Max Pommer (architect)

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Max Pommer (1913)

Max Pommer (born April 4, 1847 in Chemnitz , † July 5, 1915 in Leipzig ; full name: Emil Max Theodor Pommer ) was a German architect and building contractor , he is considered one of the pioneers of reinforced concrete construction in Germany.

Live and act

The Villa Löblich at Geraer Hainstraße 22 (1881–1882)
The Villa Löblich at Geraer Friedrich-Engels-Strasse 9 (1881–1882)
The Villa Ledig (today Villa Thomana at Sebastian-Bach-Strasse 3 in Leipzig) (1881–1883)

Max Pommer was the son of the businessman Emil Theodor Pommer (1816–1856) and the innkeeper daughter Maria Emilie Thekla nee. Diesel (1826-1894). After confirmation, he began training as a carpenter and attended the building trade school during the winter months. In 1864 he went to Hanover to the studio of the building councilor Conrad Wilhelm Hase (1818–1902) and studied there at the then polytechnic school . After his military service as a one-year volunteer in Dresden in 1867/1868 , he took up a position as a draftsman in Duisburg . In 1869 he led the reconstruction of the Abdinghof Church in Paderborn .

After the end of the Franco-Prussian War , in which he was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class as a private , he found a job with the Leipzig architect Gustav Müller from 1871 to 1879 . When Pommer was commissioned by Müller in 1873 to take over the execution and construction management for the villa designed by him, Müller, for the publisher and owner of the Bibliographical Institute , Herrmann Julius Meyer , at Plagwitzer Strasse 44 (today Käthe-Kollwitz-Strasse 82) , got to know and appreciate Meyer and Pommer and the publisher became Pommer 's fatherly friend , main client and business partner.

In 1873, however, Pommer first went to Frankfurt am Main and took over the management of the building of the Städelsche Kunstinstitut . After its completion, he returned to Leipzig and rejoined Gustav Müller's office.

On October 11, 1875, he married Helene Pauline Weber (1853–1928) in the Salvatorkirche in Gera . Pommer had six children with her. The daughters Käthe (born 1876), Helene (born 1877) and Marie Margarete (born 1886) later helped Max Pommer with office work. The sons Max (born 1879) and Hans (born 1882) should follow in his footsteps professionally and work as architects as well as continue the construction company Max Pommer, which was built by Max Pommer and helped to establish reinforced concrete construction in Leipzig.

Self-employment and first buildings

In 1879 Pommer quit after a dispute with Müller and opened his own architectural office, initially in the guest room of his apartment. His first order was to build the Villa Löblich for the woolen manufacturer Paul Löblich at Hainstrasse 22 in Gera .

In 1881/1882 he was able to build his first villa at Hillerstraße 4 at his own expense, which he then moved into. Also in the years 1881–1882 he built the Villa Häussler for the liqueur manufacturer Eugen Häußler in Geraer Bismarckstraße 9 (today Friedrich-Engels-Straße 9).

In the years 1881–1883 ​​he built the villa, now called Villa Thomana , for the Leipzig merchant Friedrich Willibald Ledig in the eponymous Sebastian-Bach-Straße for the Leipzig Bachviertel . 1882–1883 ​​he built the factory building for Feodor Otto Haraxim for his company Haraxim & Schmidt Glacé, Carton and Chromopapierfabrik in Leipziger Brandvorwerkstrasse 71 (today No. 54).

Cooperation with Hermann Julius Meyer

Gravesite of the Hermann Julius Meyer family in the Leipzig South Cemetery (1884)
Villa Hermann Julius Meyer II (today Club International at Käthe-Kollwitz-Straße 115) (1884)
The residential complex in Lindenau

The villas Hermann Julius Meyer I to IV

The collaboration with the Leipzig publisher began in 1872 when Pommer took over construction management for the Gustav Müller architectural office for the Villa Hermann Julius Meyer I designed by Müller for Meyer in today's Käthe-Kollwitz-Straße 82. As a result, he was to take on several contractors for Meyer himself or his company or to develop, finance and sell together with Meyer.

In 1883, on behalf of Herrmann Julius Meyer, he bought a plot of land at Plagwitzer Strasse 55 (today Käthe-Kollwitz-Strasse 115 in Leipzig) and built the so-called Villa (Hermann Julius) Meyer II for Meyer there in 1885/1886 .

In 1886/1887 Pommer built another villa, Villa Hermann Julius Meyer III, at Sebastian-Bach-Strasse 44 in the immediate vicinity , which Meyer sold to Marie Voerster in 1906. The villa burned down completely during the Kapp Putsch and was rebuilt in a modified form in 1921/1922 by the architect Heinrich Moßdorf .

