Karl Küchlin

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Karl Küchlin (born May 29, 1864 in Lörrach ; † July 30, 1935 in Basel ) was a German - Swiss entrepreneur , theater director and patron .

Life

Karl Küchlin was a son of Johann Küchlin and Katharina Müller, he came from an old family of brewers . After he was orphaned at an early age , he grew up in Loerrach, the foster brother of the later famous artist Max Laeuger , whose family was socially committed . The fact that Karl Küchlin later used the coat of arms of the extinct Breisgau knight dynasty of the von Küchlin family (namesake of the current district of Kiechlinsbergen of Endingen am Kaiserstuhl and the Küchlinsburg in Waldkirch ) does not prove any ancestry, especially since the name Küchlin, with modifications such as Kiechle in Breisgau, is common.

After graduating from high school, Küchlin, who was wealthy in Lörrach and Freiburg im Breisgau , traveled to La Chaux-de-Fonds , Geneva , Lyon , Dijon and Paris as a craftsman for several years . This was followed by Le Havre and Trouville-sur-Mer , whereupon a French merchant ship brought him to Hamburg . From there he went to Berlin , where he worked for some time. There he met his wife, with whom he returned to Freiburg. He later visited the Paris World Exhibition in 1900 , where his foster brother Max Laeuger exhibited, among others. A trip by Küchlin to India and China at the beginning of the 20th century is also documented .

Karl Küchlin worked in various fields. He produced meat and sausage products, built beer halls and later variety theaters and was a partner in the Sarrasani Circus . In addition to business interests, he also developed artistic interests, as shown by his work as a theater director and his attitude as an art patron. The Basler Stadtbuch reported on his death in 1935: “Karl Küchlin-Länger (71 years old), builder of the 'Küchlin' variety theater, previously head of the 'Cardinal' for many years, the founder of vaudeville art in Basel, also an internationally renowned connoisseur of the Artistism ".

Küchlin was married to Charlotte Länger from Berlin and had a daughter, Elise (1894–1988), who remained unmarried and, like her father, was a patron of art and culture. The family emigrated from Lörrach to Switzerland in 1919 and lived in Basel and in summer in the Villa Küchlin in Horben near Freiburg, built by Karl Küchlin .

Küchlin's beginnings in Freiburg and Basel

Martinstor, city side, before the renovation, approx. 1900

Karl Küchlin was the owner of a property in Lörrach as early as 1888, which he brought into the foundation of the Löwenbrauerei (Louis Sinner) in the Freiburg district of Stühlinger . In 1888 he ran the “elegant and worth seeing” Restaurant Krokodil in Freiburg with Freiburg's only billiards room and integrated Café Nil (corner of Albertstraße and today's Stefan-Meier-Straße, destroyed in the Second World War). In the 1890s he was also the owner of the Colosseum (variety, theater and event hall) in Freiburg near the Martinstor . For example, a monkey “dressed as a gentleman” was shown there as part of the then fashionable Völkerschauen , who also “enjoyed two glasses of port wine”. That was a "big sensation" and the best advertisement for the evening performances in the Colosseum. In some cases, similarly effective city visits to Freiburg were carried out with Völkerschau actors. Since his daughter was born in Basel in 1894, it can be assumed that he was already living in Basel at that time (at least also), and at the same time he acquired real estate in Horben near Freiburg that year.

On October 1, 1900, the “Cardinal” was opened in Basel as the first “Gross varieté theater” with a restaurant in Basel (Freie Strasse 36 / Falknerstrasse 11, owner: Cardinal Brewery ). Küchlin was the entrepreneur and sole director. A diverse program with artists from home and abroad, who otherwise could only be seen in circuses, was also shown in the Basler Cardinal. Films have already been shown at the end of the programs. The theater enjoyed an excellent reputation. Küchlin put the program together himself, it also included operas and operettas . Due to disputes about the amount of the rent, but also because the great interest of the audience would have required an expansion, Küchlin looked around for another location from 1905. In 1909 he was able to build a new theater building according to his ideas on the property (Steinenvorstadt No. 55/57).

The Küchlin Theater in Basel

The Küchlintheater in Basel, today's exterior view

The Art Nouveau Küchlin Theater is a pioneering work of reinforced concrete construction created by the architects Adolf Widmer, Emanuel Erlacher and Rudolf Calini with a remarkable unity of design and construction. The design of the facade and the valuable interior with excellent acoustics comes from Max Laeuger , the frieze on the facade from Karl Albiker , a student of Auguste Rodin . The horseshoe-shaped two-tier theater originally had 1,500 seats. There were also stables and ramps for small and large animals by the stage.

The facade and the large hall of the Küchlin were placed under monument protection by the canton of Basel-Stadt in 2002/2003 . In a legal dispute over the legitimacy of this act, the federal court found that the theater was a remarkable building in the Steinenvorstadt and that the variety theater was one of the oldest still existing in Switzerland. The interior design is also of great importance because of the way in which the classic rank theater is taken up and the sophisticated Art Nouveau decor is adapted to the purpose of the building. A cinema organ from the Freiburg workshop of M. Welte & Sons was also installed in the Küchlin Theater .

