Karl Friedrich Ernst von Großheim (15 October 1841,

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

- 5 February 1911, Bad Rippoldsau) was a German architect and President of the

Prussian Academy of Arts The Prussian Academy of Arts () was a state arts academy first established in 1694 by prince-elector Frederick III of Electorate of Brandenburg, Brandenburg in Berlin, in personal union Duke Frederick I of Prussia, and later king in Kingdom of ...

Life and work

He began his education at the Großheimsche Realschule, founded by his grandfather, . After graduating, at the age of sixteen, he went on to a three-year apprenticeship as a carpenter. He spent some of his

journeyman years In the European apprenticeship tradition, the journeyman years (, also known in German as , , and colloquially sometimes referred to as , ) is a time of travel for several years after completing apprenticeship as a craftsman. The tradition date ...

in Altona, then sought to continue his education at the

Bauakademie The Bauakademie (Building Academy, also known as the ''Schinkelsche Bauakademie'') in Berlin, Germany, was a higher education institution for the art of building to train master builders. Founded on 18 March 1799 by King Frederick William II ...

in Berlin, with the goal of becoming an architect. For a time he worked with Hermann von der Hude. At the academy, he made the acquaintance of his future partner, , while both were attending a life drawing course taught by

Carl Steffeck Carl Constantin Heinrich Steffeck (4 April 1818, Berlin – 11 July 1890, Königsberg) was a German painter and graphic artist. He was especially well known for his paintings of horses and dogs. Life He was the son of a "gentleman of independ ...

. He passed his state examination in 1860. He and Kayser worked for August Orth from 1867 to 1870. The following year, they established their own firm; "Kayser und v. Großheim". They first attracted notice in 1872, when they came in second to Ludwig Bohnstedt in a competition to design the new

Reichstag Building The Reichstag (; ) is a historic legislative government building on Platz der Republik in Berlin that is the seat of the German Bundestag. It is also the meeting place of the Federal Convention, which elects the President of Germany. The Ne ...

. The winning design was never used. Their studio became one of the leading architectural firms of the period. Most of their work was in a

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ar ...

style. Although certain individual stylistic elements are detectable, they always took joint credit for their designs. As their business grew, they opened branches in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

and

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

; the latter managed by , who would become a full partner in 1899. Later, they created works in the

Neo-Baroque Neo-Baroque may refer to: * Neo-Baroque music * Neo-Baroque painting, a painting style used by Christo Coetzee and others *Baroque Revival architecture * Neo-Baroque film *the Organ reform movement The Organ Reform Movement or ''Orgelbewegung'' ...

style. Numerous architects received training in their studios, including Martin Dülfer, who would become famous as a designer of theatres. Both were awarded the title of "

Geheimrat was the title of the highest advising officials at the imperial, royal, or princely courts of the Holy Roman Empire, who jointly formed the ''Geheimer Rat'' reporting to the ruler. The term remained in use during subsequent monarchic reigns in Ge ...

" and received honorary professorships. They were also members of the and "Senators" on the governing board of the Prussian Academy of Arts. In 1879, Großheim was one of the founding members of the Association of Berlin Architects. He became a member of the Arts Academy in 1880, and served as its President for a brief period from 1910 until his death. His funeral was attended by the Minister of Culture, August von Trott zu Solz, representing Emperor

Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until Abdication of Wilhelm II, his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire as well as th ...

, who had ordered that the funeral procession be allowed to pass through the middle portal of the

Brandenburg Gate The Brandenburg Gate ( ) is an 18th-century Neoclassical architecture, neoclassical monument in Berlin. One of the best-known landmarks of Germany, it was erected on the site of a former city gate that marked the start of the road from Berlin t ...

; an honor that was usually reserved for princes and other members of the higher nobility. In his honor, the city of Lübeck created the in der Vorstadt St. Jürgen, near his parents' home, in a field that had been left

fallow Fallow is a farming technique in which arable land is left without sowing for one or more vegetative cycles. The goal of fallowing is to allow the land to recover and store Organic compound, organic matter while retaining moisture and disrupting ...

for many years. It included a fountain made of

muschelkalk The Muschelkalk (German for "shell-bearing limestone"; ) is a sequence of sedimentary rock, sedimentary rock strata (a lithostratigraphy, lithostratigraphic unit) in the geology of central and western Europe. It has a Middle Triassic (240 to 230 m ...

, and adorned with a portrait

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

made by the sculptor,

Ludwig Manzel Karl Ludwig Manzel (3 June 1858, Neu Kosenow – 20 June 1936, Berlin) was a German sculptor, painter and graphic artist. Life His father was a tailor and his mother was a midwife. The family moved twice, first to Boldekow then, in 1867, to ...

."Karl-v.-Grossheim-Brunnen in Lübeck". In: ''Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung'', 1913, #65 pg.431
online
During World War II, the lawn was converted to a pond. In 1990, the pond was removed and the fountain fully restored.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grossheim, Karl von 1841 births 1911 deaths 18th-century German architects Academic staff of the Prussian Academy of Arts Architects from Lübeck

Life and work

References

Further reading

External links