Hermann von Berg (architect)

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Villa Dr. Zapf, on a triangular property, view on Oppenheimstrasse
Villa Dr. Zapf, garden pavilion ("turret") at the top of the triangular property
Corner house of the GAG ​​settlement, built in 1925/26
Two technical cuts through the planned terraces between the cathedral and the Rhine
Cathedral terraces in bird's eye view (1955)
Administration building of Gen Re, Theodor-Heuss-Ring 11, Cologne, architects Hermann von Berg and Hanns Koerfer

Hermann von Berg (born June 21, 1881 in Cologne ; † August 16, 1964 there ) was a German architect who lived and worked in Cologne.

Life

In 1901, Hermann von Berg passed the Abitur at the Kreuzgasse secondary school . He then studied at the Technical University of Munich and later at the Technical University of Berlin , where he passed the main diploma examination. In 1904 he was with Bodo Ebhardt at the Hohkönigsburg in Alsace and worked in his Berlin studio, where he was involved in the reconstruction of German castles. Until 1907 he worked for architects in Berlin and Cologne ( Carl Moritz ). From 1908 he was self-employed with a branch office in Emmerich (until 1929). In 1912/14 he and his father Ludwig Jakob Berg - who had had a “specialist shop for mosaic, corridor and wall panels” (wholesale) since 1874 - ran the “Dipl.-Ing. Hermann Berg Baugesellschaft mbH ". During the First World War he was a lieutenant and later a first lieutenant and was wounded in the autumn of 1914. After the First World War, he worked as a freelancer in a very diverse range of buildings and planning. In 1924 he reinstated the “von” in his name, which was forgotten when his grandfather's birth entry in 1816.

During the Second World War he led the reconstruction of Cologne city center ( Hohe Strasse / Schildergasse ), which began immediately after every bomb attack; Buildings were often destroyed several times. He was also an appraiser for the war damage in Ehrenfeld . Since 1955 he was a full member of the German Academy for Urban Development and Regional Planning .

Architectural style

His buildings were traditional up to the 1920s, later more classical , but always oriented towards the practical needs and wishes of the client and residents (e.g. Villa Dr. Zapf). Before 1914, for example, he had tried to implement the development of a street area without backyards and extensions. That succeeded in 1925/26 in the GAG ​​housing estate in Cologne-Höhenberg (see photos). Likewise - contrary to the emerging trend after the Second World War - he did without large glass fronts, where these meant increased heating requirements, because the thermal insulation of windows was far from today's standard at that time. He planned larger single-family houses so that they could be divided into two apartments after the children moved out. He also often designed the interior (Villa Dr. Zapf, Haus Hildebrandt).

The Cologne city curator explained the following about his architectural style in the justification for the monument value of the building of the Cologne Reinsurance (today: Gen Re ), Theodor-Heuss-Ring 11, built 1952–1953:

“Berg was one of the last classicists of this style phase. His task was to design a building that, in its spatial development and architecture, expresses the dignity of society, which is the oldest company of its kind in the world, and therefore not a time-bound one, taking into account all modern ideas Makes an impression. The result is a prestigious building set far behind the street and separated from the ring by a garden and a boundary wall with lattice, the facade of which is equipped with a barely perceptible arching, corresponding to the slight curvature of the ring, through the semicircle of the roadway integrated into the green area and the curved flight of steps in front of the center of the building is added, and its factual and clear structure forms a striking contrast to the neighboring buildings. Here the more traditional variant of the 50s architecture, which was soon replaced in many places by the grid facades typical of the time, is made understandable in a clear way ... "

plant

In addition to numerous residential and commercial buildings, he planned and published ideas in the early post-war period

  • for traffic planning in Cologne (1947, construction of a subway with a tunnel under the Rhine, since canals, cable lines etc. as well as the Hohenzollern Bridge were destroyed anyway and could have been built in an open pit), (see 2 plans / sections on the right)
  • to rebuild the old opera house on Rudolfplatz and
  • to "liberate" the area around the cathedral from car traffic and "bridge" the riverside road with terraces as "hanging gardens" (1948 and again in 1955), connected with a tunnel under the Rhine instead of another bridge that requires more space (like the Severinsbrücke later ) (Photo / drawing "Domterrassen" on the right).

In 1957, he added a variant to this proposal, which had been adapted to the changed circumstances in the meantime, with concrete calculations of the costs. This was also the subject of a showcase entitled “Architect and Utopia” in the exhibition of the Historical Archive of the City of Cologne on its 150th anniversary. The estate was handed over to the Historical Archive of the City of Cologne in 2004 and registered under "Holdings 1757, Hermann von Berg". When the archive collapsed in 2009, most of the estate was damaged or destroyed, so that only insignificant fragments can currently be viewed.

