Rudolf Günther (architect)

Rudolf Günther, portrait around 1911

Rudolf Günther (born January 8, 1880 in Schötmar , today Bad Salzuflen ; † December 7, 1941 in Gadderbaum , district Bethel , today Bielefeld ) was a German architect . During his lifetime he was one of the most sought-after architects in his hometown Bad Salzuflen and made a decisive contribution to the cityscape. Many of the buildings planned by him are now listed .

Life

Rudolf Günther was the son of Johann Heinrich Günther (1844–1914), the builder of the train station in Schötmar, and his wife Dorothea Friederike Mathilde born. Hackemack (1851-1897). After attending elementary school and higher private boys' school, he trained as a carpenter in his father's factory. At the turn of the century he attended the Höxter building trade school , but left it without a degree. From 1905 to 1907 he worked for the Bielefeld architect Bernhard Kramer, and then attended lectures at the Technical University of Karlsruhe as a guest auditor . Günther returned to Salzuflen in 1909 and opened an architecture office. In 1913 he married Gertrud Denecke (1884–1959) from Burgdorf, and the marriage had two children. Günther was also active in local politics. During the Second World War , his business was bad and there were health problems. He died of cancer on December 7, 1941 in the Bethel hospital. His grave is in the cemetery on Herford Street in Salzuflen.

plant

During his creative period between 1909 and 1941, Günther created over 60 buildings, many of which are still standing and over a dozen are now listed as historical monuments. The majority of the buildings are residential and boarding houses, which for Günther were often designed as semi-detached houses. The architectural styles he represented ranged from Art Nouveau to spa architecture and New Building . In the 1910s and 1930s Rudolf Günther was a renowned architect in Bad Salzuflen and successfully took part in various competitions. His Haus Bender, built in 1912, is one of the most important buildings of spa architecture of the early 20th century in Westphalia.

selection

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  House (1909)

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  Pension House (1911)

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  Residential and commercial building (1911)

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  Double house (1912)

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  House Bender (1912)

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  Printer building (1926)

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  Extension to a pension house (1926)

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  Municipal House (1928)

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  Construction for the Paulinenquelle (1933/34)

Rudolf Günther Medal

Since 2014 the Heimat- und Beschönerungsverein Bad Salzuflen e. V. awarded the Rudolf Günther Medal for services in the field of monument preservation and monument protection. It is intended to award people or companies who have made an outstanding contribution to the exemplary restoration of a monument or building worth preserving in the urban area of ​​Bad Salzuflen, to the protection of monuments in general or to an outstanding publication on a monument preservation topic. The medal was designed by Peter Götz Güttler .

literature

• Stefan Wiesekopsieker: Rudolf Günther - portrait of a Bad Salzufler spa architect before the First World War . In: Heimatland Lippe , No. 7/8, 1993
• Merret Sievers, Stefan Wiesekopsieker: Rudolf Günther. A Bad Salzufler architect between historicism and expressionism (=  contributions to the history of the city of Bad Salzuflen . Volume 3 ). Publishing house for regional history, Bielefeld 1996, ISBN 3-89534-181-9 .
• Stefan Wiesekopsieker: The Bad Salzufler architect Rudolf Günther (1880–1941) and his buildings . In: Builders and Architects in Lippe (=  special publications of the Natural Science and Historical Association for the State of Lippe ). tape 47 . Aisthesis Verlag, Bielefeld 1997, ISBN 3-89528-206-5 .
• Franz Meyer (Hrsg.): Bad Salzuflen-Epochs of the city history . Publishing house for regional history, Bielefeld 2006, ISBN 978-3-89534-606-4 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Entry "Rudolf Günther" in: "archthek", Historical Register of Architects, Section Guckel - Guyer accessed on December 1, 2015
2. ^ Award of the Rudolf Günther Medal by the HVV