Paul Ludwig Simon

Portrait of Paul Ludwig Simon, painter unknown, ca.1800

The secret senior building officer Paul Ludwig Simon (born January 12, 1771 in Berlin ; † February 14, 1815 ibid) was a professor at the Berlin Building Academy , as well as regional building director for the Pomeranian and Prussian brands at the Prussian building deputation .

Life

Paul Ludwig Simon was born in 1771 as the son of the businessman Samuel Simon and his wife Anne Susanne Pitra. Both parents were descended from French Huguenots who, like many others, had left France and settled in Berlin after the edict of Nantes was repealed by Louis XIV in 1685 .

From 1787 Simon attended the Academy of Arts in Berlin to learn about architecture. He received his first training from the court building officer Friedrich Becherer . After two years of training, Simon was hired in October 1789 on the recommendation of Becherer as "supernumerarian conductor" at the Royal Oberhofbauamt, where he initially worked in various areas. In 1791 he was in charge of laying the foundations for the construction of the new bailiwick in Berlin as the superior of Friedrich Gilly and in 1792 was appointed "Real Conducteur". In addition to his work at the Oberhofbauamt, he was still a student at the Art Academy and was appointed building inspector in 1797 after completing his training.

In January 1798 Simon married Marie Madelaine Royer of the same age from Wollin in Pomerania, who was also of French-Huguenot origin. The couple had four children. The eldest son Friedrich Louis Simon also became an architect.

In November 1798 Simon was appointed professor of the architectural class at the Academy of Arts and one year later, in the course of the establishment of the Berlin Building Academy, he was appointed professor of building physics in the college of the new institute. From 1800 he also took over the mechanics of solid bodies, hydraulics , machine theory and appraisal of buildings. After Gilly's death in August 1800 he took over his professorship and teaching content in the field of optics and perspective. After a reorganization of the academy and the associated merging of subjects, Simon was responsible for teaching urban architecture from 1803 and for building construction from 1804, which he took over from Friedrich Becherer .

From autumn 1809 Simon had to give up his work at the academy due to time constraints due to his service with the technical building deputation, of which he was a secret senior building officer from 1804 until his death in 1815, and his own buildings.

During this time, from 1806 to 1810, Simon was driven to the brink of ruin by the lack of state wages suspended due to the Napoleonic wars, if he had not been supported by his friend, Minister Karl August von Hardenberg . According to oral tradition of the family, he accompanied the Prussian Queen Luise on her flight from Berlin to Tilsit in October 1806, as he had travel agents due to his activities that enabled the queen to travel inconspicuously.

In addition to his work as a professor and master builder, Simon also carried out research in the field of electrochemistry and published various articles on this topic:

• Results of the latest investigations into galvanism, especially with regard to its chemical effects ( Allgemeine Journal der Chemie , Leipzig)
• Description of some experiments on the effect of the voltaic column on water, in relation to the experiences made known by Mr. Ritter on this subject (ibid)
• About the generation of an acid and a lye salt through the action of the voltaic column on water (ibid)
• About the laws on which electrical repulsion is based ( Ann Phys , 28, 277-98, Leipzig, 1808)

His work in this environment was also shown in the play "The Name of Fame". This was performed as part of the LABORATORIUM exhibition in the course of the 400th anniversary of the city of Antwerp.

Paul Ludwig Simon died of liver disease in 1815 at the age of 44.

Construction activity

A more extensive construction activity can only be determined from 1803, but Simon had already worked in various positions in the years before.

The following list contains the buildings that can be definitely attributed to him:

• Reconstruction of the village church in Falkenberg ; Crypt vault of the von Humboldt family (today Berlin, 1795)
• New building of the house at Brüderstraße 40 (Berlin, 1803)
• Construction of the house at Dorotheenstrasse 20 together with Becherer (Berlin, 1803–1805)
• Conversion of the house at Friedrichstrasse 72 (Berlin, 1803)
• Reconstruction of the house at Wilhelmstrasse 76, which later became the Foreign Office (Berlin, 1805)
• Conversion or new construction of the buildings on the Hardenbergschen Gütern Tempelberg and Gölsdorf (1804–1806)
• Royal Maritime Trade Building and State Chancellor's Residence (1809–1811)
• Reconstruction of the house at Wilhelmstrasse 65, Prince Ferdinand's Palace (Berlin, 1809–1813)
• Construction of the Higher Regional Court in Königsberg (1809–1811)

literature

• Fritz Schlabbach: Paul Ludwig Simon . Karlsruhe-Berlin: Doering, 1939. (Dissertation)
• General Journal of Chemistry, 6/31. - Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel, 1800