Josef Weßicken

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Signature of Josef Weßicken
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Josef Weßicken (actually Joseph Heinrich Wessicken , born August 10, 1837 in Salzburg , † October 19, 1918 there ) was an Austrian architect .

Life

Josef Weßicken came from a family of carpenters who came from Westphalia and settled in Linz in the 18th century and finally moved to Salzburg. As the son of Joseph Heinrich Weßicken (* July 27, 1810 in Salzburg, † February 16, 1899 there) and Rosina, born. Laiderin, born and baptized in the Salzburg suburb of Mülln , completed his school days here and then began training as a carpenter in his father's company. His father was a respected master carpenter who had built an excellent reputation for himself through his work for the St. Peter Abbey and in Anif Castle and who had a noticeable influence on his son with his works in the neo-Gothic style .

Former St. Vinzenz and Elisabeth Hospital; Two-wing system with central projections, neo-Gothic motifs, 1868–70

After visiting the Polytechnic and the Royal Bavarian Academy in Munich , Josef Weßicken studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna under August Sicard von Sicardsburg and was accepted by Friedrich von Schmidt in his Vienna studio in 1860 and worked on the newly built Lazarist Church in Schottenfeld invited. After training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, he learned the masonry trade, which is documented by a journeyman's certificate from 1862. Just three years later, Friedrich von Schmidt entrusted him with the construction management of the Prince Archbishop Liechtenstein 's Fischhorn Castle in Bruck an der Glocknerstrasse . After the war of 1866 interrupted the construction work, he completed the regotization of the upper part of the tower of the Franciscan church in Salzburg and the restoration of the parish church of Radstadt and the church of Nonnberg .

Returning from a study visit to Italy in 1867, on the recommendation of Friedrich von Schmidt and Franz Josef Denzinger, he was appointed master builder of Mainz to help save the endangered eastern parts of the cathedral. During this time, according to his plans, several sacred buildings were built in the vicinity of Mainz , including the St. Bartholomew Church in Nieder-Saulheim , the choir and transept of the Mainz-Gonsenheimer Rheinhessendome , the chapel of the poor sisters of St. Francis on Stephansberg and the old one St. Vincenz and St. Elisabeth Hospital on the Kästrich in Mainz. In 1873 he gave up his office as master builder and returned to Salzburg.

On 20 December 1888 he married a native of Vienna Rosa Bühlmayer in Salzburg Cathedral .

Josef Weßicken died in 1918 a few days before the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy and was buried in the family's arcade crypt at the Salzburg municipal cemetery (arcade grave no. 39).

Act

In the Duchy of Salzburg he completed the neo-Gothic construction of Fischhorn Castle in 1874 and from 1873 to 1876 the reconstruction of the parish church of St. Johann im Pongau after the collapse of the tower . From 1875 to 1879 he taught as a technical director at the kk Staatsgewerbeschule in the state capital. In 1892 he completed the work on the renovation of Grubhof Castle near Lofer that had begun two years earlier . In 1893 the Generali-Hof in Salzburg's Paris-Lodron-Strasse was completed.

The culmination of his work is the construction of the St. Andrä Church from 1892 to 1898 in Salzburg's Neustadt, the area around which has been called Andräviertel ever since. The original appearance of the neo-Gothic church was completely lost in the course of the reconstruction after the Second World War . In addition, the villas Gessele, Schmederer, Wöss, Griesberger and his own in Arenbergstraße 23 were built in Salzburg. A large number of the structures planned by Weßicken were built in cooperation with the Ceconi construction company , at which Weßicken was also employed at times.

Center of Bad Gastein with the hotels Straubinger, Austria, Weißmayr and Elisabethhof

From 1879, in addition to his work in Salzburg, he was responsible for the construction of several secular buildings in the world spa town of Bad Gastein together with the master builder Angelo Comini . He received his first order three years earlier with the construction of the Villa Mühlberger, one of the few properties in Gastein where Weßicken did not work with Comini but with the Salzburg building contractor Valentin Ceconi .