In the same years 1886/1887 Pommer built another Villa Hermann Julius Meyer (IV) for Meyer in the immediate vicinity of Villa Meyer II at Plagwitzer Strasse 53 (today Käthe-Kollwitz-Strasse 113), which was sold to Reinhold Müller before 1930 and has been preserved to this day.

As early as 1884, Pommer and master sculptor Adolf Lehnert had erected a family grave for Meyer in Leipzig's southern cemetery (section III, 5).

The Meyer houses

The architect Max Pommer was best known for his colonies of Lindenau, Eutritzsch, Reudnitz and Kleinzschocher (the Meyer houses ), which were designed from 1887 on for the “Foundation for the Building of Cheap Apartments” established by Herrmann Julius Meyer . In 1887, Pommer began building the first colony, the Meyer's houses in Leipzig-Lindenau on the Demmeringstrasse 8-10 area, Erich-Köhn-Strasse 17–39, Hahnemannstrasse 6–28 and 15–21, Henricistrasse 25b – 53, Rietschelstrasse 22 and Roßmarktstrasse 5–7 and 6–8. By 1892, 35 houses had been built there, and another 17 followed in the years up to 1896.

Further colonies of Meyerscher houses followed in Eutritzsch (1899–1901) and Reudnitz (1903–1908) as well as from 1907 in the largest colony of Meyerscher houses in Kleinzschocher from 1907 to a total of 1937.

In the course of time, Meyer transferred more and more influence to the Pommer family, as his own sons had little interest in the foundation. In 1906 Max Pommer became treasurer of the foundation, and in 1907 Meyer made him a donation of 620,000 marks, so that Pommer was now financially completely independent.

Buildings developed and marketed together with Meyer

  • 1889–1890 Plagwitzer Strasse 51, 51a and 51b (today Käthe-Kollwitz-Strasse 107–111): Villa group Meyer-Pommer
  • 1893–1894 Karl-Tauchnitz-Straße 41/43: Meyer double villa, with villa house no. 43 was sold to the master mason Bruno Oehlschlegel (loss of war)

Buildings in Leipzig's music district

Villa Wilhelm Oelßner (Karl-Tauchnitz-Strasse 13)
Villa Wölker (Karl-Tauchnitz-Strasse 15)
File: Villa Hilmar Girbardt (Karl-Tauchnitz-Straße 17)
Villa Berger at Robert-Schumann-Strasse 11 at the corner of Karl-Tauchnitz-Strasse

The construction of the splendid Villa Hermann Julius Meyer II in the style of the neo-renaissance (1885/1886) brought the only briefly independent Pommer the breakthrough as an architect in Leipzig. In the period that followed, he received numerous orders, especially for city villas in Leipzig. His partner in the field of building sculpture was often the sculptor Josef Mágr .

One focus of his activities in the 1880s and 1890s was the so-called music district in Leipzig, in particular Karl-Tauchnitz-Straße ; here Pommer built:

Max Pommers own buildings

Pommers house at Hillerstraße 9 (2008)
Initials MP (= Max Pommer) above the house entrance Hillerstraße 9 (2008)

In 1885 Pommer built his own apartment building at Hillerstraße 9 , at the corner of Plagwitzer Straße 7 (today Käthe-Kollwitz-Straße 69). He also set up his office in this house. The building was privately owned by the Pommer family until 1993. After the sale it was extensively renovated in 1995–1997 and in 2004 balconies on the courtyard side were added.

In the years 1887/1888 he built the house called Pommer in the Bachviertel at Moschelesstraße 4, which he sold to the former Leipzig teacher Friedrich August Emil Marggraf four years later.

In addition, until 1995 the Pommer family still owned one of the three houses in the Meyer-Pommer villa group at Käthe-Kollwitz-Straße 109.

Max Pommer as a pioneer of reinforced concrete construction

During the construction of the Leipzig main train station in 1913: The signs “MAX POMMER LEIPZIG EISEN-BETON-BAU” are clearly visible .

Reinforced concrete construction prevailed in France at the end of the 19th century. The German license agreements for Joseph Monier's patents had already been awarded when the Frenchman François Hennebique significantly improved the load-bearing capacity of reinforced concrete structures with the development of his plate beam . Since no company was willing to take on the execution according to Pommers plans, he carried out the extension for the CG Röder sheet music printing plant in Leipzig himself. The building, which opened on January 7, 1899, is the oldest preserved multi-storey reinforced concrete structure in Germany. As a result of this order, Pommer negotiated with the Offenbach company Martenstein & Josseaux about the Hennebique license for Saxony, which he also received on June 13, 1898.

Grave site of the Max Pommer family in the Südfriedhof in Leipzig (2011)

Pommer devoted himself less and less to his work as an architect, but more and more to work as a building contractor. At first he was still running his concrete construction company within his architectural office, but by 1905 it had grown so much that Pommer had to move his office to Weststrasse 65. On December 28, 1906, he had his company Eisenbetonbau Max Pommer entered in the commercial register. Pommer was now less and less active as an architect, until he finally dissolved his architecture office at the end of 1912 and only worked in his increasingly successful construction company.

