Alfred Breslauer (23 June 1866 – 19 March 1954) was a German architect of Jewish origin.
Life
Breslauer was born in Berlin and studied architecture at the
Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg. During his studies he became a member of the Akademischer Verein Motiv. After his studies, he initially worked as a trainee architect and assessor in the Prussian civil service, including in the Prussian Ministry of Public Works in Berlin. In 1897 he left the civil service and became an employee of the well-known architect
Alfred Messel
Alfred Messel (22 July 1853 – 24 March 1909) was a German architect at the turning point to the 20th century, creating a new style for buildings which bridged the transition from historicism to modernism. Messel was able to combine the structure ...
.
From 1901 to 1934 he worked independently with the architect Paul Salinger - his brother-in-law.
In 1921 Breslauer was appointed as a member 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 ...
. On 9 December 1933 he was expelled from the Academy by the
Nazis
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
because of his Jewish ancestry. In 1939, he emigrated to
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
.
Breslauer was married to Dorothea Lessing, a daughter of the art historian
Julius Lessing. Their joint daughter was the photographer and art dealer
Marianne Breslauer (1909-2001).
His eldest daughter was
Agathe Saulmann who was died in
Zurich
Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
.
The exclusion was reversed in November 1945 following the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Work
Buildings
Buildings designed by Breslauer can still be found in large numbers 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 ...
, some of which are listed as historic monuments.
Built in 1903 and 1904 by Breslauer and Salinger, the R. M. Maaßen department store on
Oranienplatz
Oranienplatz is a square in Kreuzberg
Kreuzberg () is a district of Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Berlin-Mitte, Mitte. During the Cold War era, it was one of the poorest areas of West B ...
in
Berlin-Kreuzberg
Kreuzberg () is a district of Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte. During the Cold War era, it was one of the poorest areas of West Berlin, but since German reunification in 1990, it has ...
was, according to the company's self-description, Germany's "largest specialty store for women's clothing." It was altered in 1938, badly damaged during the war and completely rebuilt in the 1950s. From 2002 to 2004, the house was renovated, approximating its original appearance.
In 1905, the architects Breslauer and Salinger built a five-story private clinic in Berlin-Tiergarten for the physician Ernst Unger. Today, the building bears the name Haus Unger.
The villa for the banker Carl Joerger on Lake Pohlesee in
Berlin-Wannsee
Wannsee () is a locality in the southwestern Berlin borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Germany. It is the westernmost locality of Berlin. In the quarter there are two lakes, the larger ''Großer Wannsee'' (Greater Wannsee) and the '' Kleiner Wannsee ...
, also built by Breslauer and Salinger from 1906 to 1907, is also a listed building and is used as a youth education center WannseeForum.
More buildings
* 1898: Commercial building for the "Polnische Apotheke" (Polish Pharmacy), Friedrichstraße 153a in
Berlin-Mitte
Mitte (; German for "middle" or "center") is a central section () of Berlin, Germany, in the eponymous Boroughs of Berlin, borough () of Mitte. Until 2001, it was itself an autonomous district.
Mitte proper comprises the historic center of Old ...
which is under preservation of
cultural heritage
Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by socie ...
(''
Denkmalschutz
The ''Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz'' ("German Foundation for Monument Protection") is a German private initiative founded in 1985 that works for the preservation of cultural heritage in Germany and to promote the idea of cultural heritage man ...
'') in Germany
* 1900–1901: Country house Friedrich-Engels-Straße 5 in
Berlin-Niederschönhausen (under ''Denkmalschutz'')
(from 1901 in the architects studio of ''Breslauer and Salinger'')
* 1901: Two-Family Residential Row "Rote Häuser" (Red Houses) in
Berlin-Gesundbrunnen
Gesundbrunnen (, literally "health springs"; colloquially ''Plumpe'', "pump") is a locality (''Ortsteil'') of Berlin in the borough (''Bezirk'') of Mitte. It was created as a separate entity during the 2001 administrative reform, formerly the eas ...
, Prinzenallee 46a–46h (on behalf of
Hugo Heimann, individual houses then owned by
Karl Liebknecht
Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht (; ; 13 August 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a German politician and revolutionary socialist. A leader of the far-left wing of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), Liebknecht was a co-founder of both ...
