Carl Moritz (27 April 1863 – 23 August 1944) was a German architect and real-estate entrepreneur. Based in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, he built the Cologne Opera House of 1902, and various banks, theatres and churches in Germany. Some of his buildings were destroyed during the last two years of his life in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Career

Born in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, Moritz studied architecture at the Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg. In 1894 he began his career as an independent architect in Berlin; the same year he took a study trip to England, one year later to Italy. From 1896 to 1898 he was inspector at the municipal building department in

, after which he worked there as a freelance architect. He founded eight architectural firms or companies in Cologne in the 1930s, working closely with the architects Albert Betten and Werner Stahl. In 1934 he retired and settled on

Lake Starnberg Lake Starnberg, or ''Starnberger See'' ) — called Lake Würm or ''Würmsee'' until 1962 — is Germany's second-largest body of fresh water, having great depth, and fifth-largest lake by area. It and its surroundings lie in three different Bava ...

, where he died in

Berg Berg may refer to: People *Berg (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * General Berg (disambiguation) * Berg Ng (born 1960), Hong Kong actor * Berg (footballer, born 1963), Ninimbergue dos Santos Guerra, Brazilian footba ...

, part of

Starnberg Starnberg is a Town#Germany, town in Bavaria, Germany, some southwest of Munich. It is at the north end of Lake Starnberg, in the heart of the "Five Lakes Country", and serves as capital of the Starnberg (district), district of Starnberg. Recor ...

. A large part of his work involved bank building; during his career, Moritz designed about 40 banks, mostly for the Barmer Bank Corporation, for whom he worked as a kind of house architect. About 50 houses and 15 housing estates by him are known. Moritz also planned twenty Catholic religious buildings and seven theatres, both construction tasks for which he can be considered a sought-after specialist. He was one of the developers of

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

architecture in Cologne. He was very interested in the education of future generations, and during his career, held many lectures and wrote several publications.

Works

Moritz designed theatres, including the

opera house An opera house is a theater building used for performances of opera. Like many theaters, it usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, backstage facilities for costumes and building sets, as well as offices for the institut ...

in Cologne in 1902,Thorsten Leiendecker and Nadine Leiendecker originally named the ''Stadttheater'' (Municipal Theatre). It was destroyed in World War II, as was his Stadttheater Düren (1907). Buildings still in use today include the Opernhaus Wuppertal (1905, was badly damaged during World War II but partially rebuilt), the Stralsund Theatre (1913), the Stanisław Wyspianski Theatre, then "Neues Stadttheater" (New Municipal Theatre), in today's

Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...

, and a baking factory that now hosts the Hans Peter Zimmer Art Foundation. Church buildings include (1910) and the in

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

(1930). In Cologne, he built the in 1906, and the in 1910.

Publications

* "" (Lecture at the convention of the Verband deutscher Architekten und Ingenieur-Vereine (VDAI) in Düsseldorf on 13 September 1904) :In: ', 1904 :In: ', 1904, No. 77 * "" (in ''Flugblätter für künstlerische Kultur'') Stuttgart 1906. * "" (in the second extra edition of the magazine ''Die Architektur des XX. Jahrhunderts''.) Ernst Wasmuth, Berlin 1909. * "" (in the seventh extra edition of the magazine ''Die Architektur des XX. Jahrhunderts''.) Ernst Wasmuth, Berlin 1910. * "" (in the ninth extra edition of the magazine '.) Ernst Wasmuth, Berlin 1911.

References

Footnotes

* Ralph Berndt: '' Bernhard Sehring.'' dissertation, TU Cottbus, 1998. * Klaus Winands: ' In: , volume 6 (1999) * Wolfram Hagspiel: ' Bachem, Köln, 1996. * Wulf Herzogenrath: ' catalogue, Kölnischer Kunstverein 1984.

External links

*
''Teatr Slaski im. Stanislawa Wyspianskiego''
andreas-praefcke.de
Wohnhäuser und Villen von Carl Moritz Architekt in Cöln. (Architektur des XX. Jahrhunderts, 2. Sonderheft 1909)
klinebooks.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Moritz, Carl 1863 births 1944 deaths 20th-century German architects Real estate and property developers Architects from Berlin