Classicism in Wuppertal
Numerous existing or destroyed buildings in Wuppertal were erected in the first half of the 19th century in the architectural style and in the period of classicism .
With regard to this architectural style, Wuppertal occupies a special position: In contrast to the residential cities such as Berlin , Darmstadt , Karlsruhe or Munich and in contrast to the large trading cities such as Frankfurt am Main or Hamburg , the cities from which Wuppertal later emerged were closed Industrial cities at the beginning of the 19th century. The industrialization began here after the Congress of Viennaa. The population of the cities in Wuppertal grew rapidly even before the actual Wilhelminian era began in the second half of the 19th century. This created a wealthy class of industrialists who, like kings and dukes elsewhere, promoted the arts. Inevitably, new public buildings had to be erected, which had to do justice to the growth and new self-image of the municipalities. Classicism was chosen as the bourgeois style and symbol of the modernized world after the Napoleonic Wars.
Significant examples that still exist today are:
- Old Elberfeld Town Hall (1828–1831), now houses the Von der Heydt Museum
- Unterbarmer main church (1828–1832)
- District Court Wuppertal (1834)
- St. Laurentius Church in Elberfeld (1828–1835)
- Wuppertal Central Station (1846–1848)
- Villa Frowein (1871)
- Villa Schmits (1872), today houses the private Herder school
Private houses:
- various buildings, Friedrich-Engels-Allee (from 1811)
- various buildings, Laurentiusplatz (from 1828)
Demolished or destroyed in war
- Amtshaus, later Barmen town hall (1799, remodeling 1820, demolished 1913)
- Villa von der Heydt (Kerstenplatz) (–1943)
- Villa von der Heydt (Am Mäuerchen) (1802–1943)
- Society House Casino
- Elberfeld slaughterhouse
- General Almshouse Elberfeld (1827–1943)
- Ronsdorf town hall (1843, destroyed 1943)
- St. Josef (Cronenberg) (1843, demolished 1972)
- Barmen Central Station (1849, demolished 1913)
These buildings show or showed a broad spectrum of variants of classicism: ancient, French and cubic classicism were represented as well as transitional forms to eclecticism .