Budowniczowie i architekci dziewiętnastowiecznego Wrocławia

Abstract

Master builders and architects in the nineteenth century Wrocław

Wrocław - the capital of Silesia, an important administrative centre, as well as a centre of cultural and economic life - was also a town, which at the close of the XIXth century did not have its own high school to train architects. This caused that Wrocław was often seen as a town, in which a local circle of architects did not arise.With such a position this very article is polemicizing. Despite the fact that in Wrocław a college to train architects did not exist; architects - trained in other places - who settled themselves here permanently, were exercising their profession. The growth of building activities happened - as in most other Prussian towns - in the eighties of the XIXth century. During this time master builders such as: Carl Schlick (1818-1900), Carl Kochmann (1824-1901), Heinrich Brost (1845-1894), Heinrich Oesterlink (1850-1919), Otto Fiebiger (1833-1894), Heinrich Schmidt (1836-1888), Friedrich Barchewitz (1836-1901), Carl Lüdecke (1826-1894), Carl Brossling (1836— 1914), Heinrich Simon (1845-1924), Max Kessel (1856-1906) and last, but not least Joseph Ebers who during many years acted in his function of dombaurath for the local bishop, were working in Wrocław. Those architects acting alone or together in groups, were competing with each other in order to obtain the most prestigious orders or most important private customers. It should be remembered, that in this town did not only settle representatives of architectural professions, but also specialists trained as engineers. Among those, one can also find fine examples of persons, who contrived themselves permanently with the town and gained respect from the residents. Friedrich Hamel (1845-1911) was certainly such a figure. So one can assume, that despite the lack of a building academia at the close of the XIXth century, Wrocław did possess its own creative architectonic circle.

Translated by Bożena Grzegorczyk