Paul Max Bertschy ( lv, Pauls Makss Berči; 1 January 18401 February 1911) was a

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, working mainly in what is now

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. He was city architect of

Liepāja Liepāja (; liv, Līepõ; see #Names and toponymy, other names) is a state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest-city in the Kurzeme Planning Region, Kurzeme Region and the third-largest city in the country after R ...

for more than 30 years and designed numerous both public and private buildings for the city, around 70 of which are extant.

Biography

Liepājas pilsētas dome 2000-07-09 - panoramio

Paul Max Bertschy was born in

Strausberg Strausberg () is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, located 30 km east of Berlin. With a population of about 27,000 it is the largest town in the district of Märkisch-Oderland. History Strausberg was founded ''circa'' 1240, and in 1333 its firs ...

in Germany, in a family of carpenters. He was one of nine children. He studied 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 ...

and also abroad. He left Berlin due to its fierce competition and sought a career as an architect in the what are now the

Baltic states The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...

. The first years of his career he worked for several different architectural firms. From 1860 to 1864, he was in

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 ...

working in the firm of

Heinrich Scheel Heinrich Karl Scheel ( lv, Heinrihs Kārlis Šēls; 17 May 1829 – 13 April 1909) was a Baltic German architect who lived and worked in Riga, Latvia. He is considered one of the greatest 19th century Riga architects and has designed more than ...

. He then moved to

Daugavpils Daugavpils (; russian: Двинск; ltg, Daugpiļs ; german: Dünaburg, ; pl, Dyneburg; see other names) is a state city in south-eastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River, from which the city gets its name. The parts of the c ...

, where he was engaged in the construction of a railway line between Daugavpils and

Vitebsk Vitebsk or Viciebsk (russian: Витебск, ; be, Ві́цебск, ; , ''Vitebsk'', lt, Vitebskas, pl, Witebsk), is a city in Belarus. The capital of the Vitebsk Region, it has 366,299 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth-largest ci ...

. At the same time he accepted separate commissions and took on

Wilhelm Neumann Carl Johann Wilhelm Neumann ( lv, Kārlis Johans Vilhelms Neimanis; russian: Карл Иоганн Вильгельм Нейман; born 5 October 1849 in Grevesmühlen – died 6 March 1919 in Riga) was a Baltic German architect and art histori ...

as his pupil. In 1871 he was invited to become city architect of

by the mayor of the city, and he would keep the position until 1902. At the time, the city experienced a rapid growth due to industrialization and trade, and through his many commissions Bertschy contributed significantly to the architecture of the city. He worked mainly in

medievalist The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

styles such as

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 ...

and

Neo-Romanesque Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

. Red

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

, or a mix of red brick and other materials, was often favoured by Bertschy. His range was broad, and he designed private residences as well as religious and public buildings. Despite many of these buildings having been destroyed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, more than 70 buildings designed by Bertschy are extant in Liepāja. This includes the former spa hospital (1871–1875), the

Liepāja Gymnasium Liepāja Nicolai Gymnasium was a six-year (later seven) gymnasium (school), gymnasium (high school) in Liepāja (Libau), Courland Governorate, Russian Empire. It was established in 1865 on the basis of a school that traced its roots to 1848. The ...

building (today owned by

University of Liepāja University of Liepāja ( lv, Liepājas Universitāte) is a university in Liepāja, Latvia. General Information Liepaja University, founded in 1954, is an accredited state higher educational establishment, which implements study programmes at ...

) (1883–1884), the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

Church of Saint Anne (1892–1893), the former district court building (now City Council), and numerous residential buildings. Bertschy died in Liepāja in 1911. His archive is in

Liepāja Museum Liepāja Museum ( lv, Liepājas muzejs) is the largest museum in the historical region of Courland, Latvia and possesses more than 100,000 articles, but in the halls of the museum, you can see 1,500 exhibits. Permanent displays tell of Liepāja ...

. Many of the buildings which he designed are today marked with plaques bearing his name.

References

External links

*
Map with buildings by Bertschy in central Liepāja
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bertschy, Paul Max 19th-century Latvian architects Baltic-German people 1840 births 1911 deaths People from Strausberg 20th-century architects Latvian architects

Biography

References

Further reading

External links