In the art-historical field, he reconstructed for the work of Otto H. Förster about the Italian Renaissance architect Donato Bramante , the forerunner of Michelangelo , his plans for St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and for the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan .

During the evacuation from Cologne to the Black Forest from October 1944 and the resulting inactivity, he dealt intensively with the construction of the old farms in the Black Forest. Together with his eldest daughter, who had to interrupt her architecture studies in Dresden because of the war, he recorded the dimensions, drew and watercolored individual courtyards and planned to publish them after the war.

Buildings (selection)

Buildings in Cologne

  • 1912 Mülheim, Schleswiger Straße 5, apartment house Hermann von Berg
  • 1913/1914 Mülheim, Graf-Adolf-Straße 18–20, apartment building Hermann von Berg (photo also below at Commons)
  • 1912/1913 Braunsfeld, Hältzstrasse 25–27, Rudolf Hagen / Ferdinand Dorand double villa
  • 1914–1918 Mülheim, Schleswigstrasse 1 and 3, apartment buildings
  • 1921/1922 Klettenberg, Luxemburger Strasse 342, Dr. Leopold Seligmann (by Zarno)
  • 1925/1926 Neustadt, Elsa-Brandström-Strasse / Riehler Strasse, Dr. Georg Zapf (see two photos on the right)
  • 1925/1926 Höhenberg, Kösener Weg 2–10 / Weimarer Straße 15, GAG housing developments (see 1 photo on the right, 1 below at Commons)
  • 1931/1939 old town, Sternengasse 1, Herstatt house with post office 4 (photo below at Commons)
  • 1934/1935, Braunsfeld, Hältzstrasse 27–29, Richard Fackeldey apartment building
  • 1936 Marienburg, At the Alteburger Mühle 1, Villa Jochen Hildebrandt
  • 1948/1949 Altstadt, Breite Strasse 161–167 / Gertrudenstrasse 30, Mevissenhaus (of the Cologne Reinsurance Company , photo below at Commons)
  • 1950 Neustadt, Habsburgerring 28, Rheinradio (photo below at Commons)
  • 1950/1951 Marienburg, Auf dem Römerberg 4 and 11, as well as Lindenallee 14, occupation houses (photo below at Commons)
  • 1951/1952 Junkersdorf, Kölner Platz 2, apartment building of the Schlesische Feuerversicherung
  • 1951–1953 Neustadt, Theodor-Heuss-Ring 11, head office of the former Kölnische Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft AG (today Gen Re ; with Hanns Koerfer )
  • around 1952 Sülz, Emmastraße 7–11, Bundespost residential buildings
  • around 1952 Old Town, Hohe Straße 117–119 / Minoritenstraße, Photo House Steins
  • 1953–1955 Lindenthal, Rautenstrauchstrasse 76, single-family house Dr. P. Viktor Bürgers
  • 1954 Lindenthal, Lortzingstraße 17, single-family house Dr. Ernst Ringwald (photo below at Commons)
  • 1956/1957 Altstadt, Gertrudenstraße 30, office building of the Cologne Reinsurance Company (with Hanns Koerfer)
  • 1957/1958 Altstadt, Hohe Straße 101a, Perfumery Keys

Buildings outside Cologne

  • 1913/1914 Emmerich, Heinrich Haas house
  • 1920 Bremen, private house and office and administration building Fleischhauer
  • 1920/1921 Munich, Dr. Otto and Mimicia Bardenheuer
  • 1920 Weisweiler, Dürener Straße 498, residential building with Dr. med. Butcher
  • 1925 Emmerich, on the banks of the Rhine, G. Schreur house
  • 1930–1933 Fulda, Haimbacher Straße 9, Karl Gilles single-family home
  • 1934 Fulda, Am Paulustor 8, single-family house Dr. Julius Muller
  • 1936 Fulda, Am Frauenberg 4, single-family house Frieda Biber
  • around 1936 Würzburg, Mittlerer Dallenbergweg 5, Dr. med. Georg and Hermine Herrmann
  • 1940/1941 Wesseling near Cologne, factory settlement of the Rheinische Braunkohlen-Fuel AG (garden architect: Gustav Allinger )
  • 1951 Düsseldorf, Eckstrasse 15, apartment building owned by the Schlesische Feuerversicherung

Competition designs

  • 1907 Berlin-Mariendorf, Realgymnasium competition, recommended for purchase
  • 1909 Riga, idea sketches competition for a 3rd city theater (“Populo”), shortlisted
  • 1924 Solingen, competition Böckerhofgelände, 2nd prize (employee: Otto Silberberg)
  • 1926 Wetzlar, competition expansion and development plan
  • 1938/1939 Berlin-Charlottenburg, University City competition, shortlisted

Fonts

  • A never-recurring opportunity in the city of Cologne's new building. Cologne 1947. / 2nd improved edition, Cologne 1948.
  • Problems of traffic planning between cathedral and Deutz. Cologne 1955.

