Paul Jordan (architect)

Paul Jordan (born June 30, 1876 in Strasbourg , Alsace-Lorraine , † January 22, 1966 in Constance ) was a German architect , town planner and municipal building officer .

Live and act

Jordan was the son of a railroad official. After an apprenticeship as a bricklayer, he attended the building trade school in Holzminden and then studied architecture at the Technical University of Munich . Among his numerous early professional positions, the encounter with the work of the Darmstadt artists' colony was formative.

In 1904, Jordan joined the city of Konstanz as head of the building construction department in the city planning department, and he played a key role in its structural development - since 1916 in the rank of building officer, since 1928 as senior building officer. The public buildings and building ensembles planned by himself are characterized by their fine artistic design and shape the cityscape. The municipal power station (1908) in the Art Nouveau style has not survived. The Petershauser Volksschule (today Theodor-Heuss-Realschule, 1906–1909) combines Art Nouveau forms and neo-baroque elements into a complex structure, today one of the prominent monuments of the Petershausen district of Constance on the right bank of the Rhine. Jordan's second school building, the Friedrich-Luisen-Schule (today Ellenrieder-Gymnasium , 1905–1911) combines elements of Art Nouveau and Heimatstil . During the conversion of the so-called council building from the market hall to the event house with a restaurant (1910–1911), Jordan created the foyer with the staircases made of sophisticated colored and processed artificial stone , which were later plastered and exposed again in 2012. Under the difficult conditions of the First World War and the early post-war period, the reading hall at the Rheintorturm (1916) and the mourning hall with crematorium in the main cemetery (1919) followed as a representative, antique-looking dome. In the 1920s, Jordan was involved in the construction of three formally very different residential areas, which are characterized by attention to detail careful design and as ensembles listed are: the Sierenmoossiedlung (1919-1922), the Tournament settlement (1921) and the Hindenburg block (1927 ). While the first two are traditional and in some cases still historicizing, the Hindenburg block takes on forms of Expressionism (with facade paintings by Karl Einhart ) and New Building . Jordan's last work is the 40 meter high water tower on the Allmannshöhe ( Otto Moericke Tower , 1927), which dominates the silhouette of the eastern districts of Allmannsdorf, Staad and Egg. In 1931, charges of embezzlement resulted in Jordan's temporary retirement ; although a court found him innocent, he did not return to the service. Paul Jordan had a son of the same name who was an architect and contractor .

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  Ellenrieder high school in Konstanz (1905–1911)

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  Theodor-Heuss-Realschule in Konstanz (1906–1909, detail)

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  Mourning hall with crematorium in the main cemetery in Konstanz (1919)

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  Paul Jordan's own home (1926)

literature

• Ilse Friedrich: A forgotten master builder. The architect and senior building officer Paul Jordan (1876–1966). In: Konstanzer Almanach 2016. Verlag Stadler, Konstanz 201, ISBN 978-3-7977-0598-3 , pp. 70–74.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Christian Schumann (presumably): Paul Jordan and his work through the ages . In: 75 years Petershauser Volksschule 1909–1984 .
2. ↑ Berthold Schwan: On the building history of the council building. Over the centuries, it has retained its structural characteristics. In: Konstanzer Almanach 1970. Verlag Stadler, Konstanz, 1969, pp. 5–21, here pp. 16–20.