Robert Stern (architect, 1885)

Robert Stern (born November 8, 1885 in Cologne , † March 13, 1964 in New York City ) was a German architect who acquired US citizenship while emigrating .

Life

Robert Stern was one of seven children of the married couple Simon and Emma Stern, b. Wolf. Simon Stern, building contractor and master painter, lost his wife and two of his children around 1920 during a flu epidemic . Robert Stern grew up in a rented apartment at Thieboldsgasse 9 in Cologne, later in frequently changing places of residence: his father built several apartment buildings in Cologne's Neustadt district, in which the family lived for about three years each. Robert Stern graduated from high school and studied at the technical universities in Stuttgart , Munich and Dresden . On September 1, 1909, he opened his first architecture office at Volksgartenstrasse 32 / Vorgebirgstrasse. Presumably he had gained experience with Joseph Maria Olbrich , who had also built this house, and he probably also learned from Paul Gerlach , in whose house at Eifelstrasse 14-16 he rented.

On April 14, 1910, he married the daughter of a manufacturer, Heddy Heydt, with whom he had a daughter named Ilse Meta Stern in 1912.

During the First World War , Stern was used as a soldier in the fortification in Antwerp . At that time his family moved from Titusstrasse 22 to Hülchrather Strasse 5 in Cologne, where his father-in-law already lived. After returning home from the war, Robert Stern relocated his architectural office to the house of Apostle Monastery 20. His brother-in-law's company was also located there. The architecture office changed its location within Cologne twice: from 1931 to 1933 it was located at Gereonstrasse 43-47, then at the same address as Stern's residence. Stern's employees included Ludwig Ahlfeld , Oskar von Perlstein and Max August Breuer . Stern seems to have worked closely with the building contractor Otto Greven.

Robert Stern emigrated to London around 1936 , but returned several times to Cologne and visited his office, which Breuer continued in the Agrippinahaus. In 1938 he received a visa that allowed him to immigrate to the USA. On November 27, 1944, he received US citizenship . Stern, who could no longer work in his traditional profession in the USA, kept his head above water as a representative for brushes and cleaning agents. His wife died in New York in 1951, the daughter Ilse Meta, who married Heinz Gerhard Salinger and had a child with him, was long dead by then: she emigrated to Amsterdam , was arrested by the National Socialists and in the Natzweiler concentration camp -Struthof was killed. Her husband and child did not survive the Third Reich either. Ilse Salinger's letters from the Netherlands to her parents in New York are now in the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.

Robert Stern died in the Mayflower Nursing Home and was cremated in the crematorium of Ferncliff Cemetery in New York on March 15, 1964 . His urn was also buried in this cemetery. His brother Julius received his estate , which probably included numerous documents from his time as Cologne architect. After his death in 1965 at the latest, Robert Stern's estate appears to have been destroyed.

buildings

Half-villa Bayenthalgürtel 28/30

Wolfram Hagspiel describes Robert Stern as the most important Jewish architect in Cologne alongside Georg Falck and one of the most important in western Germany in the 20th century. Among other things, he built and changed numerous residential and commercial buildings in Cologne:

• Kalker Hauptstrasse 211–213: cinema (not preserved, attribution by Wolfram Hagspiel) (1909)
• Zülpicher Wall 12: Apartment building (not preserved) (1910)
• Severinstr. 228, 230, 232, Georgsplatz: residential and commercial buildings (1910/11) (some of which have been preserved)
• Franzstrasse 69, 71, 75, 77, Gleueler Str. 217, Rückertstr. 2, Gleueler Str. 215 (1911/13): villa-like single and multi-family houses (partially preserved)
• Virchowstraße 21: semi-villa (1912) (almost completely preserved)
• Titusstraße 20, 22, 24: apartment buildings (1912/13) (largely original)
• Hansaring 39: conversion of a single-family house (1912/13) (not preserved)
• Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring 21: petrol storage facility (1912/13)
• Schaevenstraße 1b / Mauritiuswall: office and commercial building (1912/14) (partially preserved)
• Marienburger Straße 16: Villa (1921/22) (preserved changed)
• Leyboldstrasse 14: Villa (1921/23) (not preserved). The client was Abraham Salomon Rosenthal , the father-in-law of Robert Stern's brother Dr. Julius Stern, who gave the villa to Julius and Gladys Stern around 1924.
• Bayenthal belt 28–30: double villa (1922)
• Hölderlinstraße 1–3: row of villas (1923/24) (partly rebuilt in different ways)
• Pferdmengesstraße 5: Villa (1923/24) (preserved modified)
• Heinestraße 30–32: house (1924) (preserved slightly changed)
• 

