Leopold Blotnitzki
Leopold Stanislaus Blotnitzki (born November 15, 1817 in Warsaw , † June 23, 1879 in Bern ) was a Russian-Swiss railway engineer and town planner . He was heavily involved in railway and construction projects and planned the first major city expansion of Geneva after the fortress walls were razed.
biography
After attending the engineering cadet school in Saint Petersburg , the young Leopold did practical work in Odessa and Munich and continued his studies in Berlin , Vienna , Munich and London . He then worked in Paris in the planning of the Vienna- Prague railway line .
In 1845 Leopold Blotnitzki met Karl von Etzel and worked with him for the Württemberg State Railways in Stuttgart . In 1850 he was awarded the gold medal for art and science by the King of Württemberg.
In 1852 Blotnitzki and Etzel moved to Basel to plan the construction of the Centralbahn . This was followed by the planning of the new Geneva train station . In 1853 Leopold was given the post of cantonal engineer in Geneva as the successor to Guillaume-Henri Dufour and Jules de Beaumont , which he held for almost ten years. In this office he planned the expansion of the city on the left and right bank of the lake from 1854 to 1855, doubled the area of the city of Geneva and built the Mont-Blanc bridge with Daniel Chantre . After planning the Lausanne-Romont-Friborg-Bern railway line, he took over the construction management in the canton of Friborg in 1856 , but had to resign from this post in 1859 due to construction delays.
From 1861 to 1862 he was an expert of the Federal Council for the correction of the Rhone and torrent control in the canton of Valais and then in a part-time position from 1863 to 1873 he was federal inspector of the Rhone correction. After moving to Thun, he planned and built the federal barracks together with Felix Wilhelm Kubly . This was followed by the construction of the headquarters of the Eidgenössische Bank on Bubenbergplatz in Bern from 1863 to 1865.
In 1865 Blotnitzki moved to Bern, where in 1869 he published a report on the effects of the foehn and made plans to build over the small and large ski jump in Bern. This was followed by studies on the construction of the Brünigbahn and he led the construction work on the Bödelibahn . As a technical inspector in the newly created railway and trade department, he was involved in the project for the renovation of the Bern terminus station. After his resignation from this position, he dealt with questions relating to the construction and operation of trams.
Works
- Urban expansion plan for the left bank of the lake , Geneva, 1854
- Urban expansion plan for the right bank of the lake , Geneva, 1855
- Bâtiment Electoral , Geneva, 1859 (project)
- Pont du Mont-Blanc , Geneva, 1961 (with Daniel Chantre)
- Eidgenössische Bank , Bern, 1863–65 (today UBS AG)
literature
- Armand Brulhart: Blotnitzki, Leopold. In: Isabelle Rucki and Dorothee Huber (eds): Architects Lexicon of Switzerland - 19./20. Century Basel: Birkhäuser 1998. ISBN 3-7643-5261-2 , p. 65
- Laurent Chenu and Pierre-Alain Crozet: L'agrandissement de Genève 1849–1861 Lausanne: EPFL 1982
Web links
- Agathon Aerni: Blotnitzki, Leopold Stanislaus. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Publications by and about Leopold Blotnitzki in the Helveticat catalog of the Swiss National Library
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Blotnitzki, Leopold |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Blotnitzki, Leopold Stanislaus (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Russian-Swiss railway engineer and town planner |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 15, 1817 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Warsaw |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 23, 1879 |
| Place of death | Bern |