From 1912 onwards, glamorous revues with international artists, variety stars and cinematographic screenings took place in the Küchlintheater all year round. There were also plays, operas, operettas and ballet performances. As early as 1914, the previous “Drummeli” events of the Basel Carnival began there . Küchlin's program was very well received and the authorities were kind to him. From 1918 on, Küchlin had to struggle with financial difficulties, which led him to convert his life's work into a stock corporation and to lease the theater. At the same time he handed over the artistic direction to Joseph Adelmann and withdrew from the business. Rudolf Bernhard and Fredy Scheim celebrated their first major successes in the Küchlin Theater. There found z. B. the premiere of the 1924 comedy Das Haus in Montevideo by Curt Goetz took place. Maurice Chevalier performed in the Küchlin and Josephine Baker is said to have slapped her lover in the middle of the associated restaurant because he was flirting with a waitress - she sent a message of greeting based on one of her most successful chansons: “ J'ai deux amours en Suisse , c'est Bâle et son Küchlintheater “. Affectionately known as “Kiechli” by the people of Basel, it was known throughout Europe as one of the best and most beautiful variety theaters in the 1920s and 1930s.

The people of Basel remembered the lovable founder of the theater as "Papa Küchlin". In 1933, the organ of the Varietéwelt wrote : "There are probably only a few artists with a worldwide reputation who still do not speak with pride of the great time at 'Papa Küchlin'". He is "one of those people who can be said to have no enemies or envious people". The Küchlintheater was only used as the “Pathé Küchlin” cinema after a checkered history in the last few decades.

The Friedrichshof in Horben

The Friedrichshof in Horben

In a letter from the municipality of Horben in 1908, it is reported that Küchlin had "settled in the Bohrertal since 1894 and had a beneficial effect on the whole area and invested a significant fortune with us in his diverse activities". It is possible that the historical possessions of the Küchlin zu Horben family were known to him when he chose Horben. When the new Schauinslandstrasse was opened in 1895/1896 , he had the hotel “Friedrichshof” (named after Grand Duke Friedrich I ) built by an unknown architect at the fork to Horben . The hotel was initially very popular because of its convenient location and the pleasantly shady garden restaurant. In 1921 Küchlin sold it to the Josefine and Eduard Portheim Foundation for Science and Art in Heidelberg for lack of profitability . The city of Freiburg acquired the building as early as 1925 and operated a children's rest home there until 1937. When Küchlin stayed in Horben, he spoiled the little inmates with Swiss chocolate. After the Second World War , the bombed out maternal and infant home of the Evangelical Abbey was housed there until 1963. After that, the Office for Civil Protection and the Federal Association for Self-Protection moved into the building. Today it is used privately.

The villa settlement project in Bohrertal, Horben

  • Project villa settlement Bohrertal in Horben, building model by Max Laeuger , 1907

  • Hermann Daur , postcard Küchlin's area Bohrertal, Horben

  • Hermann Daur Nature Park z. Villa settlement Küchlin's area Bohertal, Horben, view to Holzschlägermatte, postcard 1913

  • Hermann Daur electrical works z. Villa settlement Küchlin'schesgebiet Bohrertal, Horben, postcard 1913

  • Hermann Daur view from the Bohrertal nature park, Küchlin'sches site villa settlement, Horben, postcard 1913

  • Hermann Daur ski field for the villa settlement Küchlin'schesgebiet Bohrertal, Horben, postcard 1913

Küchlin had already acquired the land (25 hectares) and source rights that still belong to the “Villa Küchlin” today from the owner of the Bläsihof in Horben-Langackern, with the aim of building a residential area on the “Großmatte” in Bohrertal. For this purpose, he had a private water pipe built from the upper Bohrertal to the Friedrichshof. In 1904, Küchlin had Max Laeuger make a model and drawings of the villa settlement. Hilde Spenger described this plan as a “favorable combination of aesthetic and practical advantages”. With all its individual development down to the last detail, the whole forms a unified and thoroughly independent organism. This also included a parceling plan from 1909 for a development with 35 villas, “building regulations” and advertising material. Küchlin commissioned the painter Hermann Daur , who came from Lörrach-Stetten, to depict his area in watercolors and had postcards printed from these motifs as advertising material in 1913. In an advertising brochure for the villa settlement, the mayor of Freiburg, Otto Winterer , is quoted as saying: Günterstal is paradise, but Bohrertal is the sky of the Breisgau metropolis of Freiburg im Breisgau . The villa settlement failed because of the war and - despite support from the community - because of the protection of the landscape .

The Villa Küchlin in Horben

Villa Küchlin
Memorial stone Karl Küchlin with coat of arms, Villa Küchlin

In 1923, Küchlin was allowed to build his summer resort , the Villa Küchlin , in the middle of his land in the nature reserve . Max Laeuger designed a simple, well-proportioned country house with two outbuildings in neoclassical-neo-baroque style as well as an extensive park on the western slope of the Bohrertal. Most of the park has been converted to forest since the 1970s. In front of the entrance to the villa there is a memorial stone for its builder with the coat of arms of the Knights of Küchlin . The Küchlin bus stop on the L 124 (Schauinslandstrasse) also reminds of him . Today the barons Droste zu Hülshoff farm and forestry (including Schauinsland lamas ) and the Baron Droste Hülshoff Badischelösung distillery on the estate . There is also the headquarters of the Libertas per Veritatem Foundation and the LPV Hortense von Gelmini publishing house .

