DOI Heft:
Division II: Germany
DOI Artikel:Deubner, L.: German architecture an decoration
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19999#0203
GERMAN ARCHITECTURE AND DECORATION
architects who are gifted with true artistic feeling, they have from
the first recognised that the planning of a private abode should be
determined by the particular conformation of the site and the
idiosyncrasies and habits of the owner ; that it is the architect's
function to consider the needs of the occupiers, and having adjusted
his plan accordingly, to evolve therefrom the structural and aesthetic
forms of the exterior. It is in their recognition of what is neces-
sary, and in the happy blending of utility and form, that their
strength lies.
Another architect who deserves to be mentioned here is Prof.
Friedrich Piitzer, a typical example of whose activity is seen in a
villa at Darmstadt (G 6 and 7). In adapting old local forms of
building to the special purposes he has in view, he combines
respect for tradition with a full sense of modern requirements.
The rigid substantiality of his planning is relieved in the super-
structure by a well-thought-out synthesis which, while exuberant
in form, has nothing in common with conventional ideas.
Even more than the last-named, Prof. Heinrich Metzendorf
(G 11 to 14) has recourse to the style and method of building indi-
genous to the Hessian region. Nowhere else has peasant archi-
tecture evolved so great a diversity of form as in the various
territories which constitute Germany, a diversity which has its
origin not only in the many different kinds of building material
yielded by the individual localities, but still more in their differ-
ences of climate and the habits and industries of the population.
He brings his buildings into intimate relation with the surrounding
landscape, and thus gives them a certain local impress. Metzendorf s
country houses are on the Hessian Bergstrasse {i.e., the road over
the hills from Darmstadt to Heidelberg), in the Odenwald district,
and the architectural features characteristic of the villages on the
Hessian hills—tall shingle-covered roofs with pointed gables, &c.—
have provided him with acceptable motifs which he has utilized
in many diverse ways, and with astonishing resourcefulness in the
villa colonies he has built.
Quite different in character is the country house designed by
Architect Albert Gessner for Dr. Warda at Blankenburg (G 5 and 27)
—a residence and sanatorium combined. Here structural considera-
tions have predominated, and aesthetic considerations intentionally
put in the background. Nevertheless, with its distinguished yet
peaceful character, its agreeable though plain appearance, and its
harmonious proportions, it may be regarded as one of the best
achievements of modern German architecture. Gessner has built
many houses in Charlottenburg (G 4), and ranking, as he does,
among the most gifted architects of the German capital, he is
xxx
architects who are gifted with true artistic feeling, they have from
the first recognised that the planning of a private abode should be
determined by the particular conformation of the site and the
idiosyncrasies and habits of the owner ; that it is the architect's
function to consider the needs of the occupiers, and having adjusted
his plan accordingly, to evolve therefrom the structural and aesthetic
forms of the exterior. It is in their recognition of what is neces-
sary, and in the happy blending of utility and form, that their
strength lies.
Another architect who deserves to be mentioned here is Prof.
Friedrich Piitzer, a typical example of whose activity is seen in a
villa at Darmstadt (G 6 and 7). In adapting old local forms of
building to the special purposes he has in view, he combines
respect for tradition with a full sense of modern requirements.
The rigid substantiality of his planning is relieved in the super-
structure by a well-thought-out synthesis which, while exuberant
in form, has nothing in common with conventional ideas.
Even more than the last-named, Prof. Heinrich Metzendorf
(G 11 to 14) has recourse to the style and method of building indi-
genous to the Hessian region. Nowhere else has peasant archi-
tecture evolved so great a diversity of form as in the various
territories which constitute Germany, a diversity which has its
origin not only in the many different kinds of building material
yielded by the individual localities, but still more in their differ-
ences of climate and the habits and industries of the population.
He brings his buildings into intimate relation with the surrounding
landscape, and thus gives them a certain local impress. Metzendorf s
country houses are on the Hessian Bergstrasse {i.e., the road over
the hills from Darmstadt to Heidelberg), in the Odenwald district,
and the architectural features characteristic of the villages on the
Hessian hills—tall shingle-covered roofs with pointed gables, &c.—
have provided him with acceptable motifs which he has utilized
in many diverse ways, and with astonishing resourcefulness in the
villa colonies he has built.
Quite different in character is the country house designed by
Architect Albert Gessner for Dr. Warda at Blankenburg (G 5 and 27)
—a residence and sanatorium combined. Here structural considera-
tions have predominated, and aesthetic considerations intentionally
put in the background. Nevertheless, with its distinguished yet
peaceful character, its agreeable though plain appearance, and its
harmonious proportions, it may be regarded as one of the best
achievements of modern German architecture. Gessner has built
many houses in Charlottenburg (G 4), and ranking, as he does,
among the most gifted architects of the German capital, he is
xxx