Peter Richter (master builder)

Peter Richter (born December 8, 1750 in Gersfeld , † December 21, 1805 in Eutin ) was a German builder.

Live and act

There is evidence that Peter Richter's ancestors worked as craftsmen in Gersfeld from the early 17th century. He himself was a son of the Gersfeld carpenter Nikolaus Richter (born October 21, 1703 in Sandberg ; September 8, 1770 in Gersfeld) and his wife Maria Catharina, née Drott (born February 25, 1710 in Gersfeld; June 7, 1779 ibid). Her father Hans Drott was an innkeeper.

Peter Richter learned the carpenter's trade in Gersfeld. After the wandering he helped his brother Johann Adam Richter from 1775 with his new building of the manor and manor house in Schierensee . He then worked in the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, a. a. he designed several buildings in Hohenhude .

On January 10, 1780, Richter succeeded Georg Greggenhofer as "building inspector and court master builder with assessor rank" with an official seat at the prince-bishop's court in Eutin. Here he worked in the tradition of the Eutin construction method introduced by Rudolph Matthias Dallin and led to the climax by Johan Christian Lewon and Greggenhofer. For the first time, he combined classicist elements with rural construction, which led to a transition from brick to plastered construction.

Richter's period of activity lies in particular during the term of office of Prince-Bishop Peter Friedrich Ludwig . While his uncle Friedrich August had lived a lush court life, Ludwig lived thriftily and therefore only commissioned a few buildings from Richter. In 1780 he directed the construction of the college house planned by Greggenhofer. In 1786 the city ​​palace was built on the market for the widowed Prince-Bishop Friederike Wilhelmine. This building was the last significant brick structure in the region.

In 1787 Richter built his own house on Weberstrasse. In 1791 he built the first plastered building in Eutin with the town hall. In 1792 he built a house for Friedrich Leopold Stolberg . In 1793 Richter started redecorating the Quedlinburg room in Eutin Castle . From 1791 to 1797 he helped Christian Cay Lorenz Hirschfeld to convert the French palace garden into an English landscape park.

Richter created fewer buildings of his own than his brother and did not achieve the same quality. He also worked for the landed gentry. In 1780 he built a new flight of stairs and a sandstone portal frame for a manor house at Gut Pronstorf . In addition, a grand piano was added to the Kavaliershaus. He designed two pavilions that were supposed to be at the entrance, but were not implemented. In 1790 he planned a far-reaching renovation of the Rantzau mansion for Carl Graf von Baudissin . This project was not realized either.

Richter was married to Sophia Elisabeth Neumann in 1781, with whom he had no children. However, he had an illegitimate son.

literature

• Ulrich Pietsch: Judge, Peter . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 7. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1985, pp. 254-255.