Rudolf Steiner (architect)

The Pompeian Bank in the Park on the Ilm

Johann Friedrich Rudolph Steiner (born June 1, 1742 in Braunschweig , † March 1, 1804 in Weimar ) was court architect and building officer in Weimar.

At the beginning of his professional career, Rudolf Steiner worked as a construction supervisor at the court in Braunschweig . Around 1770 he switched to court service in Sondershausen and was appointed court architect to Weimar in 1774 after the fire in the residential palace . He succeeded the princely master builder Johann Gottfried Schlegel after he had fallen out of favor. In 1779 the Weimar court theater, which burned down in 1825, was built according to his designs. His other works include the Pompeian Bank , which was created in 1799 based on his draft from 1797, and the Court Gardener 's House , from which the Liszt House later emerged. He also designed a salon in 1786/87 as a successor to the Orange House, which later became the Temple Lord's House . From 1789 to 1803 Steiner was once again involved in the construction of the Weimar palace alongside Johann August Arens , Nikolaus Friedrich von Thouret and Heinrich Gentz . In 1790/91 the so-called Poseck'sche Haus , today's museum for prehistory and early history of Thuringia, was built according to a design by Rudolf Steiner. The construction management was Anton Georg Hauptmann . He was also active in the construction of the Goethe Theater (Bad Lauchstädt) . Mention should also be made of the Bertuch House , which he built in 1780/82, the expansion of which, however, was later continued by Johann Christian Heinrich Schlueter .

The Liszt House, the Poseck House and the Pompeian Bank are possibly the only surviving evidence that attests to Steiner's direct involvement. His son Carl Friedrich Christian Steiner was also an architect who also worked in the Park on the Ilm . Steiner dealt with the development of fire-resistant roofs. In addition to publications on structural engineering, works on entomology are ascribed to him. However, these found a devastating criticism from the reviewers. He had invented an oven known as a " screw oven", which enabled or at least aimed to use firewood more economically. This was first described in 1791.

Fonts (selection)

• Experiments on the origin of the bark beetle or flying wood worm named after Linnaeus Typographus . Stranckmann, Jena 1785.
• Draft of insect science or what is necessary to know about the knowledge, production, transformation and collection of the insects: together with a class of conchylia and their treatment by IF St. MB [presumed author: Johann Friedrich Rudolph Steiner]. Hilscher, Leipzig 1788.
• Description of a screw furnace , Weimar 1791.
• Draft of a new, completely fireproof construction with vaulted ceilings and roofs. T. 1. Dedicated in reverence to the safety and welfare of human dwellings and other buildings, to all of the highest and highest rulers and princes of Germany as well as to the whole nation of the same . Hoffmann, Weimar 1803.
• Practical instructions for calculating the construction and useful timber, including cutting mill goods according to the cubic and square feet. A non-profit manual. With 4 illuminated copper plates, and 74 wooden and cutting mill tables . Hoffmannische Buchhandlung, Weimar 1803.

Web links

• Link to Steiner's bibliographical references

Individual evidence

1. ^ Susanne Müller-Wolff: A landscape garden in the Ilm valley . Böhlau, Weimar 2007, ISBN 978-3-412200572 , pp. 250-254. On-line
2. ↑ http://alt-thueringen.de/museum/das-haus/architektur-des-hauses/