Hermann Koenig

The title of this article is ambiguous. For other people with the same name, see Hermann König .

Hermann Koenig (born May 27, 1883 in Landeshut , Province of Silesia , † May 1961 in Hamburg ) was a German landscape architect .

Life

After training as a gardener at the royal-princely court gardening in Kamenz, Hermann Koenig attended the higher horticultural school in Köstritz and the Magdeburg school of applied arts and crafts . He then worked as a garden technician in several architectural offices in Hesse , the Rhineland and Mannheim . At Alfred Lichtwark's instigation , he came to Hamburg, where from 1909 he worked in Jakob Ochs' horticultural company. From 1910 to 1919 he ran the landscape gardening company Koenig & Roggenbrod together with Jonathan Roggenbrod as partner and artistic director .

After serving in the First World War , Koenig returned to the Hanseatic city . Here he founded the office for horticulture, cultural engineering and settlement as the sole owner . Koenig's office was initially at Jacobi-Kirchhof 24, later at Ferdinandstrasse 14 and, in the 1950s, at Jungfernstieg . Between 1919 and 1940 Koenig was one of the most famous landscape designers in Hamburg. He placed particular emphasis on combining garden art, visual arts and social reform for urban development.

From 1921 to 1934 Koenig was chairman of the Association of German Garden Architects and, from 1933, second chairman of the Hamburg Art Association . He was also a member of the Hamburg branch of the German Werkbund and the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts . Long before 1933 he joined the NSDAP . His influence in professional organizations waned from 1934.

In addition to gardening and association activities, Koenig wrote articles for relevant specialist magazines. In 1925 he founded “Der deutsche Gartenarchitekt”, which he took over editing. He was also the author of several books.

Designed parks

The parks designed by Koenig included the city park in Elmshorn (1935) and the rose island in the palace park in Emkendorf (1939). The Eichtalpark in Wandsbek (1925/26) and the lido at Bredenbeker Teich in Hoisbüttel , built around 1924/25, have been preserved to this day .

Appreciations

In 1913 he was awarded the Prussian Silver State Medal. In 1914 he received the Empress's Golden Portrait Medal. It was the highest award for garden art at the time.

Erwin Barth was of the opinion that Koenig was to be ascribed to having established the independent professional profile of a garden architect and to having achieved recognition in public life.

literature

• Karin von Behr: Koenig, Hermann . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 3 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-8353-0081-4 , p. 207 .
• Wimmer, Clemens Alexander: Hermann Koenig and "Der Deutsche Gartenarchitekt", in: Zandera 27 (2012), pp. 5–10