vorst in Leichlingen (Rhineland) and on the castle in Drensteinfurt . He then worked for the architecture firm of Adolph von Vagedes .

In September 1836 he went on a great educational trip a. a. through Belgium and the Netherlands and then traveled to Berlin . There he passed in March 1837 as the first candidate before the Royal Prussian Oberbaudeputation under Ernst Friedrich Zwirner the master builder examination "properly qualified".

Freyse was thus authorized to take over the planning and construction management of public buildings as a private master builder. He applied for the position of a master builder in Elberfeld , but this was filled by the construction manager Hense.

Through his work in Adolf von Vagedes' office, Freyse should have heard of Krefeld too, because Vagedes had planned the expansion of the city in 1819 with the four walls. It is not known whether this was decisive for his decision to settle in Krefeld.

Freyse is mentioned for the first time in Krefeld in the foreign directory of the “Intellektivenblatt” from March 15, 1838. On March 30th and April 1st, he announced his residency as an architect through advertisements in this newspaper. His office was on Alleestraße, today's Ostwall.

Freyse was very aware of his position as a state-certified private builder. He was the first to be admitted to this test and he had passed it with the famous Karl Friedrich Schinkel . This resulted in an extremely self-confident attitude that shaped his entire professional life. This “superiority” is particularly evident in his dealings with competitors.

This is also expressed in the fact that he opposed building craftsmen, such as bricklayers and carpenters, also taking on planning tasks at the time. Together with his colleagues Jürges and Heyden, he submitted a petition to District Administrator Melsbach to “get rid of mischief and abuses in matters of construction, and to deal with the relevant laws, such as in the cities of Düsseldorf, Cologne, Elberfeld and Barmen”. This request to the district administrator was complied with. On February 12, 1841, Krefeld's mayor Leysner publicly announced that only certified builders were allowed to carry out buildings.

His two colleagues would later find out that Freyse had no hesitation in taking his training and qualifications into the field against them in order to assert himself against them in planning. With a tactical skill, Freyse managed to secure, so to speak, a monopoly on the planning and execution of public buildings.

It is therefore not surprising that he also tried to secure the prestigious position of city architect. However, this office did not prevent him from continuing to work privately as an architect. He probably took on all the jobs that he could get, but this caused him increasing difficulties due to overwork.

On March 4, 1843, the "master builder" Freyse appeared for the first time as a member of the building commission. From July 24, 1843, he was named "City Architect".

Freyse only had a short creative period as a city architect. He died on October 2, 1850 of liver disease. As early as 1846 he had to ask the Düsseldorf district government for an extension of the deadline for his work, giving the reason that his health had been in disrepair for a long time. In the period that followed, the due dates passed and his clients threatened him with fines. It seems that Freyse was hardly involved in new projects in the last years of his life, and that he probably already had problems, especially implementing the large church building projects.

If you look at his work, you will notice that he made use of two architectural styles. Its secular buildings are all built in the classical style. The public buildings appear simpler than the residential buildings. However, this is not surprising when you consider that the financial means were rather modest for the public buildings, while he built the houses for well-to-do citizens.

In the church buildings, on the other hand, he exclusively used the neo-Gothic style, but in a modern form, which only became generally accepted years later in the work to complete the Cologne Cathedral. The very early use of this style by the Protestant Old Church in Krefeld is particularly noteworthy . It was planned in 1839. However, the Eisenach regulation did not establish neo-Gothic as a binding architectural style for Protestant churches until 1861.

Church building projects in Krefeld

Old Church (Protestant)

The nave was rebuilt while maintaining the Gothic tower

• 1839 planning
• March 11, 1840 Approval of the building plans
• Inauguration on April 28, 1842

Dionysius Church (Catholic)

Construction management of the extension of the nave after planning by Zwirner

• October 21, 1840 Laying of the foundation stone for the extension
• Inauguration on December 7, 1843

Mennonite Church

Reconstruction and expansion of the existing church

• 1841 planning
• After Easter 1843 start of the renovation work
• Inauguration on December 20, 1843

synagogue

Planning of the new building of the Krefeld synagogue on Peterstrasse

• April 3, 1846 principle approval of the new building by the Düsseldorf government
• Construction work: Jürges, Krefeld
• 1851 laying of the foundation stone
• Inauguration on June 17, 1853

Church building projects outside of Krefeld

St. Stephen in Lank

• 1841/1844 construction management for the new building, planning by Johann Baptist Cremers

St. Benedictus in Düsseldorf-Heerdt

• Planning 1842/1843 as a new building, partial interior work 1843/1847

St. Nicholas in Osterath

• Planning of a new building in 1843/1845, not carried out

St. Nicholas in Orsoy

• Planning 1843/1844, construction 1846/1850

St. Petrus in Rosellen near Neuss

• Planning 1844, new building of the nave in 1845/1847

St. Maximilianus in Ruhrort

• Construction management 1845/1847 for the new building based on a submission of the Oberbaudeputation from 1844

St. Gereon in Monheim

• Restoration and expansion, planning 1845, but not adhered to during the construction work

St. Hubertus in St. Hubert / Kempen

• New construction of the nave according to a design by Lüdke with possible involvement of Freyses, construction management 1846/1850

St. Michael in Dormagen

• New building planning in 1846, not implemented

Municipal buildings

Catholic elementary school on the north wall in Krefeld

• August 5, 1839 planning
• September 1839 start of construction
• Completion October 1840

Catholic elementary school at Niederkasseler Strasse 36 in Düsseldorf-Niederkassel

• 1843 planning
• 1844/1845 construction work

Catholic elementary school on Inrather Strasse in Krefeld

• 1844 planning
• 1846 completion

City Hospital Krefeld

• 1843/1844 planning
• April 29, 1845 laying of the foundation stone
• April 1848 admission of the first patient

Private houses in Krefeld

• Ostwall 246, new building, approval March 13, 1839
• Nordwall 49, new building, approval April 14, 1840
• Ostwall 209–211, new building, approval April 14, 1840 (Freyses own house)
• Ostwall 177, new building, approval June 18, 1841
• Friedrichstrasse 22, renovation of the facade, approval September 16, 1842
• Nordwall 29–33, new building, approval June 11, 1841
• Moerser Straße 18, new building, approval March 13, 1839
• Königstrasse 103, renovation, approval March 13, 1839
• Ostwall 152, new building, approval September 22, 1841
• Ostwall 271–273, new building, approval June 11, 1841
• Ostwall 235, attribution based on stylistic features
• Ostwall 47, attribution based on stylistic features

Other jobs outside of Krefeld

• Houses Huyssen, Essen, executed in 1827
• House Schell, Düsseldorf, executed in 1828/1829
• Horst Castle, Recklinghausen, 1829 restoration (questionable)
• Beckerscher Saal, Düsseldorf, interior work, carried out between 1829 and 1831
• Königliches Magazin, Düsseldorf, executed between 1829 and 1831
• Steamship "Stadt Koblenz", interior work, carried out in 1830/1831
• Herrenhaus Schloss Vorst, Leichlingen, executed in 1833/1834
• Steinfurt Castle, Drensteinfurt, renovation and new construction, carried out in 1834

literature

• Klaus Eichenberg: The city architect Heinrich Johann Freyse. Mönchengladbach 1970, quote a from Freyse's résumé in the Wuppertal city archive.
• City archive Krefeld file 3/84 p. 234ff.
• City archive Krefeld file 3/424 p. 178ff. (During the construction of the municipal hospital in Krefeld, both appeared as competitors, whose competence Freyse denied to the mayor.)
• City archive Krefeld, minutes of the building commission