Alfred Frederik Elias Grenander (26 June 1863 – 14 March 1931) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

architect, who became one of the most prominent engineers during the first building period of the

Berlin U-Bahn The Berlin U-Bahn (; short for , "underground railway") is a rapid transit system in Berlin, the capital and largest city of Germany, and a major part of the city's public transport system. Together with the S-Bahn, a network of suburban train li ...

network in the early twentieth century.

Biography

Grenander was born at

Skövde Skövde () is a locality and urban centre in Skövde Municipality and Västra Götaland County, in the Västergötland (Western Gothland region) in central Southern Sweden. Skövde is situated some 150 km northeast of Gothenburg, between Swe ...

Västra Götaland County Västra Götaland County ( sv, Västra Götalands län) is a county or '' län'' on the western coast of Sweden. The county is the second most populous of Sweden's counties and it comprises 49 municipalities (''kommuner''). Its population of 1 ...

, Sweden. He was raised in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

and began studying at the Swedish

Royal Institute of Technology The KTH Royal Institute of Technology ( sv, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, lit=Royal Institute of Technology), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technolo ...

in 1881. He changed to the Royal Technical College of Charlottenburg in 1885. After his final degree in 1890 he became a site engineer at the construction of the new

Reichstag building The Reichstag (, ; officially: – ; en, Parliament) is a historic government building in Berlin which houses the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany's parliament. It was constructed to house the Imperial Diet (german: Reichstag) of the ...

under the direction of

Paul Wallot Johann Paul Wallot (26 June 1841 Oppenheim am Rhein – 10 August 1912 Bad Schwalbach) was a German architect of Huguenot descent, best known for designing the Reichstag building in Berlin, erected between 1884 and 1894. He also built the adjacent ...

and continued his career in the architectural office of Alfred Messel. In 1896 Grenander set up his own business and worked as a designer of the ''Hochbahngesellschaft'', an affiliate of

Siemens & Halske Siemens & Halske AG (or Siemens-Halske) was a German electrical engineering company that later became part of Siemens. It was founded on 12 October 1847 as ''Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske'' by Werner von Siemens and Johann Geo ...

established in 1897 to build the first U-Bahn elevated railway of Berlin, opened in 1902. Up to 1931, he constructed about 70 U-Bahn stations, many of which have landmark status today. While the first stations were designed in an

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

(''Jugendstil'') or Neoclassical style, he later preferred a

Modern architecture Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that form ...

. Alfred Grenander died in Berlin; he was buried in

Skanör med Falsterbo Skanör med Falsterbo ( da, Skanør og Falsterbo) is a statistical locality (Swedish ''tätort'', locality code 3672), situated in Vellinge Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 6,937 inhabitants in 2010. It consists of the two old towns of ...

, Sweden. In 2009, the public area in front of

Krumme Lanke is a lake in the south west of Berlin, in the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough of the city and on the edge of the Grunewald forest. After Nikolassee and the neighbouring Schlachtensee, it is the southernmost of the Grunewald chain of lakes. Overv ...

station in Berlin- Zehlendorf was named in his honour.

Berlin U-Bahn Stations designed by Grenander

Berliner U-Bahnhof Wittenbergplatz (von Westen bei Nacht)

* 1902:

Ernst-Reuter-Platz Ernst-Reuter-Platz is a town square in Charlottenburg, Berlin, Germany. It is named after Ernst Reuter, mayor of West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin duri ...

(''Knie'') * 1906:

Deutsche Oper The Deutsche Oper Berlin is a German opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. The resident building is the country's second largest opera house (after Munich's) and also home to the Berlin State Ballet. Since 2004, the De ...

(''Bismarckstraße''),

Wilhelmplatz Wilhelmplatz was a square in the Mitte district of Berlin, at the corner of Wilhelmstrasse and Voßstraße. The square also gave its name to a Berlin U-Bahn station which has since been renamed Mohrenstraße. A number of notable buildings were con ...

– demolished * 1907:

Potsdamer Platz Potsdamer Platz (, ''Potsdam Square'') is a public square and traffic intersection in the center of Berlin, Germany, lying about south of the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag (German Parliament Building), and close to the southeast corne ...

(''Leipziger Platz'') * 1908: Sophie-Charlotte-Platz,

Kaiserdamm Kaiserdamm is a boulevard in the Westend and Charlottenburg districts of Berlin, Germany. Route Kaiserdamm is a 50m wide road, that runs for between Sophie-Charlotte-Platz in the east to Theodor-Heuss-Platz in the west. It forms a westward c ...

Theodor-Heuss-Platz Theodor-Heuss-Platz (; colloquially called Theo by locals, ) is a large city square in the Westend district of Berlin, Germany. It is named after Theodor Heuss (1884–1963), the first President of Germany after World War II. Location The sq ...

(''Reichskanzlerplatz'');

Mohrenstraße Mohrenstraße is a street in central Berlin. It runs from west to east between Wilhelmstraße and , and partially forming the southern edge of Gendarmenmarkt. The Berlin U-Bahn station Mohrenstraße is located at its western end, and is serve ...

