Theodor Unger (architect)

Theodor Unger (born June 29, 1846 in Hanover ; † March 29, 1912 there ; full name: Theodor Louis Ferdinand Unger ) was a German architect , urban planner and building specialist . As a chronicler of the building activity in Hanover, the representative of neo-Gothic architecture from the Vienna School documented the largely lost architecture of the 19th century.

Life

Book cover for Unger's architecture guide Hanover. Guide through the city and its buildings from 1882
with the artist's signature of the architect Max Kolde

Theodor Unger attended the Hanover Polytechnic from 1863 to 1866 - while still under the Kingdom of Hanover . He then studied from 1867 to 1870 at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna with Friedrich von Schmidt .

In 1870 Unger worked for Adelbert Hotzen as a site manager in the restoration of the imperial palace in Goslar .

In 1870 Unger settled in Hanover as a freelance architect and since then has written drafts and publications on urban planning issues for the city (see Other buildings ), including a proposal for a ring road around the old town and the Calenberger Neustadt of Hanover with the construction of a first Maschsee in the Aegidenmasch (not realized like this). Here he added two water basins in the area of ​​today's Maschpark to the proposed Ringstrasse in the south, based on the model of the Hamburg Outer Alster basin .

In 1878, Theodor Unger wrote the catalog on the architects' contributions to the Provincial Trade Exhibition .

When the emperor visited Hanover in 1889, Unger was involved in designing the city's festival architecture.

Theodor Unger was chairman of the Hanover Architects and Engineers Association and the Hanover Music Academy for many years . He provided numerous reports, particularly on room acoustics .

Unger was an important chronicler of the building activity in Hanover. The architecture of the 19th century, which is largely lost today, he documented in 1882 in the city's first architecture guide ( Hanover. Guide through the city and its buildings. - see writings ), which is still an important source of local architectural history. For this volume Unger wrote articles on the Hanover School of Architecture , while Hubert Stier dealt with the buildings of the Neo-Renaissance .

Theodor Unger was cremated in Bremen .

family

Theodor Unger's son Walther Unger (born March 1, 1876 in Hanover) became a conductor after studying music and from 1926 headed the local branch of the piano maker Grotrian-Steinweg in Berlin .

plant

buildings

After the air raids on Hanover in World War II and the demolitions in the post-war period, none of Unger's buildings has survived in the Lower Saxony state capital.

• 1872–1874: Church in Isenbüttel
• 1888–1890: Administration building of the United Landscape Fire Fund in Hanover on Schiffgraben

The building was considered Unger's most important building in Hanover, it was expanded in 1910 by Emil Lorenz and demolished in 1969 in favor of a new building by VGH Insurance .

Urban planning competitions and designs

Theodor Unger often took part in architectural competitions in the field of urban planning .

• 1872 to 1875 in Hanover:
  • Design for the Akazienstraße residential group as a "picturesque street layout"
  • Development on Marktstrasse and Karmarschstrasse
• 1883: two competition designs for a development plan for the Auefeld near Kassel (awarded 1st and 2nd prize)
• 1888: Development plan for the southern part of Hanover
• 1889: urban planning drafts for the Aegidienmasch and a "forest ring road" in Hanover

Fonts

• Theodor Unger (arrangement): The arts and crafts exhibition of the Hanoverian architects and engineers association at the general commercial exhibition of the province of Hanover for 1878. Special catalog , edited on behalf of the association commission, catalog on the contributions of the architects to the Provinzial - Trade exhibition 1878, general trade exhibition of the province of Hanover: [Hanau], 1878
• Architects and Engineers Association Hanover (Ed.), Theodor Unger (Red.): Hanover. Guide through the city and its buildings. Commemorative publication for the fifth general assembly of the Association of German Architects and Engineers . Klindworth, Hanover 1882.

as a reprint : Curt R. Vincentz Verlag, Hannover 1978, ISBN 3-87870-154-3 .

as reprint: Europäische Hochschulverlag, Bremen 2011, ISBN 978-3-86741-493-7 ; partly online via Google books

literature

• Günther Kokkelink , Monika Lemke-Kokkelink : Architecture in Northern Germany. Architecture and handicrafts of the Hanover School 1850–1900. Schlueter, Hannover 1998, ISBN 3-87706-538-4 , p. 571 and more often.
• Helmut Knocke : Unger, Theodor. In: Dirk Böttcher , Klaus Mlynek, Waldemar R. Röhrbein, Hugo Thielen: Hannoversches Biographisches Lexikon . From the beginning to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 2002, ISBN 3-87706-706-9 , p. 367.
• Helmut Knocke: Unger, Theodor. In: Klaus Mlynek, Waldemar R. Röhrbein (eds.) U. a .: City Lexicon Hanover . From the beginning to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 2009, ISBN 978-3-89993-662-9 , pp. 634f.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Helmut Knocke: Unger, Theodor. In: Stadtlexikon Hannover. (see literature)
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n} Helmut Knocke: Unger, Theodor. In: Hannoversches Biographisches Lexikon. (see literature)
3. ↑ Helmut Knocke, Hugo Thielen : Maschsee. In: Hannover Art and Culture Lexicon , p. 170f.
4. ↑ Helmut Knocke, Hugo Thielen: 1882. In: Hannover Art and Culture Lexicon , p. 29.
5. ↑ Erich Hermann Müller von Asow (Ed.): German Musicians Lexicon. W. Limpert Verlag, Dresden 1929, column 1483.
6. ↑ Helmut Knocke, Hugo Thielen: Schiffgraben 4 . In: Hanover Art and Culture Lexicon. P. 192.
7. ↑ Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung , 3rd year 1883, No. 32 (from August 11, 1883) ( online ), p. 291.