The grave of Max Pommer is in the Leipzig south cemetery .

Honors

On April 22, 1902, King Albert of Saxony appointed Pommer a (royal Saxon) building officer . King Friedrich August III. von Sachsen awarded him the Knight's Cross 1st Class of the Royal Saxon Order of Albrecht on May 22, 1909 ; the mayor of Leipzig, Rudolf Dittrich, presented the medal .

Max-Pommer-Strasse was named after him in the Reudnitz-Thonberg district of Leipzig .

Buildings (selection)

This list only includes structures whose design can be attributed to Max Pommer as an architect. Buildings that he carried out as a building contractor can be found in the article Pommer Spezialbetonbau .

literature

Web links

Commons : Max Pommer (architect)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The information on the year of construction, client, architect (Gustav Müller) and the employee responsible for the execution (Max Pommer) are based on Stefan W. Krieg and Dieter Pommer: Max Pommer: Architect and Concrete Pioneer . Sax-Verlag, Markkleeberg 2015, pp. 15–16 and 148. On p. 15 there is also the note that Hermann Julius Meyer became a fatherly friend for Max Pommer .
  2. ^ Stefan W. Krieg and Dieter Pommer: Max Pommer: Architect and concrete pioneer . Sax-Verlag, Markkleeberg 2015, p. 16
  3. ↑ The villa belonged to the Löblich families (Kammwollfabrik), Uhlmann (furniture factory) and Sonntag (iron foundry Kaimberger Str. 20) together. See description of the villa here .
  4. ^ Stefan W. Krieg and Dieter Pommer: Max Pommer: Architect and concrete pioneer . Sax-Verlag, Markkleeberg 2015, pp. 16 and 149
  5. ↑ Building not preserved
  6. ^ Stefan W. Krieg and Dieter Pommer: Max Pommer: Architect and concrete pioneer . Sax-Verlag, Markkleeberg 2015, p. 16
  7. ↑ The addition of the first names of the publisher and builder for the villa at Plagwitzer Strasse 55 (today Käthe-Kollwitz-Strasse 115) is crucial, e.g. B. to be distinguished from the Villa Arndt Meyer designed for his brother and co-owner of the Bibliographical Institute Arndt Meyer by architect Peter Dybwad at Käthe-Kollwitz-Straße 16 (war loss).
  8. ^ Stefan W. Krieg and Dieter Pommer: Max Pommer: Architect and concrete pioneer . Sax-Verlag, Markkleeberg 2015, p. 150
  9. ^ Stefan W. Krieg and Dieter Pommer: Max Pommer: Architect and concrete pioneer . Sax-Verlag, Markkleeberg 2015, p. 150
  10. ↑ coordinates
  11. ↑ The house at Käthe-Kollwitz-Straße 107 was renovated in 2004–2005, with an extension being made on the rear side, which was already dilapidated in 2009. House Käthe-Kollwitz-Straße 109 was owned by the Pommer family until 1995, and was divided into two apartments in 1933. The house at Käthe-Kollwitz-Straße 111 was renovated in 1991.
  12. ↑ The construction plans are signed by master bricklayer H. Brunno Oehlschlegel, who has often supervised joint projects with Pommer, but they completely correspond to the drawing style in the Pommer office. During the construction phase, new plans with a significantly reduced facade design were submitted. Since the renovation in 2005, the Villa Göhring has been used as an office building.
  13. ↑ The widow of his son Dr. Ludwig Friedrich - "Fritz" - von Harck (1855–1917) bequeathed the villa to the city of Leipzig in 1923. In the 1950s, the villa was used as a boarding school for the Institute for Vocational Teacher Training. In the years 2006–2007 the villa was renovated and the attic was expanded.
  14. ↑ After slight war damage, the building was used as a Russian guarantee and credit bank AG from 1947, later as a guest house for the SED district leadership and from 1962 the teacher's house. After a thorough renovation between 1995 and 1996, the villa is now the seat of the Saxon Academy of Sciences
  15. ↑ All information on the villas in the music district according to Stefan W. Krieg and Dieter Pommer: Max Pommer: Architect and Concrete Pioneer . Sax-Verlag, Markkleeberg 2015, pp. 150–157
  16. ↑ Stefan W. Krieg: According to the “Hennebique system that has proven itself well”. The oldest reinforced concrete industrial buildings in Leipzig. In: industrie-culture 11th year 2005, no. 3, p. 18f.
personal data
SURNAME Pommer, Max
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pommer, Emil Max (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German architect and contractor
DATE OF BIRTH April 4, 1847
PLACE OF BIRTH Chemnitz
DATE OF DEATH July 5, 1915
Place of death Leipzig