Karl Beer

This article deals with the architect Karl Beer. For the journalist see Karl Willy Beer .

Charles Beer (* 16th May 1886 in Ulm , † 17th November 1965 in Zurich ) was a first in Stuttgart and later in Switzerland active architect .

Life

Friedrich-Ebert-Bau Stuttgart

Karl Beer was born the son of a master carpenter in Ulm. After attending middle school, he did an apprenticeship as a carpenter in his parents' company . After his apprenticeship, he attended the building trade school in Stuttgart , a predecessor of today's Stuttgart University of Technology , where he took his exams with Clemens Hummel in 1910 . Until 1915 he worked in his architecture office.

Around 1914 he founded the Pfeiffer-Beer architectural association, which existed until 1920. From 1921 to 1923 he worked as a freelance architect. Since 1924 his main focus has been in the area of cooperative housing construction , in particular on behalf of the "Building and Home Association Stuttgart".

After moving to Switzerland, he initially worked in the company of relatives outside his profession, before initially working with the building contractor Albert Lück from 1937 . Little by little he built not only in Zurich, but also in Lucerne and Bern . In Switzerland, too, he mainly worked for housing cooperatives.

In 1960, Beer set up an office in Stuttgart again, but did not return to Germany.

Karl Beer was married and had two children. From 1926 he had a seat on the Obertürkheim municipal council for the SPD . In March 1931 he was the victim of a smear campaign in the NS-Kurier , a National Socialist daily newspaper for Württemberg and Hohenzollern .

In 1933 the family moved to Stuttgart. On March 20, 1933, he was banned from entering the town hall by State Commissioner Karl Strölin , which prevented his work as a councilor. No longer able to cope with the psychological stress, he suffered a breakdown and evaded the imminent arrest by retreating to the Kennenburg mental hospital , from where he was picked up after a four-week stay and from May 1933 to August 1933 in the Stuttgart city prison - in Büchsenstrasse - was taken into " protective custody ".

The descent from a Swiss grandfather secured him and his family Swiss citizenship , and the family moved to Zurich in 1935.

In 1937 he joined the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland , but did not take on any tasks in the party.

buildings

Stuttgart area

District town hall Stuttgart-Obertürkheim

• 1914–1916: Obertürkheim Town Hall (as an employee of Clemens Hummel )
• 1916–1920: various buildings of the " Army canning factory W. Leibbrand " with his partner Pfeiffer in Schorndorf
• Administration building of the "Württembergische Zieh- und Hammerwerke" in Obertürkheim
• From 1924 various buildings were built for the "Bau- und Heimstättenverein Stuttgart" including the "Siedlung Schönblick" (also "Friedrich-Ebert-Bau") with the "Höhenrestaurant Schönblick" and the eight-story residential tower on the Killesberg in the north of Stuttgart , " Siedlung am Westbahnhof "in Stuttgart-West , apartments and housing developments from the" Reich supplement program "in Gaisburg and Cannstatt ," sub-area of ​​the unemployment settlement "in Steinhaldenfeld .
• 1928–1930: Housing complex in the east of Stuttgart, the stronghold of workers' housing developments, on the border between Ostheim and Gablenberg.
  

  Wagenburgstrasse housing estate
  An elongated five-storey building on Wagenburgstrasse is supplemented by four-storey, sloping wing structures on Talstrasse and Klingenstrasse for irregular block perimeter development; all buildings are covered with flat hip roofs. At the corner of Talstrasse and Wagenburgstrasse, the two wings end in a low-rise building for shops. The facade of the main wing is rhythmized by small, semicircular balconies in the axis of the three house entrances. At the outer edges, balconies are drawn around the corner. This motif can also be found on Beer's most famous building, the tower house of the Friedrich-Ebert-Hof . The complex is given an expressive note by details such as the carefully designed balcony parapets or the sweeping curve of the shop extension. This residential complex was awarded in the 1976 facade competition “Stuttgart shows its colors” for exemplary design to beautify the cityscape and is listed in the Stuttgart Architecture Guide. In 2012 the "Bau- und Heimstättenverein Stuttgart" wants to demolish the building as the owner. By founding a citizens' initiative to preserve the building in 2012, Andreas Hubler was able to convince a majority of the city council that the demolition of the building should be prevented. A conservation statute was drawn up and the property was later sold to prevent demolition.
• At the end of the 1920s, residential buildings were also built for the “non-profit building cooperative” in Stuttgart-Degerloch and for the “non-profit housing care of the Württemberg tenants' associations in Stuttgart (GWF)” in Gaisburg.
• 1931–1933: “Volkshaus” for the German Trade Union Federation in Stuttgart
• 1948–1956: Expansion and renovation of the shell of the HJ regional leadership school in Württemberg into the “Schillerhöhe Sanatorium” in Gerlingen
• 1960–1965: further residential buildings for the "Stuttgarter Wohn und Siedlungsgesellschaft" in Stuttgart-Heumaden and Stuttgart-Hedelfingen
• In addition, several houses were built for private clients.

Switzerland

Office building Bern Effingerstrasse 27

• 1937–1940: Apartment buildings in Zurich on Friedacker-, Stein-, Hallwyl-, Schimmel-, Verena-Conzett-, Dufour-, Werdstrasse and in Beustweg
• 1939–1940: Office building with shop as the seat of the "Swiss Metal and Watch Workers Association ( SMUV )"
• 1939–1940: Apartment buildings for private clients in Zurich, Lucerne, Bern
• 1942–1944: Former administration building for the " Federal Tax Administration " in Effingerstrasse in Bern
• 1943–1948: Apartment buildings and single-family houses on behalf of the “Union Housing and Building Cooperative Zurich (Gewobag)” in Bern, Wädenswil and Chur
• 1949–1950: Production building for the SADA cooperative in Zurich
• 1952–1953: Melting house for the "Vernicolor paint factory" in Meilen
• 1953–1956: Hotel restaurant with annex, bowling alleys, shops and apartments for the "Landhaus AG" in Seebach
• 1956–1957: a production building for the "Vernicolor paint factory" in Meilen
• 1956–1957: Commercial building with post office and car hall for “Helvetia Laden AG, Geneva” in St. Gallen
• 1951–1960: further apartment buildings and single-family houses are built for the “Merkur building cooperative”, SADA, Gewobag and private clients in Thalwil , Schwamendingen , Albisrieden , Küsnacht and Schlieren
• 1960–1962: Schoolhouse with multi-purpose hall and kindergarten as a realization of a competition design in Sedrun , also 1962–1963 in Rabius and 1964–1966 in Somvix

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.hft-stuttgart.de/Hochschule/wirueberuns/Geschichte/index_html/de#winterschule  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from April 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ Jürgen Brand: For the preservation of the Beer building. Several factions want to prevent the demolition. . Stuttgart news. May 4, 2012. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
4. ↑ Beer apartment buildings are not being demolished (by Thomas Faltin January 31, 2013) at stuttgarter-zeitung.de
5. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated June 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ? 

literature

• Niels Gutschow, Peter Herrle: Karl Beer 1886–1965. Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-7828-4008-9 .
• Martin Wörner, Gilbert Lupfer: Stuttgart. An architecture guide. Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-496-01077-0 .

Web links

Commons : Karl Beer  - collection of images, videos and audio files