Ludwig Lesser (landscape architect)

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Ludwig Lesser (born February 3, 1869 in Berlin , † December 25, 1957 in Vallentuna , Sweden) was a German landscape architect .

Life

Ludwig Lesser, grandson of the author of the same name , received training as a gardener in the Palmengarten in Frankfurt am Main and later worked as a head gardener in various cities at home and abroad. From 1903 he was the first independent garden architect in Berlin . In 1908 Lesser was appointed gardening director of the Berlin Terrain-Centrale and the Zehlendorf-West-Terrain-AG of Prince Donnersmarck . The terrain companies pursued large settlement projects at this time, as the construction of the garden city Frohnau , where a park, which since 1958 Ludwig Lesser Park , is named after him. Furthermore, both the development plan for Bad Saarow-Pieskow (with Ernst Kopp ) and the planning and design of the garden and green areas in the garden city of Staaken , the garden city of Falkenberg and the white city in Reinickendorf go back to Ludwig Lesser. The latter two were added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in July 2008 as one of the six Berlin Modernism settlements .

In addition, Lesser was entrusted with landscape architecture commissions from numerous communities, gardening and cemetery administrations. From 1913 he was a lecturer for garden art and horticulture at the Free University of Berlin . Lesser was a pioneer in the creation of public parks and outdoor sports areas within urban areas. Children, young people and whole families in particular should find shady and sunny places to play ball and relax here. Benches, playgrounds and paddling pools for children should make everyone's stay pleasant. In 1923 Lesser became President of the German Horticultural Society and in 1931 honorary member of the Austrian Horticultural Society .

Ludwig Lesser was married to Anna, geb. Stone master. The couple had three sons: Richard, Lutz and Rudolf. The eldest son Richard also became a garden architect and was employed in his Steglitz planning office. During the Nazi era, Lesser was initially banned from working because of his Jewish descent. In 1939 he emigrated to Sweden to his son Rudolf. The great-granddaughter Katrin Lesser later also became a landscape architect and works in Berlin. Together with her husband Ben Buschfeld, she received the highest European monument award, the Europa Nostra Award, in 2013 for "Tautes Heim".

In 2013 Ludwig Lesser was posthumously appointed honorary president of the German Horticultural Society, which dismissed him from the office of president in 1933. Now one street each in Potsdam, Hennigsdorf and Bad Saarow-Pieskow are named after him.

Realized plants (selection)

Fonts

  • My perennial book. A book about planting and caring for hardy flowering perennials and their garden companions . Rudolf Bechtold & Comp., Wiesbaden undated (around 1930).
  • 100 tips for flower care at home . Bechtold, Wiesbaden 1935.
  • 100 pieces of advice for the vegetable garden. Strawberries are also included. (revised by Richard L. Lesser) A. Weber Verlag, Singen (Hohentwiel) 1947.

literature

  • Irene A. Diekmann, Bettina L. Götze: From Protective Jew Levin to Citizen Lesser. The Prussian Emancipation Edict of 1812 . Berlin: Verlag für Berlin-Brandenburg, 2012. ISBN 3-94247-628-2
  • Stefanie Hennecke: Volksparke today and tomorrow? On the sustainability of Ludwig Lesser's Volkspark idea . In: Die Gartenkunst  27 (1/2015), pp. 165–172.
  • Katrin Lesser-Sayrac: Ludwig Lesser (1869–1957), first freelance garden architect in Berlin, and his works in the Reinickendorf district . Berlin: Kulturbuch-Verlag, 1995. ISBN 3-88961-152-4
  • Lesser, Ludwig , in: Joseph Walk (ed.): Short biographies on the history of the Jews 1918–1945 . Munich: Saur, 1988, ISBN 3-598-10477-4 , p. 223

Web links

Commons : Ludwig Lesser  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Karin Schmidl: Gardens for the People in Berliner Zeitung of August 21, 2003; Retrieved July 8, 2014
  2. ↑ Ludwig Lesser (1869–1957) on www.google.de
  3. ^ Frohnau cemetery on a private homepage
  4. ↑ Oranienburger Chaussee garden monument, Hubertussee building area, road network, avenues, lake, 1908/1909 by Brix & Genzmer and Ludwig Lesser, plus the gardens of the sales pavilion of the Berlin Terrain-Centrale GmbH
  5. ↑ Garden monument road and green space system Frohnau, 1909 by Brix & Genzmer and Ludwig Lesser
  6. ↑ garden monument at the Kaiserpark ; Retrieved July 8, 2014
  7. ↑ Garden monument cemetery Hermsdorf, Frohnauer Straße 112/122
  8. ↑ Hermsdorf S-Bahn station, south tunnel, 1895, reception building, north tunnel, platform with superstructures, 1908-13 by Karl Cornelius; Railway house, built in 1923 by Richard Brademann; Station forecourt, 1912 by Ludwig Lesser
  9. ↑ Am Heideberg, public and communal green spaces in the garden city of Staaken, 1914-17 by Ludwig Lesser
  10. ↑ Data sheet on the Fritz Hess house in Berlin-Dahlem at architekturmuseum.ub.tu-berlin.de
  11. ↑ Hammarskjöldplatz garden monument, summer garden on the exhibition grounds, 1930/1931 by Richard and Ludwig Lesser, redesigns in 1939, 1948 and 1980
  12. ↑ Garden monument Factory garden of the Herbert Lindner machine tool factory, Lübarser Straße 8/38
  13. ↑ Berlin Monument List, as of July 2014
personal data
SURNAME Lesser, Ludwig
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German landscape architect
DATE OF BIRTH February 3, 1869
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH December 25, 1957
Place of death Vallentuna