Josef Franke (12 March 1876 – 16 January 1944) was a German architect. He created a number of

sacred Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...

and

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

buildings in the

Ruhrgebiet The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...

, particularly in Gelsenkirchen. He is noted for his work in the 1920s in the brick-

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

style.

Life

After leaving school, Franke studied at the

Höxter Höxter () is a town in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany on the left bank of the river Weser, 52 km north of Kassel in the centre of the Weser Uplands. The main town's population is around 15,000, and with outlying centres, about 30,0 ...

Baugewerkschule (English: building trade school) and then at the Technical University of Charlottenburg as a guest student. After completing his training he first was employed at the council structural engineering office in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

, and later in the architect's office of Max and Carl Anton Meckel in Freiburg im Breisgau. In 1904 he set up on his own in Gelsenkirchen. Frankes second own house, completed in 1909, is located in Gelsenkirchen in the Robert-Koch-Straße. In recent years, Frankes work in Gelsenkirchen has been rediscovered and re-evaluated by exhibitions and publications. His daughter is the

Interior design Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordi ...

er and Artist Margarete Franke.

Architectural style

Franke's most popular buildings were designed in the Brick-

style, which was common in the 1920s Germany. They are characterized by the use of reddish brown brick and its setting to patterns and plastic elements on Facades, added to mostly rhythmic surface schemes. Playing with the angular, raw stone leads to a special charm, completed by carefully balanced total composition. Also the contemporary liking for

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC. In Euclidean geometry, any three points, when non- colline ...

and

parabola In mathematics, a parabola is a plane curve which is Reflection symmetry, mirror-symmetrical and is approximately U-shaped. It fits several superficially different Mathematics, mathematical descriptions, which can all be proved to define exact ...

forms reflects in his designs of this period.

Buildings (selected)

*House for the painter Andreas Wilhelm Ballin, 1925, Gelsenkirchen-Bulmke *Blumendelle housing scheme, 1926, Gelsenkirchen-Schalke *Tram Depot for the Bochum-Gelsenkirchener Straßenbahnen AG, 1927, Gelsenkirchen-Mitte *"Ring-Eck" residential building with shops, 1928, Gelsenkirchen-Mitte *Catholic parish church "Heilig-Kreuz", 1929, Gelsenkirchen-Ückendorf *"Aloysianum" girls' high school, today " Ricarda Huch Gymnasium", 1930, Gelsenkirchen-Bulmke

External links

*
private homepage about Josef Franke (in German)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Franke, Josef 1876 births 1944 deaths 19th-century German architects Expressionist architects 20th-century German architects People from Bochum

Life

Architectural style

Buildings (selected)

Further reading

External links