, (''Kaiserhof''), Stadtmitte (''Friedrichstraße''), Hausvogteiplatz,

Spittelmarkt Spittelmarkt is a Berlin U-Bahn station on line U2, located in Mitte at the eastern end of Leipziger Straße. History The station was opened on 1 October 1908, and was then the terminus of Berlin's second U-Bahn line, connecting it with Pot ...

* 1912:

Wittenbergplatz Wittenbergplatz is a square in the central Schöneberg district of Berlin, Germany. One of the main plazas in the "City West" area, it is known for the large ''Kaufhaus des Westens'' (KaDeWe) department store on its southwestern side. It was la ...

– entrance hall * 1913:

Märkisches Museum The Märkisches Museum ( Marcher Museum; originally Märkisches Provinzial-Museum, i.e. Museum of the Province of the March f Brandenburg is a museum in Mitte, Berlin. Founded in 1874 as the museum of the city of Berlin and its political regi ...

(''Inselbrücke''), Klosterstraße,

Alexanderplatz () ( en, Alexander Square) is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin. The square is named after the Russian Tsar Alexander I, which also denotes the larger neighbourhood stretching from in the nort ...

– U2;

Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, formerly the Bülowplatz, is a square in Berlin-Mitte, Germany. History The square is dominated by the Volksbühne and by the Karl-Liebknecht-Haus, the headquarters of the German Left Party. The party's predecessor, the ...

(''Schönhauser Tor''), Senefelderplatz, Eberswalder Straße (''Danziger Straße''),

Schönhauser Allee Schönhauser Allee in Berlin is one of the most important streets of the Prenzlauer Berg district. Schönhauser Allee begins at Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in the south and ends at Schonensche Straße in the north. Many of the side streets of Schönha ...

(''Nordring''); Uhlandstraße * 1922: Neu-Westend * 1924:

Mehringdamm The Mehringdamm is a street in southern Kreuzberg, Berlin. In the north it starts at Mehringbrücke and ends - with its southernmost houses already belonging to Tempelhof locality - on Platz der Luftbrücke. It is the historical southbound Berlin- ...

(''Belle-Alliance-Straße''), Gneisenaustraße, Südstern (''Hasenheide'') * 1926: Hermannplatz – U7, Rathaus Neukölln, Karl-Marx-Straße;

Platz der Luftbrücke Platz der Luftbrücke is a landmarkedBoddinstraße, Hermannplatz – U6, Schönleinstraße; Paradestrasse (''Flughafen'') * 1928:

Kottbusser Tor Kottbusser Tor () is a Berlin U-Bahn station located on lines U1, U3, and U8. Many Berliners use the affectionate term ''Kotti'' (; see Berlin dialect). It is located in central Kreuzberg. The area has a bad reputation for the relatively ...

(reconstruction), Heinrich-Heine-Straße (''Neanderstraße'') * 1929: Leinestraße; Onkel Toms Hütte,

;

Tempelhof Tempelhof () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. It is the location of the former Tempelhof Airport, one of the earliest commercial airports in the world. The former airport and surroundings are now a park called ...

; Olympia-Stadion (''Stadion'') – reconstruction, Ruhleben * 1930: Jannowitzbrücke,

– U8, U5, Weinmeisterstraße,

Rosenthaler Platz Rosenthaler Platz in Berlin, Berlin's Mitte district, district Mitte, forms a crossroads where Rosenthaler Strasse, Brunnenstrasse and Weinbergsweg meet Torstrasse, and is therefore not a square in the true sense of the word. It is located on th ...

, Gesundbrunnen; Schillingstraße, Strausberger Platz, Weberwiese (''Memeler Straße''),

Frankfurter Tor The Frankfurter Tor ("Frankfurt Gate") is a large square in the inner-city Friedrichshain locality of Berlin. It is situated in the centre of the district, at the intersection of Karl-Marx-Allee and Frankfurter Allee (the eastbound federal highwa ...

(''Petersburger Straße''), Samariterstraße,

Frankfurter Allee The Frankfurter Allee is one of the oldest roads of Berlin, the capital city of Germany. It extends the Karl-Marx-Allee from Frankfurter Tor in the direction of the city of Frankfurt (Oder). It is part of Bundesstraße 1 and has a length of . L ...

, Magdalenenstraße,

Lichtenberg Lichtenberg () is the eleventh borough of Berlin, Germany. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it absorbed the former borough of Hohenschönhausen. Overview The district contains the Tierpark Berlin in Friedrichsfelde, the larger of Berlin ...

Friedrichsfelde Friedrichsfelde () is a German locality (''Ortsteil'') within the borough (''Bezirk'') of Lichtenberg, Berlin. History The locality was first mentioned in a document of 1265 with the name of ''Rosenfelde''. In 1699 it was renamed Friedrichsfelde ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grenander, Alfred 1863 births 1931 deaths People from Skövde Municipality KTH Royal Institute of Technology alumni Technical University of Berlin alumni Swedish expatriates in Germany 19th-century German architects Swedish architects 20th-century German architects