Daughter Elise Küchlin

The only child of Karl Küchlin and Charlotte Länger was Elise Küchlin (1894–1988), born in Basel and raised in Switzerland. She remained unmarried and inherited his father's property in Basel and Horben from her father. She was highly educated and worked as a patron, including for the Geneva biochemist Nicolas Fürst Andrianoff (1887–1957), who is commemorated by a plaque in front of her Villa Küchlin. Her godson was the Swiss-American physicist Hermann Grunder . Since 1966 she was friends with the young conductor Hortense von Gelmini , whose orchestra Gelmini promoted her ideally and materially and to whom she bequeathed her Villa Küchlin .

literature

  • Augustinermuseum Freiburg: Art Nouveau in Freiburg: Book accompanying the Art Nouveau exhibition in Freiburg. March 2–13. May 2001, p. 121 u. 158.
  • Badisches Landesmuseum (Ed.): Max Laeuger - Gesamtkunstwerk. Exhibition catalog, 2014.
  • Eveline Gfeller: Küchlin-Theater, Basel BS . In: Andreas Kotte (Ed.): Theater Lexikon der Schweiz . Volume 2, Chronos, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-0340-0715-9 , p. 1046 f.
  • Josef Kury (Ed.): Horben near Freiburg - on the history of the village and the drill forest. Self-published, Villingen 1978. (Extended new edition 1983).
  • Ulrich Maximilian Schumann : The Max Laeuger phenomenon: Diplomacy on behalf of art. In: Urs Robert Kaufmann (Ed.): Switzerland and the German Southwest. (= Upper Rhine Studies. Ed. By the Working Group for Historical Regional Studies on the Upper Rhine eV, Vol. 25). Ostfildern 2006, ISBN 3-7995-7825-0 , pp. 155-169.
  • Hilde Sprenger: Professor Dr.-Ing. eh chief building officer Maximilian Laeuger (1864–1952): his life picture. Dissertation University of Karlsruhe 1971, p. 163, 164.
  • Karl Widmer: Recent work by Max Laeuger-Karlsruhe. In: Decorative Art. Volume 10, June 1907, p. 377 ff.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ familysearch.org: Carl Kuechlin, 1864 , in: Germany, Births and Baptisms, 1558–1898, accessed on August 26, 2012.
  2. ^ Basel State Archives: Documents by Karl Küchlin (1864–1935) from the estate of Elise Küchlin.
  3. ↑ Max Laeuger. Total work of art. (Exhibition catalog of the Badisches Landesmuseum) Karlsruhe 2014.
  4. ↑ a b c Archive catalog of the State Archives Basel-Stadt.
  5. ^ Basel State Archives: Photograph of Calcutta in the private archive PA 1213 Documents by Karl Küchlin (1864–1935).
  6. ^ Entry in the Basler Chronik of July 30, 1935 .
  7. ↑ Badische Zeitung of May 2, 2016: "The former restaurant in the Neuburg district was destroyed in the 1944 bombing".
  8. ↑ Manuel Armbruster: Völkerschauen around 1900 in Freiburg i. Br. - Colonial exoticism in a historical context. Freiburg Postcolonial, 2011.
  9. ↑ K. Widmer in: Decorative Art , June 1907 edition.
  10. ^ Daniel Hagmann : Rex, Roxy, Royal ... and the Küchlin , blog of the Basel State Archives, November 14, 2016.
  11. ^ W. M .: Karl Küchlin, Basel. In: The organ of the Varietéwelt from January 18, 1933 (anniversary number).
  12. ↑ See on this Josef Kury (Ed.): Horben near Freiburg - on the history of the village and the drill forest. Self-published, Villingen 1978. (Extended new edition 1983).
  13. ^ "Friedrichshof" in Bohrertal , a story by Karl Peter Otter in Regio-Magazin. August 1988.
  14. ↑ See on this: Hilde Spenger, Prof. Maximilian Laeuger: his life picture .
  15. ^ In: Küchlin's villa colony in Bohrertal between Friedrichshof and Kyburg (Horben district). Private print 1909.
  16. ↑ Josef Maximilian Laeuger. In: arch INFORM .
  17. ↑ https://schauinsland-lamas.com/
  18. ↑ https://www.badische-loesung.com/
  19. ^ Homepage Libertas Foundation per Veritatem
  20. ^ Homepage of Hortense von Gelmini
  21. ↑ Documents about the Orchestra Gelmini in the archive of the Libertas Foundation per Veritatem, Horben.
personal data
SURNAME Küchlin, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Swiss entrepreneur, theater director and patron
DATE OF BIRTH May 29, 1864
PLACE OF BIRTH Loerrach
DATE OF DEATH July 30, 1935
Place of death Basel