Martin Carl Philipp Gropius (11 August 1824,

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

– 13 December 1880) 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 ...

.Wirth, Irmgard (1966).
Gropius, Martin Carl Philipp
. In: ''Neue Deutsche Biographie''. Band 7. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot. . p. 132-133

retrieved 2017-04-16.

Life

Gropius studied at the

Bauakademie The Bauakademie (''Building Academy'') in Berlin, Germany, was a higher education school for the art of building to train master builders. It originated from the construction department of the Academy of Fine Arts and Mechanical Sciences (from ...

in Berlin and after graduation worked as a private architect. He received artistic direction from

Karl Friedrich Schinkel Karl Friedrich Schinkel (13 March 1781 – 9 October 1841) was a Prussian architect, city planner An urban planner (also known as town planner) is a professional who practices in the field of town planning, urban planning or city planning. ...

and

Karl Bötticher Karl Gottlieb Wilhelm Bötticher (29 May 1806, Nordhausen – 19 June 1889, Berlin) was a German archaeologist who specialized in architecture. Biography He was born in Nordhausen. He studied at the Academy of Architecture in Berlin, and was ...

and continued his studies with prolonged trips through

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. In 1856 Gropius was appointed to a professorship at the Academy of Applied Art and was later a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities as well as the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Until his death he worked with Heino Schmieden to develop ''Fa. Gropius & Schmieden'', one of the largest architecture firms in Berlin. Martin Gropius was the great-uncle of architect and

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 2 ...

founder

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 ...

. The present-day Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin was built in 1881 based on plans by Martin Gropius and Heino Schmieden as an applied art museum (the

Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin __NOTOC__ The Kunstgewerbemuseum, or Museum of Decorative Arts, is an internationally important museum of the decorative arts in Berlin, Germany, part of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Berlin State Museums). The collection is split between t ...

). It was constructed in the style of the Italian

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...

and has a central atrium.

Mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

s with allegories from various ages and the

coats of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in it ...

of German states decorate the spaces between windows. After

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, ...

the Bau housed the Museum of Pre- and Early History as well as the oriental art collection. In the last weeks of the Second World War the building was bombed. Reconstruction of the building began in 1978 after it was placed under protection for historic preservation in 1966. Another restoration took place in 1999/2000. Today the Martin Gropius Bau is an important space for special exhibits of all kinds. Martin Gropius is buried at Dreifaltigkeitsfriedhof 2 in the Kreuzberg neighborhood of Berlin.

Works

Along with representative buildings (e.g. the University in Kiel and the Gewandhaus in Leipzig), many clinics and hospitals were built in Berlin and Brandenburg based on Gropius's designs. *

Martin Gropius Krankenhaus The Martin Gropius Krankenhaus is a neuro-psychiatric hospital in Eberswalde, Germany. It was built from 1862–1865 by architect Martin Gropius from Berlin. It was commissioned by the Estates of the then-Prussian Province of Brandenbur ...

(Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital) in Neustadt-

Eberswalde Eberswalde () is a major town and the administrative seat of the district Barnim in the German State ( Bundesland / ''federated state'') of Brandenburg, about 50 km northeast of Berlin. Population 42,144 (census in June 2005), geograph ...

Ungern-Sternberg The House of Ungern-Sternberg is the name of an old and influential Baltic-German noble family, with branches belonging to the German, Finnish, Swedish and Russian nobility. Notable members * Mattias Alexander von Ungern-Sternberg (1689– ...

palace in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...

, nowadays the main building of

Estonian Academy of Sciences Founded in 1938, the Estonian Academy of Sciences ( et, Eesti Teaduste Akadeemia) is Estonia's national academy of science in Tallinn. As with other national academies, it is an independent group of well-known scientists whose stated aim is to ...

(1865–1868) * Friedrichshain Hospital in Berlin (1868–74), with Heino Schmieden *Hospital in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

*University Building in

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland pe ...

(1873–76) *Military Hospital in Tempelhof, Berlin (1875–77) *Manor House in

Neuruppin Neuruppin (; North Brandenburgisch: ''Reppin'') is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, the administrative seat of Ostprignitz-Ruppin district. It is the birthplace of the novelist Theodor Fontane (1819–1898) and therefore also referred to as ''Fon ...

-Gentzrode (1876–1877) * Applied Art Museum (Martin Gropius Bau) in

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 ha ...

, Berlin (1877–81), with Heino Schmieden *Second

Gewandhaus Gewandhaus is a concert hall in Leipzig, the home of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Today's hall is the third to bear this name; like the second, it is noted for its fine acoustics. History The first Gewandhaus (''Altes Gewandhaus'') The f ...

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

(1882–84), completed by Heino Schmieden after Gropius's death. *Old Library at the

University of Greifswald The University of Greifswald (; german: Universität Greifswald), formerly also known as “Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald“, is a public research university located in Greifswald, Germany, in the state of Mecklenburg-Western ...

*Bureau of Mines in

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; french: link=no, Sarrebruck ; Rhine Franconian: ''Saarbrigge'' ; lb, Saarbrécken ; lat, Saravipons, lit=The Bridge(s) across the Saar river) is the capital and largest city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken is ...

(1877–1880) * Prussian Eastern Railway Headquarters in

Bromberg Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the Vistula River, River Vistula with its bank (geography), left-bank tributary, the Brda River, Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December ...

, now

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

Image:Martin Gropius Krankenhaus Eberswalde.jpg,

Image:Gentzrode_manor.jpg, Manor House in

-Gentzrode Image:Gentzrode_detail.jpg, Facade Image:Gentzrode_window.jpg, Window Image:Zoologisch-Voelkerkundl_Museum_Kiel.jpg, Zoological Museum of Kiel University Image:Zoologisch-Voelkerkundl_Museum_Kiel_1.jpg, Zoological Museum of Kiel University Image:SaarbrückenBergwerksdirektion.jpg, Bureau of Mines

, 1877–80 Image:EMAU - Alte Unibibliothek.jpg, Greifswald University Library Many houses and villas in Berlin and its environs were built based on Gropius's designs. For example: *the Heesesche Villa at Lützow-Ufer *the Bleichrödersche Villa in

Charlottenburg Charlottenburg () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Prussia, it is best known for Charlottenburg Palace, the la ...

*the

Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sym ...

House (with Heino Schmieden) *the Gruner-Haus *the Lessing-Haus *the Schloss Biesdorf *the Manor House Schloss Calberwisch bei Osterburg/Altmark (gemeinsam mit Heino Schmieden)

References

Literature

Own Writings

* Martin Gropius: ''Die Provinzial-Irren-Anstalt zu Neustadt-Eberswalde.'' Ernst & Korn, Berlin 1869. * Karl Friedrich Schinkel: ''Dekorationen innerer Räume.'' Acht Blatt, hrsg. von Martin Gropius. Ernst & Korn, Berlin 1874. * Martin Gropius: ''Das Städtische Allgemeine Krankenhaus im Friedrichshain zu Berlin.'' Ernst & Korn, Berlin 1876. * Martin Gropius, Heino Schmieden: ''Dekorationen innerer Räume.'' Ernst & Korn, Berlin 1877,1-3. * Martin Gropius (Hrsg.): ''Archiv für ornamentale Kunst.'' Red. durch Martin Gropius, hrsg. v. Deutsches Gewerbe-Museum Berlin. Mit erl. Text von L. Lohde. Winkelmann-Springer, Berlin 1870-71.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gropius, Martin 1824 births 1880 deaths Artists from Berlin Members of the Austrian Academy of Sciences Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences People from the Province of Brandenburg Historicist architects 19th-century German architects