Alfred Messel
Encyclopedia
Alfred Messel was one of the most well-known German architects at the turning point to the 20th century, creating a new style for buildings which bridged the transition from historicism
to modernism
. Messel was able to combine the structure, decoration, and function of his buildings, which ranged from department stores, museums, office buildings, mansions, and social housing to soup kitchens, into a coherent, harmonious whole. As an urban architect striving for excellence he was in many respects ahead of his time. His most well known works, the Wertheim department stores
and the Pergamon Museum
in Berlin, reflect a new concept of self-confident metropolitan architecture. His architectural drawings and construction plans are preserved at the Architecture Museum of the Technical University of Berlin
.
In 1873 he attended the Kassel
art academy together with his friend Ludwig Hoffmann, followed by architectural studies at the Berlin Building Academy
under Heinrich Strack. As a civil service trainee he then contributed to a new post office administration building on Spandauer Straße in Berlin designed by the architect Carl Schwatlo, before successfully passing his second state examination qualifying him as an assessor. In 1879 Messel became a member of the Berlin Architects Society, and in 1881 he won the prestigious Schinkel Prize for his plans for an exhibition building on the Tempelhofer Feld, a military parade ground in southern Berlin.
Over the next two years he traveled extensively through France, Spain, Italy and Great Britain and was a lecturer at the newly founded Technical University in Berlin-Charlottenburg. In 1886 he took a leave of absence from the civil service to work as a private architect. On February 1, 1893 he married Elsa Altmann and in November of that year their first child, Ena, was born. In February 1894 he was appointed professor at the Berlin School of Fine Arts and in the same year founded an architectural firm together with Martin Altgelt. His first buildings were on the Werderschen Markt in Berlin, and from 1893 he worked with the Wertheim department store dynasty, erecting in 1894 in Berlin’s Oranienstraße the first department store in Germany to follow the French model. In 1896 his son Ludwig Leonhard was born (died during World War I).
In 1899 Messel converted from Judaism
to Protestantism
. On May 17 of that year he received the Order of the Red Eagle
, 4th Class, which caused him to quip that from that date he could really feel “fourth class”. Also that year his youngest daughter Irene was born (died 1992 in London). In 1900 he terminated his collaboration with Martin Altgelt. Starting in 1902 he suffered from heart disease, which caused him to spend long periods at a health resort in the following years. He was busy with the second extension of the Wertheim store on Leipziger Platz 1903/06.
In 1906 Messel became a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin and in 1906 was awarded an honorary doctorate (Dr.-Ing.E.h.) from Darmstadt Technical University. In 1907 he was officially appointed architect of the Royal Prussian Museums and worked until his death primarily on plans for a new building to house the German, Pergamon and Near East collections in Berlin.
Messel died on March 24, 1909 and was buried in the Alter St.-Matthäus-Kirchhof in Berlin-Schöneberg. Since he was of Jewish descent, city streets named after him were renamed during the Nazi era.
Messel’s most famous work is the Wertheim Department store
on Leipziger Platz, which he executed between 1896 and 1906.
Already during construction the nighttime electric lighting and steel scaffolding caused a sensation, and when the store opened on November 15, 1897 the result was traffic chaos on Leipziger Strasse as well as the beginning of Messel’s rise to become one of the most prominent German architects of his time.
The innovative, vertically structured facade of narrow pillars extending from the ground floor to the roof and interspersed with windows received high praise, not least because it alluded to the building’s function.
After passing through a vestibule two-storeys high, one entered a rectangular light well 22 meter high and 450 square meters in size. On the opposite wall an imposing stairway led to the upper sales floors. On the landing was a 6 meter high statue symbolizing “Labor” by Ludwig Manzel, and the wall above was decorated with monumental frescoes showing an ancient harbor by Max Koch and a modern harbor by Fritz Gehrke.
The tremendous impact of the new department store on the general public as well as on architecture experts is documented in numerous newspaper and magazine articles and statements by famous architects and their critics. These included Peter Behrens, Henry van de Velde, August Endell, Bruno Taut, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Hermann Muthesius, Karl Scheffler, Walter Curt Behrendt, Fritz Stahl, Alfred Lichtwark, Wiener, Heinrich Schliepmann and many others.