Building history work

  • 1934 Milan, Santa Maria delle Grazie, attempted reconstruction of Bramante's designs
  • 1930–1956 Rome, St. Peter, attempted reconstruction of Bramante's designs

(published in: Otto H. Förster: Bramante. Vienna / Munich 1956.)

literature

  • Wolfram Hagspiel : von Berg, Hermann . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 9, Saur, Munich a. a. 1994, ISBN 3-598-22749-3 , p. 306.
  • Wolfram Hagspiel: Cologne. Marienburg. Buildings and architects of a villa suburb. JP Bachem, Cologne 1996, Volume II, p. 796.
  • Robert Steimel: Cologne heads. Cologne 1958, p. 52.
  • Wolfram Hagspiel in: Max-Leo Schwering, Cologne, Braunsfeld - Melaten, Cologne 2004, p. 277
  • Karl Ritter von Klimesch (ed.): Heads of politics, economy, art and science. Augsburg 1953, p. 103.
  • Hermann von Berg 80 years old. In: Neue Rhein Zeitung of June 21 or 22, 1961
  • Work for Cologne. Architect von Berg 80 years old. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger from June 21, 1961
  • H. von Berg 80 years. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger from June 22, 1961
  • Kölnische Rundschau of August 18, 1964 (obituary)
  • Neue Rhein Zeitung from August 19, 1964 (obituary)

Web links

Commons : Hermann von Berg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Conservator of the City of Cologne, justification for the protection from February 3, 1992, No. 6395 of the list of architectural monuments in Cologne's Neustadt-Nord district
  2. ↑ New architecture on the Deutsches Ring. In: Kölner Stadtanzeiger from January 29, 1953 (with photo)
  3. ^ Hermann von Berg: A never recurring opportunity in the new building of the city of Cologne. 1948.
  4. ^ Hermann von Berg: Cologne traffic issues between cathedral and Deutz. 1955.
  5. ↑ Kölnische Rundschau of February 3, 1957
  6. ^ Otto H. Förster: Bramante. Schroll, Vienna / Munich 1956.
  7. ↑ These documents are now in the district archive of the Schwarzwald-Baar district in Villingen-Schwenningen under "Access number 257/2005 bequests DN 10 Hermann von Berg"
  8. ↑ under monument protection since September 18, 1984, No. 2618 der, photo list of architectural monuments in the Cologne district of Mülheim
  9. ^ Residential building Graf-Adolf-Straße 18 on bilderbuch-koeln , accessed on August 8, 2015.
  10. ↑ Wolfram Hagspiel in: Max-Leo Schwering, Cologne, Braunsfeld - Melaten, Cologne 2004, p. 277, photo
  11. ↑ both destroyed in World War II
  12. ↑ Bauwarte , year 1926, pp. 185–197.
  13. ↑ under monument protection since July 2, 1987, No. 4201 of the list of architectural monuments in Cologne's Neustadt-Nord district
  14. ↑ Elsa-Brändström-Str. 2-4 on bilderbuch-koeln , accessed on August 8, 2015.
  15. ↑ Kölner Stadtanzeiger from July 1, 1931
  16. ↑ Wolfram Hagspiel in: Max-Leo Schwering, Cologne, Braunsfeld - Melaten, Cologne 2004, p. 277
  17. ↑ New architecture on the Deutsches Ring. Kölnische Rückversicherungsgesellschaft moved into its new administration building. In: Kölner Stadtanzeiger from January 29, 1953
  18. ^ Gustav Allinger: The German garden. Munich 1950, pp. 179-181.
  19. ^ Gustav Allinger: Beautiful residential gardens in town and country. Munich 1955.
  20. ↑ The houses were given a dark green plaster as a camouflage color because of the air raids.
  21. ↑ Bauwarte , year 1925, issue 2, pp. 28–31.
  22. ↑ Bauwarte , year 1927, pp. 198–200.
personal data
SURNAME Berg, Hermann von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German architect
DATE OF BIRTH June 21, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH August 16, 1964
Place of death Cologne