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Carl Philipp Christian von Gontard (13 January 1731 in Mannheim – 23 September 1791 in Breslau) was a German architect who worked primarily in Berlin, Potsdam, and 
After two years of study in Paris under Jacques-François Blondel and a lengthy sojourn in Italy he gained a reputation as a valued court architect to Wilhelmine of Prussia, Margravine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. In Bayreuth he designed an extension to the Bayreuth Palace and numerous palaces for the nobility and residences for prosperous citizens, buildings recognized as being of high artistic quality and giving the townscape a distinctive accent. Gontard also taught architecture at the Bayreuth Academy of Arts. When her husband, reigning prince Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, died in 1763, Gontard no long received regular commissions because of the policy of austerity of Frederick's successor, Frederick Christian, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth.
In 1764 Gontard was employed by Wilhelmine's brother, Frederick the Great of Prussia, who soon put him in charge of all royal construction projects in Potsdam and Berlin. From 1765 to 1769 he was the artistic director of the New Palace in Potsdam, whose construction had started in 1763. Gontard had a major role in the arrangement and design of the palace interior, as well as the architecture of the formal auxiliary buildings (''Communs'') facing the palace forecourt and several structures in Park Sanssouci, such as the Temple of Friendship, Frederick the Great's tribute to his sister, Wilhelmine, and the Antique Temple. His next major work in Potsdam, the Military Orphanage, was undertaken 1771-1778 and contained a distinctive central block and a spiraling stairwell. Gontard also designed and built private residences in Potsdam, such as an impressive parade of houses, ''Am Bassin'', and Potsdam's Brandenburg Gate.
Gontard's main works in Berlin include the colonnade portico and tower of the German and French churches on Gendarmenmarkt; two decorative colonnaded bridges across the former moat, a remnant of the city's 17th century fortifications, (in 1776 the ''Spittelkolonnaden'' on Leipziger Strasse, and in 1777/1778 the ''Königskolonnaden'', originally near
historic drawing
and supervision of the construction of the Royal Library on today'sPhotographs of five of Gontard’s rooms in the suite of Royal Chambers
/ref> in the Berlin
File:Potsdam - Brandenburger Tor - Feldseite - 2013.jpg, The Brandenburg Gate in Potsdam
File:Tempel der Freundschaft 1768-70.JPG, Temple of Friendship in Sanssouci Park
File:Am Bassin Straßenzug Potsdam.jpg, ''Am Bassin'' in Potsdam (2011)
File:Potsdam Militärwaisenhaus.jpg, The Military Orphanage (Potsdam)
File:Marmorpalais MG 5286 10072011.jpg, The Marble Palace in the New Gardens, Potsdam
''(This article incorporates information from the German Wikipedia)''
Bayreuth
Bayreuth (, ; bar, Bareid) is a town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtelgebirge Mountains. The town's roots date back to 1194. In the 21st century, it is the capital of U ...
in the style of late Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
Classicism. Next to Knobelsdorff Knobelsdorff is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*Alexander von Knobelsdorff (1723–1799), Prussian general of the War of the First Coalition
*Elisabeth von Knobelsdorff (1877–1959), German engineer and architect
* Georg Wenz ...
he was considered the most important architect of the era of Frederick the Great of Prussia.Drescher, Horst, "Gontard, Carl Philipp Christian von" in: Neue Deutsche Biographie 6 (1964), S. 643 f.; RL: http://www.deutsche-biographie.de/ppn119014807.htmlOnline version (in German)]
Carl von Gontard descended from a Huguenot family living in the French province of Dauphiné. He married Sophia von Erckert and had numerous children, including Carl Friedrich Ludwig von Gontard, a Prussian army officer who was granted hereditary nobility by the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II.
After two years of study in Paris under Jacques-François Blondel and a lengthy sojourn in Italy he gained a reputation as a valued court architect to Wilhelmine of Prussia, Margravine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. In Bayreuth he designed an extension to the Bayreuth Palace and numerous palaces for the nobility and residences for prosperous citizens, buildings recognized as being of high artistic quality and giving the townscape a distinctive accent. Gontard also taught architecture at the Bayreuth Academy of Arts. When her husband, reigning prince Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, died in 1763, Gontard no long received regular commissions because of the policy of austerity of Frederick's successor, Frederick Christian, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth.
In 1764 Gontard was employed by Wilhelmine's brother, Frederick the Great of Prussia, who soon put him in charge of all royal construction projects in Potsdam and Berlin. From 1765 to 1769 he was the artistic director of the New Palace in Potsdam, whose construction had started in 1763. Gontard had a major role in the arrangement and design of the palace interior, as well as the architecture of the formal auxiliary buildings (''Communs'') facing the palace forecourt and several structures in Park Sanssouci, such as the Temple of Friendship, Frederick the Great's tribute to his sister, Wilhelmine, and the Antique Temple. His next major work in Potsdam, the Military Orphanage, was undertaken 1771-1778 and contained a distinctive central block and a spiraling stairwell. Gontard also designed and built private residences in Potsdam, such as an impressive parade of houses, ''Am Bassin'', and Potsdam's Brandenburg Gate.
Gontard's main works in Berlin include the colonnade portico and tower of the German and French churches on Gendarmenmarkt; two decorative colonnaded bridges across the former moat, a remnant of the city's 17th century fortifications, (in 1776 the ''Spittelkolonnaden'' on Leipziger Strasse, and in 1777/1778 the ''Königskolonnaden'', originally near 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 ...
but later relocated to Heinrich-von-Kleist-Park); the Oranienburg Gate (1787/88historic drawing
and supervision of the construction of the Royal Library on today's
Bebelplatz
The Bebelplatz (formerly and colloquially the Opernplatz) is a public square in the central Mitte district of Berlin, the capital of Germany.
The square is located on the south side of the Unter den Linden boulevard, a major east-west thoroughfa ...
, which he furnished with a grand staircase and a formal hall for festivities.
Immediately after the death of Frederick the Great, his successor, Friedrich Wilhelm II, commissioned Gontard to decorate the Potsdam City Palace City Palace may refer to:
* City Palace, Berlin, Germany
* City Palace, Brunswick, Germany
* City Palace, Potsdam, Germany
* Wiesbaden City Palace, Germany
* Schloss Weimar, Germany
* City Palace, Jaipur, India
* City Palace, Udaipur, India
* Myso ...
and Garrison Church for the funeral rites. Major royal assignments followed. Between 1787 and 1790 he furnished nine of the Royal Chambers/ref> in the Berlin
City Palace City Palace may refer to:
* City Palace, Berlin, Germany
* City Palace, Brunswick, Germany
* City Palace, Potsdam, Germany
* Wiesbaden City Palace, Germany
* Schloss Weimar, Germany
* City Palace, Jaipur, India
* City Palace, Udaipur, India
* Myso ...
. At the same time he created the Marble Palace in Potsdam, one of his most outstanding achievements. His last work was the ‘‘Holländische Etablissement’’, an ensemble of so-called “Dutch Houses” in the New Garden, Potsdam. Under Frederick William II Gontard became a member of the Royal Prussian Academy of Arts and Mechanical Sciences, where he taught until his death.
He had significant followers in G. C. Unger, F. W. Titel, and H. Gentz, but no long-lasting successors as his style did not survive the change in architectural taste that came with the end of Frederick the Great's era.
Gallery
References