The store did not survive World War II
. In March 1943 it was damaged by three exploding bombs, and its final destruction was caused by a fire started by a phosphorus bomb.(( Edgard Haider: Verlorene Pracht. Geschichten von zerstörten Bauten. Gerstenberg Verlag, Hildesheim, 2006, p. 137.)) The ruins were cleared away in 1955/56 to make way for a border strip demarcating the Russian sector of Berlin.
Messel had long been interesting in the design plan for the Museum Island and since 1907 had been developing plans for the Pergamon Museum. It remains to this day the monumental, austere three-wing neoclassical construction which he conceived but did not live to see realized as he died in 1909. It was constructed with slight modifications between 1910 and 1930 under the supervision of Messel’s close friend, the architect and city planning official Ludwig Hoffmann. The museum was badly damaged in World War II, and starting in 2010 modifications of the building will be undertaken as part of the master plan for Berlin’s Museum Island
.
The museum’s external monumentality is in the same spirit as many of the relics on display inside, not least the reconstruction of the imposing western side of the Pergamon Altar
itself with its three wings. The changes made by Hoffmann on the building’s exterior had a restraining and moderating effect. The most noticeable were the raising of the eaves, the flattening of the pediment
and the addition of a metope
and triglyph
frieze. Despite such smoothening interventions, the basic rigidity and blockiness which characterized Messel’s last work was retained.
Historicism
Historicism is a mode of thinking that assigns a central and basic significance to a specific context, such as historical period, geographical place and local culture. As such it is in contrast to individualist theories of knowledges such as empiricism and rationalism, which neglect the role of...
to modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
. Messel was able to combine the structure, decoration, and function of his buildings, which ranged from department stores, museums, office buildings, mansions, and social housing to soup kitchens, into a coherent, harmonious whole. As an urban architect striving for excellence he was in many respects ahead of his time. His most well known works, the Wertheim department stores
Wertheim (department store)
Wertheim was a large department store chain in pre-WWII Germany. It was founded by Georg Wertheim and operated four stores in Berlin, one in Rostock, one in Stralsund , and one in Breslau....
and the Pergamon Museum
Pergamon Museum
The Pergamon Museum is situated on the Museum Island in Berlin. The site was designed by Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hoffmann and was constructed in twenty years, from 1910 to 1930. The Pergamon houses original-sized, reconstructed monumental buildings such as the Pergamon Altar and the Market Gate...
in Berlin, reflect a new concept of self-confident metropolitan architecture. His architectural drawings and construction plans are preserved at the Architecture Museum of the Technical University of Berlin
Technical University of Berlin
The Technische Universität Berlin is a research university located in Berlin, Germany. Translating the name into English is discouraged by the university, however paraphrasing as Berlin Institute of Technology is recommended by the university if necessary .The TU Berlin was founded...
.
Early life and career
Alfred Messel was the third son of the banker Simon Messel. The family owned a bank which was later managed by Alfred’s brother Ludwig, first in Darmstadt and then, from the end of the 1870s, in Great Britain. In his youth Alfred Messel began a lifelong friendship with Ludwig Hoffmann, who later became a Berlin city planning official. In 1872 Messel graduated from the Ludwig-Georgs-Gymnasium in Darmstadt (with an Abitur), after which he served in the military as a one-year volunteer in the First Grand Ducal Hessian Royal Guard Infantry Regiment.In 1873 he attended the Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
art academy together with his friend Ludwig Hoffmann, followed by architectural studies at the Berlin Building Academy
Bauakademie
The Bauakademie in Berlin, Germany, built between 1832 and 1836, is considered one of the forerunners of modern architecture due to its theretofore uncommon use of red brick and the relatively streamlined facade of the building.Designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, the Bauakademie was built near...
under Heinrich Strack. As a civil service trainee he then contributed to a new post office administration building on Spandauer Straße in Berlin designed by the architect Carl Schwatlo, before successfully passing his second state examination qualifying him as an assessor. In 1879 Messel became a member of the Berlin Architects Society, and in 1881 he won the prestigious Schinkel Prize for his plans for an exhibition building on the Tempelhofer Feld, a military parade ground in southern Berlin.