,
Paul Singer and other
SPD
The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together wi ...
local politicians)
* 1906: Villa Hoffmannstraße 11 in
Berlin-Treptow
Treptow () was a former borough in the southeast of Berlin. It merged with Köpenick to form Treptow-Köpenick in 2001.
Geography
The district was composed by the localities of Alt-Treptow, Plänterwald, Baumschulenweg, Niederschönewei ...
(under ''Denkmalschutz'')
* 1907–1908: Commercial building "Friedländer", Unter den Linden 67 in Berlin-Mitte (under ''Denkmalschutz'')
* 1907–1908: Country house Cimbernstraße 36 in
Berlin-Nikolassee
Nikolassee () is a locality (''Ortsteil'') of Berlin in the borough (''Bezirk'') of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, named after the small Nikolassee lake. Located in the affluent Southwest of the city, the area comprises parts of the Schlachtensee neighbour ...
(under ''Denkmalschutz'')
* 1912–1913: Country house ''Katharinenhof'' in
Gransee
Gransee () is a town in the Oberhavel district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 20 km south of Fürstenberg/Havel, and 55 km northwest of Berlin.
An important monument in the centre of town is the cast-iron and stone Memorial to ...
* 1913: Country house Selchow for
Paul Mankiewitz
Paul Mankiewitz (born 7 November 1857 in Mühlhausen; died 22 June 1924 on his estate Selchow near Storkow) was a German bank manager and, from 1919 to 1923 chairman of Deutsche Bank.
Life
After an apprenticeship at the Gustav Hanau banking ho ...
in
Storkow (Mark)
* 1913–1914: Villa for the banker Fritz Andreae, after 1945 named ''Villa Paicos'', Kronberger Straße 7–9 in Berlin-Grunewald (with garden area under ''Denkmalschutz'')
* 1928: Villa Emden for department store magnate
Max Emden
Max James Emden (28 October 1874 – 26 June 1940) was a German-born Swiss businessman, art collector, heir and ''Wiktionary:bon vivant, bon vivant''. He was the owner of the Brissago Islands on Lake Maggiore from 1926 until his death.
Emden pr ...
,
Brissago Islands on
Lake Maggiore
Lake Maggiore (, ; ; ; ; literally 'greater lake') or Verbano (; ) is a large lake located on the south side of the Alps. It is the second largest lake in Italy and the largest in southern Switzerland. The lake and its shoreline are divided be ...
, Switzerland
* 1928: Villa Griegstraße 5/7 in Berlin-Grunewald (today the Kuwaiti Embassy)
* 1928–1930: Mansion on the estate Bärenklau, named "Schloss Bärenklau" (Chateau Bear's Claw)
* 1931: Villa Bellerive in Zürich (today ZAZ-Bellerive, Zurich Architecture Center)
Emden
Emden () is an Independent city (Germany), independent town and seaport in Lower Saxony in the north-west of Germany and lies on the River Ems (river), Ems, close to the Germany–Netherlands border, Netherlands border. It is the main town in t ...
, Brissago Islands on Lake Maggiore
Lake Maggiore (, ; ; ; ; literally 'greater lake') or Verbano (; ) is a large lake located on the south side of the Alps. It is the second largest lake in Italy and the largest in southern Switzerland. The lake and its shoreline are divided be ...
, Switzerland
Publications
* ''Ausgeführte Bauten 1897–1927.'' Julius Bard, Berlin 1927
Literature
* ''Reichshandbuch der deutschen Gesellschaft – Das Handbuch der Persönlichkeiten in Wort und Bild.'' Erster Band, Deutscher Wirtschaftsverlag, Berlin 1930, ISBN 3-598-30664-4
* Hans Vollmer: Breslauer, Alfred. In: Ulrich Thieme, Felix Becker (Hrsg.): Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Begründet von Ulrich Thieme und Felix Becker. Band 4: Bida–Brevoort. Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig 1910, S. 586 (Textarchiv – Internet Archive)
References
External links
Projektliste im Bestand des Architekturmuseum der TU BerlinProjektliste der gemeinsamen Arbeiten mit Paul Salinger im Bestand des Architekturmuseum der TU Berlin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Breslauer, Alfred
1954 deaths
1866 births
Architects from Berlin