Emil Fahrenkamp (November 8, 1885,

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

– May 24, 1966,

Ratingen-Breitscheid Breitscheid is a quarter of the city Ratingen in Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous me ...

) was a German architect and professor. One of the most prominent architects of the period between the first and second World Wars, he is best known for his 1931

Shell-Haus The Shell-Haus (Shell House) is a classical modernist architectural masterpiece that stands overlooking the Landwehrkanal The Landwehr Canal (german: Landwehrkanal), is a canal parallel to the Spree river in Berlin, Germany, built bet ...

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 ...

Life and career

Born in Aachen, Fahrenkamp came to

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

to work in the office of

Wilhelm Kreis Wilhelm Kreis (17 March 1873 – 13 August 1955) was a prominent German architect and professor of architecture, active through four political systems in German history: the Wilhelmine era, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, and the founda ...

from 1909 to 1912. He became an assistant, then professor, at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art. His work in the 1920s and early 1930s was an integration of progressive

Neues Bauen The New Objectivity (a translation of the German ''Neue Sachlichkeit'', sometimes also translated as New Sobriety) is a name often given to the Modern architecture that emerged in Europe, primarily German-speaking Europe, in the 1920s and 30s. ...

—simplified forms, flat roofs, repeated window patterns—with features of traditional styles. The Shell-Haus is widely considered Fahrenkamp's masterpiece, and one of the most significant office block designs of the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...

. It didn't escape criticism, however: One of the only times

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

inveighed against a specific building in Berlin, as opposed to modern urban architecture in general, was when he told Fahrenkamp, "You're the man who committed the crime of the Shell Building." Despite this, Fahrenkamp received

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

commissions for exhibition buildings, and had dealings with Propaganda Minister

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 19 ...

;

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...

, the head of the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

and the

Four Year Plan The Four Year Plan was a series of economic measures initiated by Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany in 1936. Hitler placed Hermann Göring in charge of these measures, making him a Reich Plenipotentiary (Reichsbevollmächtigter) whose jurisdiction cut a ...

; and

Albert Speer Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer (; ; 19 March 1905 – 1 September 1981) was a German architect who served as the Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of World War II. A close ally of Adolf Hitler, he ...

, Hitler's favorite architect and later Minister of Armaments and War Production. When Fahrenkamp was "de-Nazified" after the war, he remained active as an architect but withdrew from public life. He died on May 24, 1966, leaving behind a wife and two daughters.

References

External links

*
on the Shell House in Berlin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fahrenkamp, Emil 1885 births 1966 deaths 20th-century German architects People from Aachen

Life and career

See also

References

External links