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Paul Ludwig Troost (17 August 1878 – 21 January 1934) was a German
architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
. A favourite master builder of
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...
from 1930, his Neoclassical designs for the ''
Führerbau The Führerbau – translated as "the Führer's building" – was built from 1933 to 1937 after the plans of architect Paul Ludwig Troost, at Arcisstrasse 12 in Maxvorstadt, Munich. The first plans were made in 1931. The building was completed th ...
'' and the ''
Haus der Kunst The ''Haus der Kunst'' (, ''House of Art'') is a non-collecting modern and contemporary art museum in Munich, Germany. It is located at Prinzregentenstraße 1 at the southern edge of the Englischer Garten, Munich's largest park. History N ...
'' in
Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...
influenced the style of Nazi architecture.


Life


Early career

Born in
Elberfeld Elberfeld is a municipal subdivision of the German city of Wuppertal; it was an independent town until 1929. History The first official mentioning of the geographic area on the banks of today's Wupper River as "''elverfelde''" was in a doc ...
in the
Rhineland The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section. Term Historically, the Rhinelands ...
, Troost attended the Technical College of Darmstadt and, upon finishing his course, worked with
Martin Dülfer Martin Dülfer (1 January 1859, Breslau – 21 December 1942, Dresden) was a German architect and professor; best known for designing theatres in the Historical and Art-Nouveau styles. Life and work His father, Carl Dülfer, was a publisher ...
in Munich beginning in 1920. He then qualified as a university lecturer. In the 1920s, he opened his own architectural office and became a member of the modernist '' Deutscher Werkbund'' association. Troost designed several rooms of Cecilienhof Palace in
Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of ...
. After a trip to the United States in 1922, he designed steamship décor for the
Norddeutscher Lloyd Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL; North German Lloyd) was a German shipping company. It was founded by Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann in Bremen on 20 February 1857. It developed into one of the most important German shipping companies of ...
shipping company before
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, and the fittings for transatlantic liners in a style that combined Spartan traditionalism with elements of modernity. He was in charge of design for all of the company's largest ships, such as SS ''Europa'', SS ''Berlin'', SS ''München'', and SS ''Homeric'', until 1929. An extremely tall, spare-looking, reserved
Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...
n with a close-shaven head, Troost belonged to a school of architects like
Peter Behrens Peter Behrens (14 April 1868 – 27 February 1940) was a leading Germany, German architect, graphic and Industrial design, industrial designer, best known for his early pioneering AEG turbine factory, AEG Turbine Hall in Berlin in 1909. He had a ...
and
Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect and founder of the Bauhaus School, who, along with Alvar Aalto, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, is widely regarded as one ...
who, even before 1914, reacted sharply against the highly ornamental ''
Jugendstil ''Jugendstil'' ("Youth Style") was an artistic movement, particularly in the decorative arts, that was influential primarily in Germany and elsewhere in Europe to a lesser extent from about 1895 until about 1910. It was the German counterpart of ...
'' movement and advocated a restrained, lean architectural approach, almost devoid of ornament.