  Goltsteinstrasse 148
  Goltsteinstraße 148–150: double villa (1924/26) (preserved)
• Bernhardstraße 161–165: row of villas (1925/26) (some of them largely preserved in their original form, the middle house in 1971 heavily modified)
• Worringer Strasse 3–5: Dr. Demann (1925/26) + Garage (1931) (not preserved)
• Caesarstrasse no. (Between 24 and 26a): warehouse buildings (not preserved)
• Venloer Straße 47: Extension of a steel wholesaler (not preserved)
• Goltsteinstraße 187–189: residential building (1926) (never completed, not preserved)
• Bayenthal belt 41–45: row of villas (1927) (preserved modified)
• Hölderlinstrasse 8-10: part of a row of villas (1927)
• Hohe Straße 108–110: House Kimmelstiel (1927) (not preserved)
• Bayenthalgürtel 26: Villa (1927/28) (preserved modified)
• Eugen-Langen-Straße 6: renovation (1927/28) (not preserved)
• Brückenstrasse 19–23 / Herzogstrasse 82: Dischhaus (1928)
• Bayenthalgürtel 70–72: double villa (1928/29) (preserved modified)
• Robert-Blum-Straße 11: renovation (1928/29)
• Breite Strasse 58–60 / Neven-DuMont-Strasse 2–4: renovation (1928/29) (not preserved)
• Hohe Straße 138–140 / Große Budengasse: reconstruction (1928/29, 1932) (not preserved)
• Mittelstraße 52–54 / Friesenwall: reconstruction (1929) (changed, rebuilt)
• Widdersdorfer Straße 244a: warehouse for machine tools (1929) (largely original)
• Hohe Straße 111: renovation (1930) (not preserved)
• Salierring 27: renovation (1930) (not preserved)
• Hansaring 87: conversion (1930) (not preserved)
• 

  Villa, Am Südpark 51
  Weyerstraße 66: conversion (1930) (only small parts preserved)
• Neusser Straße 281 / Baudristraße: conversion (1930/31) (largely original)
• Hohe Straße 77-79: commercial building (1930/31) (not preserved)
• Severinstraße 226: conversion of a theater into a cinema (1930/31) (not preserved)
• Buchheimer Straße 26–28: reconstruction (1931) (not preserved)
• Eythstraße 25: renovation (1931) (largely original)
• Kleingedankstraße 16: conversion (1932) (not preserved)
• Ehrenstraße 1–3 / Apostelnstraße: conversion (1932) (not preserved)
• Mühlenbach 14: conversion (1932) (not preserved)
• Siebengebirgsallee 107 / Ölbergstraße: conversion (1932) (largely preserved)
• Karolingerring 17: conversions (1932) (not preserved)
• Hultzstraße 13: conversion (1933) (not preserved)
• Bayenthal belt 11: conversion planning (1933) (not implemented, the house was demolished in 1934)
• Venloer Straße 26: Apartment division (1933) (not preserved)
• Eupener Straße 4: Apartment division (1933) (preserved changed)
• Am Südpark 51: conversion of a villa into a three-family house (1933) (preserved)
• Sedanstraße 29: conversion (1933/34) (not preserved)
• Parkstraße 8: Conversion of a villa into a two-family house (1933/34) (preserved changed)
• Parkstraße 10: Conversion of a villa into a three-family house (1933/34)
• Goltsteinstrasse 144–146: semi-detached house (1934) (attributed by Hagspiel)
• Marienburger Straße 37: reconstruction (1934) (preserved changed)
• Venloer Straße 21: renovation (1934) (not preserved)
• Hansaring 91: conversion (1934) (not preserved)
• Robert-Heusser-Straße 3: renovation (1934)
• Marienburger Strasse 42: renovation (1934)
• Pferdmengesstraße 19: renovation (1934/35)

Robert Stern also worked several times for the Jewish community in Cologne. Among other things, he also designed grave monuments, such as the Wihl grave in the Deutz Jewish cemetery (around 1911), the Julius Goldfinger grave there (around 1918) and the Richard Goldfinger grave, also in Deutz (around 1916). For the sculptor and tombstone dealer Géza Schwarcz he built an exhibition and workshop building in the style of a classicistic temple at 1107 Venloer Straße. The structure was later used by horticultural companies and demolished in 1970. The tomb designed by Stern for Emma and Simon Stern, Stern's parents, is located in the Bocklemünd Jewish Cemetery . It is with “R. Stern “signed. In 1925, Stern carried out renovation work on the synagogue in Cologne's Glockengasse. He reconstructed the four facade turrets that had been missing since the copper donations in the First World War. The synagogue fell victim to the events of the Reichspogromnacht . From 1925 to 1933 he rebuilt and expanded the synagogue at Roonstraße 50. In 1926/27 he rebuilt the Israelitische Kindergarten at Bachemer Straße 95. The building was destroyed in World War II. In 1926/27 a synagogue was built at Körnerstraße 93 according to Stern's plans. The community tried to sell the synagogue and the cantor's house to the Catholic Church in 1938, but shortly afterwards it was destroyed.

