Leonhard Romeis (13 January 1854, in

Höchstadt an der Aisch Höchstadt an der Aisch, commonly known as Höchstadt (), is a town in the Erlangen-Höchstadt district, in Bavaria, Germany. Geography Höchstadt is situated on the river Aisch, 18 km northwest of Erlangen and 22 km south of Bamberg. O ...

– 17 November 1904, in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

) was a German architect of

historicism Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying the process or history by which they came about. The term is widely used in philosophy, ant ...

Life

Romeis was born the son of a carpenter. A charity to which the boy was sent for drawing lessons recognized his artistic talent early on. On his advice, he was sent to the Royal School of Applied Arts (

Kunstgewerbeschule A Kunstgewerbeschule (English: ''School of Arts and Crafts'' or S''chool of Applied Arts'') was a type of vocational arts school that existed in German-speaking countries from the mid-19th century. The term Werkkunstschule was also used for the ...

) in Munich. After graduation Romeis travelled to Italy. In 1886 he was appointed professor at the Munich School of Applied Arts. In the same year he married the

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia district in Bavaria, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main (river), Main. Bamberg had 79,000 inhabitants in ...

merchant's daughter Anna Ramis, with whom he had five children. His 1888 born eldest son Benno Romeis worked as an anatomist at the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

. Leonhard Romeis died of acute kidney disease on 17 November 1904 at the age of 50.

Work

Between 1886 and 1904 he designed numerous villas for artists and publicists in Munich, including the houses for Anton Heß, the genre painter

Eduard von Grützner Eduard Theodor Ritter von Grützner (May 26, 1846 – April 2, 1925) was a German painter and professor of art. He was especially noted for his Genre works, genre paintings of monks. He also repeatedly depicted Falstaff. Childhood Gr� ...

, the publisher

Georg Hirth Georg Hirth (13 July 1841 in Tonna, Germany, Tonna – 28 March 1916 in Tegernsee) was a German writer, journalist and publisher. He is best known for founding the cultural magazine ''Jugend (magazine), Jugend'' in 1896, which was instrumental ...

and the brewer

Joseph Schülein Tomb of Josef Schülein at the New Israelite Cemetery in Munich "Malt boy" on the Schüleinbrunnen in Berg am Laim, Munich Joseph Schülein (31 March 1854 in Thalmässing – 9 September 1938 at castle Kaltenberg, Geltendorf) was a German brewer ...

. He also planned the Richard-Wagner-Straße street with the Royal School of Applied Arts (Female Department) and the apartment building at Schackstraße 2. His most outstanding creative achievement is the construction of the parish church St. Benno in Munich. Today it is considered one of the most important artistic examples of

Neo-Romanesque Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

sacral architecture in southern Germany. Another Romeis church was built in Fremdingen. Another prominent building by Romeis is the Villa Liebieg in Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen, the later museum "

Liebieghaus The Liebieghaus is a late 19th-century villa in Frankfurt, Germany. It contains a sculpture museum, the , which is part of the Museumsufer on the Sachsenhausen bank of the River Main. The collection comprises some 3,000 sculptures, spanning ov ...

". Romeis was also active in Bamberg, where he designed the "Tivoli Castle" in Pödeldorfer Strasse. His planned country house, Aribostrasse 1, in Rottach-Egern (Egern district), which was completed in 1905, is also entered on the list of protected monuments.

References

* Barbara Six: ''Der Architekt Leonhard Romeis (1854–1904). Seine Münchner Villen unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Wohnhäuser für die Maler Eduard von Grützner und Ernst Ludwig Plaß''. (Reihe LMU-Publikationen/Geschichts- und Kunstwissenschaften, Nr. 14). Magisterarbeit, LMU München 2005
Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Romeis, Leonhard 1854 births 1904 deaths 19th-century German architects People from Höchstadt Academic staff of the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich