Otto Werner (architect)

Otto Werner (born September 7, 1885 in Wriezen , † October 16, 1954 in Lahr / Black Forest ; full name: Wilhelm Otto Werner ) was a German architect who worked in Berlin and the states of Prussia and Mecklenburg in the first half of the 20th century Buildings for the railroad, later buildings for cinema screenings, residential houses and meetinghouses for parishes. The buildings that still exist in Berlin today, such as the movie theater on Friedrichshain or the parish hall of the Immanuelkirche in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg, are listed buildings .

Life and education

Otto Werner was the son of the master tailor Heinrich Eduard Werner and his wife Auguste Marie Luise Werner. From 1892 to 1900 Otto attended the boys' community school in Wriezen. He then learned a bricklayer and carpenter. In 1904 he completed a few semesters at the building trade schools in Magdeburg and Berlin and then studied architecture for six semesters at the Royal Academy of Arts in Berlin-Charlottenburg. Otto Werner was a master student under Franz Heinrich Schwechten for three years . During this time he made the execution drawings of some designs such as the landscape building in Poznan or the royal palace in the same place. After completing his studies, Werner worked briefly in various architectural offices in Berlin. According to his own assessment, the architects Paul Baumgarten and Heinrich Schweitzer turned out to be decisive for his further career . On December 1, 1910 Werner got a job in the construction management of the Prussian State Railways . He carried out drafts and individual drawings for " station buildings , residential and residential buildings and other high-rise buildings that occur in railway operations" . From 1922 Otto Werner set up his own office on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin .

Even during the time of National Socialism , Werner was able to continue working in his profession, but had to become a member of the Reich Chamber of Culture and, from 1937, of the NSDAP . Documents evaluated later show that Otto Werner was by no means close to the Nazi regime. Towards the end of the Second World War , all buildings on Potsdamer Platz were destroyed and Werner moved into a new studio in Berlin-Steglitz . In the last year of the war, on behalf of the Berlin magistrate, he led the clearance work on damaged and destroyed houses in the Schöneberg district . In 1951, the Tiergarten district office commissioned him to record war damage to the buildings. Otto Werner then went to Lahr in the northern Black Forest in the state of Baden-Württemberg , where he carried out planning tasks for the French Air Force until September 1954. This included work plans and detailed drawings for large block residential buildings , officers ', non-commissioned officers' and team casinos and barracks buildings . At the same time, he opened the Werner & Werner architectural office together with his son Horst in 1953 . The focus of their joint activities was the design and construction of family-friendly and inexpensive residential type houses.

On September 23, 1911 Otto Werner married his cousin Emma Werner, with whom he had the daughter Elfriede (1913-1992) and the son Horst (1920-1988). Elfriede Werner became a successful interior designer and worked with the photographer Lore Feininger , a daughter of the famous artist Lyonel Feininger . Otto Werner died on October 16, 1954 in Lahr and was buried there in the mountain cemetery.

plant

buildings

Filmtheater am Friedrichshain; 2009

• Between 1910 and 1922: Hermsdorf and Warschauer Strasse station buildings , the Hermsdorf metalworking plant, the administration building, the locomotive shed and the Seddin wagon repair workshop , development plan and residential buildings in the Seddin settlement
• : 1924/1925 Filmtheater am Friedrichshain , as Olympia movie theater opens
• 1925: Filmtheater Lichtspiele Nikolsburger Platz in Berlin-Wilmersdorf , Landhausstraße 1 / Trautenaustraße 18 as a built-in cinema with approx. 300 seats
• 1926: Elysium cinema in Berlin (destroyed)
• 1926–1928: Parish hall of the Evangelical Elias parish
• 1927–1929: Parish hall of the Protestant Immanuel Church
• Beginning of the 1930s: Own residential building on a plot of land acquired in 1928 in Rangsdorf near Berlin in the style of New Building
• 1935/1936: Apartment block with integrated parish hall for the St. Georgen parish in Berlin city center
• 1938: Capitol cinema (1938) in Stargard in Pomerania (destroyed)
• Between 1938 and 1941, extensions for Bücker Flugzeugbau GmbH in Rangsdorf
• until 1939: Single-family houses like Landhaus Krüger or Haus Semmler and public buildings in Rangsdorf like the entire complex of the Rangsdorf lido
• 1939: Industrial complex with administration building and management villa for the company Rohrleitungsbau Phoenix GmbH in Attilastraße in Berlin-Tempelhof

Principle description of the cinema buildings in the style of Otto Werner

Otto Werner planned and built the first three "movie theaters" during the heyday of silent film in Berlin at the end of the 1920s. Other architects also built cinema buildings in these years, so that at the end of this boom there were almost 400 cinema houses in Berlin. The clients were often large breweries, who combined cinema and catering with these combination buildings. Otto Werner preferred elements of the Italian Renaissance style and Expressionism in his designs , but mixed them with classical temple architecture. Experts speak of a “cinema palace architecture”, the main structural components of which are the flight of stairs, large church-like doors, the vestibule, the foyer, the auditorium with a tier, the stage and the adjoining prop and actor rooms. The front of the building was decorated with details such as triangular gables with inserted acroteries , pillars and pilasters, portico and flat roofs. The interior was kept in light tones, but each area was laid out in different color combinations: silver contrasted with light blue or green, brown with gold tones. The necessary and then modern technical installations such as light bulbs, ventilation openings, heating elements, canvas lifts etc. could be concealed with small architectural decorative elements. The stage area received a cinema organ. Werner was inspired by classical theater construction, but with his buildings he paved the way for the motion picture theater to become independent.

When the sound film gradually replaced the silent film at the end of the 1920s, most movie theater buildings had already been built, so that this technical innovation could no longer have a decisive influence on the construction of the building. In the following years, however, they were often adapted to the technical requirements through massive renovation work.

Fonts

• Flat roof or pitched roof. Critical consideration by Otto Werner, architect, Berlin-Steglitz. In: "Das Seebad", 3rd year, issue 2, Berlin, February 1, 1931, p. 1

literature

• Andreas Bäuml: Life and Work of Otto Werner (Dissertation, 2005), online; Retrieved July 15, 2009

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Monument parish hall of the Ev. Elias parish, Göhrener Straße 11
2. ↑ Monument parish hall of the Ev. Immanuelkirche Immanuelkirchstraße 1A / Prenzlauer Allee 28