Hitler

Troost and Hitler first met in 1929, through the Nazi publisher
Hugo Bruckmann Hugo Bruckmann (13 October 1863, in Munich – 3 September 1941, in Munich) was a German publisher. Bruckmann was the younger son of the publisher Friedrich Bruckmann. After his father's death in 1898 Hugo and his brother Alphons became the owne ...
and his wife Elsa. Although before 1933 he did not belong to the leading group of German architects, Troost became Hitler's foremost architect whose neo-classical style became for a time the official architecture of the
Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. His work filled Hitler with enthusiasm, and he planned and built state and municipal edifices throughout Germany. Hitler commissioned Troost to convert the Barlow Palais in Munich into the headquarters of the
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
, the " Brown House", decorating it in a heavy, anti-modernist style under Hitler's supervision. In the autumn of 1933, he was commissioned to rebuild and refurnish Hitler's dwellings in the
Reich Chancellery The Reich Chancellery (german: Reichskanzlei) was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany (then called ''Reichskanzler'') in the period of the German Reich from 1878 to 1945. The Chancellery's seat, selected and prepared ...
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 constitu ...
. Along with other architects like Ludwig Ruff, Troost planned and built State and municipal edifices throughout the country, including new administrative offices, social buildings for workers and bridges across the main highways. One of the many structures he planned before his death was the ''
Haus der Deutschen Kunst The ''Haus der Kunst'' (, ''House of Art'') is a non-collecting modern and contemporary art museum in Munich, Germany. It is located at Prinzregentenstraße 1 at the southern edge of the Englischer Garten, Munich's largest park. History N ...
'' ("House of German Art") in Munich, modeled on Schinkel's ''
Altes Museum The Altes Museum (English: ''Old Museum'') is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. Built from 1825 to 1830 by order of King Frederick William III of Prussia according to plans by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, it ...
'' in Berlin. The museum was constructed from 1933 to 1937 following Troost's plans, and was
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
's first monumental structure of Nazi architecture.Hickley, Catherine (March 1, 2017)
Should Munich contemporary art museum reveal or obscure its Nazi history?
''
The Art Newspaper ''The Art Newspaper'' is a monthly print publication, with daily updates online, founded in 1990 and based in London and New York City. It covers news of the visual arts as they are affected by international politics and economics, developments ...
''
Hitler intended it to be a great temple for a "true, eternal art of the German people". It was a good example of the imitation of classical forms in monumental public buildings during the Third Reich, though subsequently Hitler moved away from the more restrained style of Troost, reverting to the more elaborate imperial grandeur that he had admired in the 19th century
Vienna Ring Road The Vienna Ring Road (german: Ringstraße, lit. ''ring road'') is a 5.3 km (3.3 mi) circular grand boulevard that serves as a ring road around the historic Innere Stadt (Inner Town) district of Vienna, Austria. The road is located on sites wher ...
(''Ringstraße'') boulevard of his youth. Troost also redesigned Königsplatz in Munich to include new Nazi Party buildings and a "Temple of Honour". Hitler's relationship to Troost was that of a pupil to an admired teacher. According to
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, h ...
, who later became Hitler's favorite architect, the ''
Führer ( ; , spelled or ''Fuhrer'' when the umlaut is not available) is a German word meaning "leader" or " guide". As a political title, it is strongly associated with the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Nazi Germany cultivated the ("leader princip ...
'' would impatiently greet Troost with the words: "I can't wait, Herr Professor. Is there anything new? Let's see it!" Troost would then lay out his latest plans and sketches. Hitler frequently declared, according to Speer, that "he first learned what architecture was from Troost"'. The architect's death on 21 January 1934, after a severe illness, was a painful blow, but Hitler remained close to his widow
Gerdy Troost Gerhardine "Gerdy" Troost (née Andresen; 3 March 1904 – 30 January 2003), was a German architect interior designer and interior decorator and the wife of Paul Ludwig Troost. Life and work Troost was born in Stuttgart, the daughter of the ...
, whose architectural taste frequently coincided with his own, which made her (in Speer's words) "a kind of arbiter of art in Munich".


Death

Troost died on 21 January 1934 at the age of 55. Hitler posthumously awarded him the
German National Prize for Art and Science Through statutes of 30 January 1937, the German National Order for Art and Science (german: Der Deutscher Nationalorden für Kunst und Wissenschaft) was an award created by Adolf Hitler as a replacement for the Nobel Prize (he had forbidden German ...
in 1937. He was buried in the Munich '' Nordfriedhof'' (Northern Cemetery). The gravestone still survives.


See also

* Nazi architecture


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Troost, Paul 1878 births 1934 deaths Architects in the Nazi Party 20th-century German architects Architects from Wuppertal Technische Universität Darmstadt alumni Burials in Germany