Wilhelm Westmann

Wilhelm Westmann

Wilhelm Westmann (born April 3, 1813 in Vienna ; † August 26, 1881 there ) was an Austrian architect , teacher and school director.

Life

Wilhelm Westmann was the son of a fruit trader. Although he came from a modest background, he was able to attend the Polytechnic from 1829 to 1832 and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna with Peter von Nobile with the help of a scholarship . At the end of his studies he received the Gundel Prize .

It can be assumed that he worked as an architect in the following years - but it has not been proven. From 1845 to 1847 he was supplement for August Sicard von Sicardsburg at the ornament school of the Academy of Fine Arts. He was accepted into the civil service as a teacher for the vocational school for construction and metalwork , which was newly founded in 1847 . After the turmoil of the revolution in 1848, the school could not start operating until 1849 and was located at the Polytechnic as an independent institution. From 1849 to 1865 Westmann was a teacher of drawing for metal workers there. Since the trade school was in some respects worse off than the polytechnic, Westmann sought to integrate his school into it. When this failed, there was a restructuring and the trade school moved to a new location on Währinger Straße (today's WUK ). Westmann became its director and worked out a new concept. Accordingly, the school was run as a construction and engineering school from 1870 , from which today's higher technical institute developed. Westmann remained its director until retirement in 1875.

Elisabethstrasse 1 (1860)

Kärntner Ring 17 (1861–1863)

In addition to his main activity as a teacher, Wilhelm Westmann was occasionally active as an architect and worked as a draftsman for the Allgemeine Baugesellschaft. From 1870 he was a real member of the Academy of Fine Arts. He was the bearer of the Franz Joseph Order .

Westmann had been married to the daughter of the castle actor La Roche , Katharina La Roche, since 1849 and had two children.

plant

As a co-founder of the construction and engineering school, Wilhelm Westmann was particularly important for the restructuring of the technical school system. As part of his teaching activities, he also published drawing templates for lessons.

His work as an architect is only documented with two buildings that identify him as a representative of early historicism: a rather strict and simple house on Elisabethstrasse and a more representative, more decorative one on Ringstrasse. But since he was also a draftsman for the Allgemeine Baugesellschaft, it is possible that he had a creative share in far more buildings.

• Rental house , Elisabethstrasse 1 / Kärntner Strasse 44, Vienna 1 (1860)
• Mietpalais , Kärntner Ring 17 / Schwarzenbergplatz 12, Vienna 1 (1861–1863)

• Ornamental templates . Designed and lithographed by W. Westmann. Vienna, copier of the Lower Austrian trade association 1845

literature

• Constantin von Wurzbach : Westmann, Wilhelm . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 55th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1887, p. 171 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Wilhelm Westmann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Wilhelm Westmann. In: Architects Lexicon Vienna 1770–1945. Published by the Architekturzentrum Wien . Vienna 2007.