Jānis Frīdrihs Baumanis (or ''Johann Friedrich Baumann'', May 23, 1834,

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

– March 19, 1891, Riga) was a Latvian,

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

architect. He was first professional Latvian architect. Baumanis designed the Riga Circus in 1888. He was responsible for a number of important public buildings of

eclectic Eclectic may refer to: Music * ''Eclectic'' (Eric Johnson and Mike Stern album), 2014 * ''Eclectic'' (Big Country album), 1996 * Eclectic Method, name of an audio-visual remix act * Eclecticism in music, the conscious use of styles alien to th ...

design constructed in the second half of the 19th century in Riga.

Biography

Jānis Frīdrihs Baumanis was born in 1834 in

, the son of a ferryman. In his youth he started work as a carpenter. In Riga he was spotted by the

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

architect Ludvig Bohnstedt. With his support Baumanis undertook studies in the ''

Bauakademie The Bauakademie (''Building Academy'') in Berlin, Germany, was a higher education school for the art of building to train master builders. It originated from the construction department of the Academy of Fine Arts and Mechanical Sciences (from ...

'' in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

(1860–62) and in the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts (1862–65). After that he was a government architect in

Livland Livonia ( liv, Līvõmō, et, Liivimaa, fi, Liivinmaa, German and Scandinavian languages: ', archaic German: ''Liefland'', nl, Lijfland, Latvian and lt, Livonija, pl, Inflanty, archaic English: ''Livland'', ''Liwlandia''; russian: Ли ...

(now

Vidzeme Vidzeme (; Old Latvian orthography: ''Widda-semme'', liv, Vidūmō) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. The capital of Latvia, Riga, is situated in the southwestern part of the region. Literally meaning "the Middle Land", it is situated in n ...

) until he established his own practice in Riga. Baumanis also played an important role in Latvian cultural history. In 1862 he helped to establish the first union of Russian architects in St. Petersburg. In 1879 he was involved in establishing the Union of Riga Architects (''Rigaer Architekten=Verein''). Further, in 1868, he helped to establish the Latvian union in Riga. His main professional activity was in relation to the former defensive walls of Riga. The walls, built of sand, were demolished in the mid-19th century and a new string of boulevards was planned. He designed 40% of the buildings in this area. His buildings were mostly eclectic (a combination of

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

and

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

elements) in design, with refined details and well-executed plastic forms. He also designed the ''Alexanders Gymnasium'' (a secondary school) in Riga, now the

Latvian Academy of Music Latvian may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Latvia **Latvians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to what is modern-day Latvia and the immediate geographical region **Latvian language, also referred to as Lettish **Latvian cuisine **Latv ...

, in 1870-75. From 1887 to 1888 Baumanis was responsible for the building of the Riga Regional Court at 34 Brīvības Blvd. In its construction Baumanis drew on both Classical and

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 ...

influences for the façades. The structure won him considerable acclaim not only for the exterior but also for the interior design. Altogether he designed 17 Orthodox churches in the southern part of Estonia and Vidzeme and more than 150 buildings in Riga.

Gallery

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baumanis, Janis Fridrihs 1834 births 1891 deaths Architects from Riga 19th-century Latvian architects Architects from the Russian Empire