In 1927/28 Robert Stern redesigned the Jewish cemetery on Raderberger Strasse; among other things, he built a cemetery hall there. This was probably later moved to Venloer Straße and used as part of the open pillar hall there. The grave of Max Heydt, which Stern designed around 1927, is also located in the cemetery on Venloer Straße. At this time, Stern designed the entire layout of the local cemetery . The buildings were inaugurated in 1930. The mourning hall was only partially demolished during the National Socialist era and later rebuilt. It can be assumed that the enclosure of the site, designed by Max August Breuer in 1938, was designed in consultation with Stern, who was still returning to Germany at the time.

At the “Pressa” exhibition on the exhibition grounds in Cologne-Deutz in 1928, a pavilion designed by Stern for the special Jewish show stood.

In 1929 Robert Stern converted a house at Mauritiussteinweg 11 for the synagogue community into the youth home “Emil-Blumenau-Haus”. The building was completely destroyed in World War II. Around 1929, Stern also rebuilt the temple of Adaß Jeschurun from Cologne at St.-Apern-Straße 29–31. The building was badly damaged during the Reichspogromnacht and demolished in the 1950s. Stern rebuilt the Israelitisches Wohlfahrtshaus at Rubensstrasse 33 in 1930. Later the welfare house was converted into a hotel. At Cäcilienstraße 18-22 there was a small synagogue and the club house of the Rhineland Lodge, which Robert Stern redesigned in 1930 and 1935. In 1935 it became the Israelite Community House. In 1937 the Gestapo ordered the closure of the lodge and the synagogue. The building was converted into a gymnasium for the Jewish high school and for Jewish sports clubs. It was later used as a so-called “Judenhaus”, in 1942/43 it was sold and some of it was rented out to Nazi organizations and the police. Around 1930, Stern rebuilt the Israelite Children's Home at Lützowstrasse 35–37, the remains of which were torn down in 1957. Robert Stern's brother Walter, who died in 1929, was buried in the cemetery in Vogelsang; Robert Stern designed the wall grave from shell limestone . A few months after Walter Stern, another brother, Willy Stern, who was also buried in this cemetery, died. In 1934 the Fallen Memorial was erected in this cemetery. It was designed by Ludwig Marx, the planning and technical management was in Robert Stern's hands. The sculptor was Géza Schwarcz, the ironwork was done by Isaak Meyer.

Robert Stern was also active outside of Cologne. The former Hirsch & Co. office building at Hochstrasse 62 / Neumarkt in Krefeld , built in 1913/14, comes from him . In 1922 he took part - without being among the winners - in the Chicago Tribune Tower competition to build the most beautiful commercial building in the world.In 1927 he rebuilt the synagogue in Bonn - Poppelsdorf on Jagdweg 19b / Bennauerstraße, which has not been preserved. In 1928 he converted another synagogue in Bonn, which was located at Judengasse / Tempelstrasse 2-6. In the same year he rebuilt the Jewish children's sanatorium in Bad Kreuznach and expanded it. Only the staircase of this facility has been preserved. The Dierdorf synagogue was built in 1928/29 ; it was badly damaged in a bombing raid in World War II and was soon demolished. The synagogue at Wallstrasse 5 in Montabaur was rebuilt and renovated in 1930; it has not been preserved. A Jewish cemetery was laid out on the road from Beerfelden to Obersensbach in 1926, the buildings of which were planned by Robert Stern and erected in 1927/28. The synagogue with the teacher's apartment on Odenwaldstrasse in Beerfelden was also planned by Stern in 1929/30. Stern's plans for the public bathing establishment with refreshment building, day nursery and sports field were not carried out. Abraham Salomon Rosenthal, after whom this bath was to be named, brought the amount of money that was estimated for it into the Rosenthalsche Wohlfahrts-Stiftung instead.

literature

• Wolfram Hagspiel: Cologne and his Jewish architects , Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-7616-2294-0 , pp. 365-432

Web links

• A small inscription, an important life: Robert Stern

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wolfram Hagspiel: Cologne and his Jewish architects , Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-7616-2294-0 , p. 369.