Wilhelm Alverdes
Wilhelm "Willy" Alverdes (born June 17, 1896 in Frankenhausen , † March 28, 1980 in Rheinbach ) was a German garden architect . After the Second World War, he made a significant contribution to the redesign of the green spaces in Berlin's Tiergarten district .
life and work
Wilhelm Alverdes came from a family of gardeners in Thuringia . Even before the Second World War, he was working in a private gardening business in Berlin.
In the years 1928–29 the (now listed) garden of the Braasch House, Am Erlenbusch 24, designed by Edmund Schüler , was created according to the first drafts by Alverdes. In 1950 he took over the position of head of the zoo administration. For the reforestation of the Great Zoo , which was bombed in the war and then almost felled , he developed the concept of a quiet, spacious, scenic recreation park, which is still available today. The entire area was structured uniformly according to his ideas by means of wide meadows and woody trees. However , Alverdes rejected some of the baroque elements of the park that were still present and that had been worked out by Lenné .
In 1954 the zoo administration was subordinated to the zoo district office and Alverdes became head of the horticultural office. Now in charge of all the green spaces in the district, from 1955 he designed the Fritz-Schloß-Park on foot on the ruins of the former barracks of the 4th Guards Regiment . He provided the plans for the war grave cemetery (opened in 1955) on Wilsnacker Strasse in Berlin-Moabit . In the years 1956 to 1958 Alverdes (alongside the main author Hans Migge ) was involved in shaping the exterior of the Berlin Congress Hall. In 1960 he initiated the restoration of the Kleiner Tiergarten , which also included the Ottopark . Finally, from 1960 onwards, he transferred the property of the destroyed Villa Pflug , Alt-Moabit 117/118, to a public green area, the later Carl-von-Ossietzky-Park . Alverdes retired in 1961.
Honors
- 1961: Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany
- The German Society for Garden Art and Landscape Culture (DGGL) made Alverdes an honorary member.
literature
- Katrin Lesser: Willy Alverdes - his work as a garden architect and his services to the Great Tiergarten in Berlin . In: The Berlin Zoo, past and future . Editor: State Monument Authority Berlin. (Articles on the preservation of monuments, volume 9), Berlin 1996.
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Alverdes, Wilhelm |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Alverdes, Willy (nickname) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German garden architect |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 17, 1896 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Frankenhausen |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 28, 1980 |
| Place of death | Rheinbach |