Heinrich Karl Scheel (; 17 May 1829 – 13 April 1909) was a

Baltic German Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950), their resettlement in 1945 after the end ...

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 ...

who lived and worked in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

, Latvia. He is considered one of the greatest 19th century Riga architects and designed more than 40 public and private buildings there.

Biography

Heinrich Scheel was born 17 May 1829 in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. In 1847, he started studies at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. After graduation in 1851 he became assistant of the architect and academy professor Ludwig Bohnstedt. In 1853, Scheel supervised the construction of the Riga Great Guild building (architect K. Beine). From 1860 to 1862 he, together with F. Hess, supervised the construction of the First Riga German Theater (architect Ludwig Bohnstedt). In 1862 Scheel became lecturer at the St. Peterburg Academy of Arts although his main workplace was Riga. In the second half of the 19th century, Heinrich Scheel designed buildings in Riga,

Ventspils Ventspils () is a state city in northwestern Latvia in the historical Courland region of Latvia, and is the sixth largest city in the country. At the beginning of 2020, Ventspils had a population of 33,906. It is situated on the Venta River and ...

and also

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. He also restored many rooms at the

Jelgava Palace Jelgava Palace () or historically Mitau Palace (, ) is the largest Baroque-style palace in the Baltic states. It was built in the 18th century based on the design of Bartolomeo Rastrelli as a residence for the Dukes of Courland in their capital o ...

. In 1899 he, together with Friedrich Scheefel, created their own building office ''Scheel&Scheefel'' which became one of the pioneers of

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

architecture in Riga. Heinrich Scheel died on 13 April 1909 in Riga and is buried at the Riga Great Cemetery.

Architecture

Heinrich Scheel mostly worked in

Eclectic Eclectic may refer to: Music * ''Eclectic'' (Eric Johnson and Mike Stern album), 2014 * ''Eclectic'' (Big Country album), 1996 * Eclectic Method, name of an audio-visual remix act * Eclecticism in music, the conscious use of styles alien to th ...

styles. Most buildings are designed in

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 ...

forms, but he also used

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 ...

or mixture of them both. In the beginning of the 20th century he was one of the first architects who started to work in Art Nouveau style.

Gallery

File:Deutsche Botschaft Riga.jpg, Building on Raiņa Blvd. in Riga. Today Embassy of Germany. File:Smilšu iela 8 a.JPG, The building Smilšu Street 8a in Old Riga, built in 1902. Today Embassy of Slovakia. File:Dome square in Riga - old building.jpg, Bank on the Dome Square, Riga. Built in 1887 File:Nometņu iela 45-3.JPG, The building Nometņu Street 45, Riga, built around 1903. Together with F. Scheefel. File:RigaTerbatas86.jpg, Building on Tērbatas street 86 (together with F. Scheefel), Riga. (1900). File:Schellhorn - Kapelle Sophienhof - S.JPG, in Schellhorn, Germany.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scheel, Heinrich Baltic-German people from the Russian Empire Architects from Hamburg Architects from Riga 1829 births 1909 deaths Art Nouveau architects Architects from the Russian Empire