Over the next two years he traveled extensively through France, Spain, Italy and Great Britain and was a lecturer at the newly founded Technical University in Berlin-Charlottenburg. In 1886 he took a leave of absence from the civil service to work as a private architect. On February 1, 1893 he married Elsa Altmann and in November of that year their first child, Ena, was born. In February 1894 he was appointed professor at the Berlin School of Fine Arts and in the same year founded an architectural firm together with Martin Altgelt. His first buildings were on the Werderschen Markt in Berlin, and from 1893 he worked with the Wertheim department store dynasty, erecting in 1894 in Berlin’s Oranienstraße the first department store in Germany to follow the French model. In 1896 his son Ludwig Leonhard was born (died during World War I).
In 1899 Messel converted from Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
to Protestantism
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
. On May 17 of that year he received the Order of the Red Eagle
Order of the Red Eagle
The Order of the Red Eagle was an order of chivalry of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was awarded to both military personnel and civilians, to recognize valor in combat, excellence in military leadership, long and faithful service to the kingdom, or other achievements...
, 4th Class, which caused him to quip that from that date he could really feel “fourth class”. Also that year his youngest daughter Irene was born (died 1992 in London). In 1900 he terminated his collaboration with Martin Altgelt. Starting in 1902 he suffered from heart disease, which caused him to spend long periods at a health resort in the following years. He was busy with the second extension of the Wertheim store on Leipziger Platz 1903/06.
In 1906 Messel became a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin and in 1906 was awarded an honorary doctorate (Dr.-Ing.E.h.) from Darmstadt Technical University. In 1907 he was officially appointed architect of the Royal Prussian Museums and worked until his death primarily on plans for a new building to house the German, Pergamon and Near East collections in Berlin.
Messel died on March 24, 1909 and was buried in the Alter St.-Matthäus-Kirchhof in Berlin-Schöneberg. Since he was of Jewish descent, city streets named after him were renamed during the Nazi era.
Wertheim department store, Leipziger Strasse
Wertheim (department store)
Wertheim was a large department store chain in pre-WWII Germany. It was founded by Georg Wertheim and operated four stores in Berlin, one in Rostock, one in Stralsund , and one in Breslau....
on Leipziger Platz, which he executed between 1896 and 1906.
Already during construction the nighttime electric lighting and steel scaffolding caused a sensation, and when the store opened on November 15, 1897 the result was traffic chaos on Leipziger Strasse as well as the beginning of Messel’s rise to become one of the most prominent German architects of his time.
After passing through a vestibule two-storeys high, one entered a rectangular light well 22 meter high and 450 square meters in size. On the opposite wall an imposing stairway led to the upper sales floors. On the landing was a 6 meter high statue symbolizing “Labor” by Ludwig Manzel, and the wall above was decorated with monumental frescoes showing an ancient harbor by Max Koch and a modern harbor by Fritz Gehrke.
The tremendous impact of the new department store on the general public as well as on architecture experts is documented in numerous newspaper and magazine articles and statements by famous architects and their critics. These included Peter Behrens, Henry van de Velde, August Endell, Bruno Taut, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Hermann Muthesius, Karl Scheffler, Walter Curt Behrendt, Fritz Stahl, Alfred Lichtwark, Wiener, Heinrich Schliepmann and many others.
The store did not survive World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. In March 1943 it was damaged by three exploding bombs, and its final destruction was caused by a fire started by a phosphorus bomb.(( Edgard Haider: Verlorene Pracht. Geschichten von zerstörten Bauten. Gerstenberg Verlag, Hildesheim, 2006, p. 137.)) The ruins were cleared away in 1955/56 to make way for a border strip demarcating the Russian sector of Berlin.
Pergamon Museum
Museum Island
Museum Island is the name of the northern half of an island in the Spree river in the central Mitte district of Berlin, Germany, the site of the old city of Cölln...
.
The museum’s external monumentality is in the same spirit as many of the relics on display inside, not least the reconstruction of the imposing western side of the Pergamon Altar
Pergamon Altar
The Pergamon Altar is a monumental construction built during the reign of King Eumenes II in the first half of the 2nd century BC on one of the terraces of the acropolis of the ancient city of Pergamon in Asia Minor....
itself with its three wings. The changes made by Hoffmann on the building’s exterior had a restraining and moderating effect. The most noticeable were the raising of the eaves, the flattening of the pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
and the addition of a metope
Metope (architecture)
In classical architecture, a metope is a rectangular architectural element that fills the space between two triglyphs in a Doric frieze, which is a decorative band of alternating triglyphs and metopes above the architrave of a building of the Doric order...
and triglyph
Triglyph
Triglyph is an architectural term for the vertically channeled tablets of the Doric frieze, so called because of the angular channels in them, two perfect and one divided, the two chamfered angles or hemiglyphs being reckoned as one. The square recessed spaces between the triglyphs on a Doric...
frieze. Despite such smoothening interventions, the basic rigidity and blockiness which characterized Messel’s last work was retained.
