Lothar Abel

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lothar Paul Abel (born February 15, 1841 in Hietzing ; † June 24, 1896 in Vienna ) was an Austrian architect and lecturer at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna.

Life

Lothar Abel was born as the son of the commercial gardener Ludwig Gottlieb Abel and Josefa Abel, b. Heller was born in Hietzing, a former suburb of Vienna. After the elementary school St. Anna, which he attended from 1847 to 1851, he completed the upper secondary school and then from 1857 to 1861 he studied architecture at the kk polytechnic institute, today's Vienna University of Technology . This was followed by studies at the Academy of Fine Arts with Eduard van der Nüll , August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Carl Roesner . After completing his studies, he went on research trips to Belgium, Germany, England, France, Holland, Italy and Turkey. He not only focused on the architecture of the respective countries, but was also interested in garden and park designs.

From 1868 to 1896 Abel worked as a teacher at the kk Gartenbau-Gesellschaft founded in 1827 and from 1877 as a private lecturer at what was then the university, today's University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna .

In 1873 he converted from the Evangelical Church of HB to the Roman Catholic Church and married Mathilde Schneider (* December 25, 1854 in Vienna; † February 7, 1936), the daughter of the founder of the Grand Hotel in Vienna, Anton Schneider. One of her children was the paleontologist and founder of paleobiology , Othenio Abel (1875-1946).

He wanted to be a lecturer in landscape architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts habilitation and was willing to waive fees and fixed employment. Although the Academy approved his application from 1882, it was rejected by the Ministry in 1884 for reasons unknown.

Abel died on June 24, 1896 in Vienna of complications from a stroke .

meaning

Lothar Abel carried out numerous reconstructions and new buildings and built villas and country houses, especially in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy , but saw his actual calling in garden art and increasingly saw himself as a garden architect. Because of his greenhouses he was soon one of the leading garden architects in Vienna.

Abel advocated the architectural garden design and saw the models in the Renaissance and in antiquity . He insisted on taking balanced proportions , symmetry and observing regularities into account. Low groups of bushes aligned along axes were intended to accentuate the treeless lawns and ensure an unobstructed view of the buildings and their facades. With that he stood in opposition to the advocates of the English landscape garden .

Provisional House of Representatives

After he had designed the park behind the provisional House of Representatives in Währinger Strasse in 1861 , of which only the avenue in Kolingasse and the park at Schlickplatz have survived, the first of his major works was the complete redesign of the “ Wurstelprater ” in 1872 “On the occasion of the Vienna World Exhibition in 1873 . He eliminated the structure of the amusement park that had grown since the beginning of the 18th century by tearing down the fairground booths , widening and straightening streets, driving out peddlers and rebuilding the booths according to a regular plan, thus destroying the popular attraction of the amusement park in the opinion of many Viennese.

Lothar Abel is the author of numerous works on garden architecture and garden art, gave lectures in the horticultural society and published specialist articles in the "Wiener Illustrirten Garten-Zeitung".

Works (selection)

Publications (selection)

  • "Garden architecture" with 198 illustrations, Vienna 1876
  • "Aesthetics of garden art", Vienna 1877
  • “The tree planting in the city and in the country”, Vienna 1882
  • “Art in its application to real estate. A representation of the most important rules of art for all improvements and embellishments of the country estates ”, Vienna u. a. 1889
  • “The elegant house. A guide to building and equipping residential houses inside and out with taste ”, Vienna u. a. 1890
  • “The little house with a garden. Practical Tips “, Vienna a. a. 1893 ( [1] )
  • "Healthy, comfortable and cheap living", Vienna a. a. 1894
  • “The Master Builder's Practice”, Vienna a. a. 1896

Awards

Offices and memberships

  • 1864: Member of the Austrian Association of Engineers and Architects
  • 1868–91: Member of the Vienna Fine Arts Cooperative (Künstlerhaus)
  • 1872: Appointment to the kkCentral Commission of the Vienna World Exhibition
  • 1875: Member of the board of directors of the kk Gartenbau-Gesellschaft

Web links

  • Lothar Abel in the Vienna Architects' Dictionary 1770–1945, accessed on May 19, 2014
  • Lothar Abel in the Austrian Biographical Lexicon from 1815 (2nd revised edition - online) accessed on May 19, 2014
  • Lothar Paul Abel. In: Architects Lexicon Vienna 1770–1945. Published by the Architekturzentrum Wien . Vienna 2007.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Austrian Biographical Lexicon from 1815
  2. ^ Architects' Lexicon Vienna 1770 - 1945
  3. ↑ The demolition of the Wurstelprater and the Hausirer question. In:  Neues Fremd -Blatt , morning edition, No. 135/1872 (8th year), May 17, 1872, p. 5 middle. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfb.
personal data
SURNAME Abel, Lothar
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Abel, Lothar Paul (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian architect and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH February 15, 1841
PLACE OF BIRTH Hietzing
DATE OF DEATH June 24, 1896
Place of death Vienna