Its biggest customers in Gastein were the Bad Gastein hoteliers, especially the family Straubinger, for which he the Just off the Gastein waterfall Adaptierungsbau (now Krisch-house) and the Hotel Austria was built in 1884, in the former, the local government and to Gastein Museum were . In addition, in 1887 he redesigned the main facade and reconstructed the bath wing of the Hotel Straubinger and designed the (today's) post office building, which is also part of the Straubinger complex. The construction of the Hotel Austria is particularly noteworthy. While in other places buildings with an extreme hillside location were built directly into the rock, Weßicken and Comini left a narrow space in between to the mountain rock, so that windows (and doors) could also be installed in the lowest areas of the multi-storey building.

Czernin hunting lodge, west view. Recording 1997

Furthermore, Weßicken planned the Elisabethhof, the Hotel Weißmayr (formerly Provenchère), the Hotel Excelsior (formerly Haus Goldeck), the villas Schieder, Wassing and Lothringen-Quisisana, and the now no longer existing Wandelbahn with the spa casino. Many of his Salzburg and Gastein villas have the characteristic "Weßicken tower" as a common feature.

In his last creative period the reconstruction of the hunting lodge originally built from 1882 to 1884 by Count Rudolf von Czernin in Böckstein , which fell victim to a fire and was rebuilt from 1902 to 1903 according to Weßicken's plans.

“This little hunting lodge belonging to Count Czernin, which fell into the late creative years of the former Friedrich von Schmidt employee, shows national romantic traits in its combination of" old German "and English elements (mixture of castle and country house character). Since it is a matter of rebuilding after a fire, it cannot be said exactly how far Wessicken has adapted to the old structure. "

- Friedrich Achleitner in the first volume of his "Austrian Architecture".

Awards

  • Bearer of the Knight's Cross of the Franz Joseph Order
  • Appointment as Conservator of the KK Centralcommission for Research and Conservation of the Arts and Historical Monuments
  • In 1902 the architect was awarded the title of kk senior building officer for his achievements .
  • The architects' association Wiener Bauhütte named him an honorary member.

Works

  • 1874–1876 Historic building of the nave and tower in unplastered conglomerate masonry of the Schleedorf parish church

literature

  • Constantin von Wurzbach : Wessiken, Joseph . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 55th part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1887, p. 169 ( digitized version ).
  • Günther Rohrer: Josef Wessiken - A biographical sketch for his 150th birthday. In: Salzburg Archive 4, pages 103–112. Salzburg 1987.
  • Adolf Haslinger, Peter Mittermayr (ed.): Salzburger Kulturlexikon. Residenz Verlag . Salzburg-Vienna-Frankfurt / Main 2001. ISBN 3-7017-1129-1 .
  • Laurenz Krisch: The Salzburg architect Josef Weßicken and his work in Bad Gastein. In: Series of publications by the Gastein Museum. Self-published by the Gastein Museum. Bad Gastein 2004.
  • Laurenz Krisch: The Salzburg architect Josef Weßicken and his work in Bad Gastein. In: Communications from the Society for Regional Studies in Salzburg . Volume 144. Society self-published. Salzburg 2004.
  • Annemarie Malle: On the 100th anniversary of the death of Salzburg architect Joseph Heinrich Wessicke on October 19, 2018. In: Salzburg Museum , The Artwork of the Month, October 2018, 31st year, sheet 366.
  • Friederike Zaisberger , Reinhard R. Heinisch : Life beyond death ... Celebrities in the Salzburg municipal cemetery. Announcements from the Society for Regional Studies in Salzburg. 23. Supplementary volume. Self-published by the company. Salzburg 2006.

Web links

Commons : Josef Wessicken  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Baptismal Register - TFB7 | Salzburg-Mülln | Salzburg, rk. Diocese | Austria | Matricula Online. Retrieved December 19, 2018 .
  2. ^ The St. Bartholomäus Church in Nieder-Saulheim The new building from 1871-1873