Other buildings (surviving, at least in part)
- 1882-1883: Frenkel family grave in the Jewish Cemetery Berlin-Weißensee
- 1889: boiler house of the former English gas works in Berlin-Schöneberg
- 1889–1891: building housing a soup kitchen (Volkscafé- und Speisehallen-AG), Neue Schönhauser Str., Berlin
- 1891-1893: Private residences on Kurfürstendamm (partially surviving)
- 1891-1892: building of the Volkscafé- und Speisehallen-AG, Chausseestraße, Berlin
- 1893–1895: social housing estate for the Berliner Spar- und Bauverein eGmbH, Berlin-Moabit, Sickingenstraße 7/8
- 1895-1897: courtyard of commercial enterprises on Alexandrinenstraße, Berlin-Kreuzberg
- 1897: Schönrade Castle in Neumark (Tuczno, Poland)
- 1897–1898: housing estate for the Berliner Spar- und Bauverein eGmbH, Berlin-Friedrichshain, Schreinerstraße 63/64 / Proskauer Straße 15-17 / Bänschstraße 26/28/30 (now modified)
- 1892–1906: Hesse State Museum in Darmstadt, Zeughausstraße 1
- 1897-1898: Villa Wilhelm Wertheim, Berlin-Grunewald (together with Martin Altgeld, now modified)
- 1899-1900: administration building in Staßfurt-Leopoldshall (now the town hall)
- 1899–1900: housing estate for the Berliner Spar- und Bauverein eGmbH, Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg, Stargarder Straße 3/3a/4/5 / Greifenhagener Straße 56/57 (now modified)
- 1897–1900: bank building for the Berliner Handelsgesellschaft, Berlin-Mitte, Behrenstraße 32/33 (including extensions up to 1908; see image at right)
- 1901–1902: building housing the Lette-Vereins zur Förderung höherer Bildung und Erwerbstätigkeit des weiblichen Geschlechts, Berlin-Schöneberg, Viktoria- Luise-Platz 6
- 1901–1902: country house for the publisher Ferdinand Springer, Berlin-Wannsee
- 1901–1902: residence for Friedrich Back, Darmstadt, Jahnstraße 106 (considerably changed)
- 1903-1904: tomb of Louis Simon, Jewish Cemetery Schönhauser Allee, surviving in a damaged state
- 1903–1904: administrative building of the Landesversicherungsanstalt, Berlin, Am Köllnischen Park 2a/3 (restored ca. 1995)
- 1903–1906: Wertheim department store, Berlin, Rosenthaler Straße 27–31 / Sophienstraße 12–15 (partially surviving)
- 1904: tomb of the Rathenau family, Berlin-Oberschöneweide, in the Waldfriedhof
- 1905–1906: town hall, Ballenstedt (Harz)
- 1906: villa for Wolf Wertheim in Kladow bei Berlin
- 1907–1909: infant care clinic „Kaiserin-Auguste-Victoria-Haus“, Berlin-Charlottenburg
- 1907-1908: villa for Franz Oppenheim, Berlin-Wannsee
- 1908: residence for Paul Ostermann von Roth, Darmstadt, Eugen-Bracht-Weg 6 (later use: Hessen Design e.V.)
- 1908: residence for Franz Wertheim, Berlin-Grunewald
Literature (all in German)
- Maximilian Rapsilber: Alfred Messel. Berlin 1905.
- Fritz Stahl: Alfred Messel. Berlin 1911.
- Walter Curt Behrendt: Alfred Messel. Berlin 1911. (Reprint 1998)
- Robert Habel: Alfred Messels Wertheimbauten in Berlin. Der Beginn der modernen Architektur in Deutschland. Gebrüder Mann Verlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-7861-2571-6.
- Alfred Messel (1853–1909). Visionär der Großstadt (Eds.: Elke Blauert, Robert Habel und Hans-Dieter Nägelke together with Christiane Schmidt), Berlin 2009 (exhibition catalog of the Kunstbibliothek Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and the Architekturmuseum der Technischen Universität Berlin)