Martin Carl Philipp Gropius (11 August 1824,

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 ...

– 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 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, urban planning, city planner and painter who also designed furniture and stage sets. Schinkel was one of the most prominent architects of Germany and designed b ...

and Karl Bötticher and continued his studies with prolonged trips through

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. 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 and the

Austrian Academy of Sciences The Austrian Academy of Sciences (; ÖAW) is a legal entity under the special protection of the Republic of Austria. According to the statutes of the Academy its mission is to promote the sciences and humanities in every respect and in every fi ...

. Until his death he worked with Heino Schmieden to develop ''Fa. Gropius & Schmieden'' is 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 , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...

founder

Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (; 18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-born American architect and founder of the Bauhaus, Bauhaus School, who is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modernist architecture. He was a founder of ...

. 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 th ...

). It was constructed in the style of the Italian

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

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 (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

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 last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic ac ...

of German states decorate the spaces between windows. After

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

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 (Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital) in Neustadt-

Eberswalde Eberswalde () is a major town and the administrative seat of the district Barnim in Brandenburg in north-eastern Germany, about northeast of Berlin. Population 42,144 (census in June 2005). The town is often called Waldstadt (forest town), beca ...

* Ungern-Sternberg palace in

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

, nowadays the main building of Estonian Academy of Sciences (1865–1868) *

Friedrichshain Friedrichshain () is a quarter (''Ortsteil'') of the borough of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg in Berlin, Germany. From its creation in 1920 until 2001, it was a freestanding Boroughs of Berlin, city borough. Formerly part of East Berlin, it is adjace ...

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

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

*University Building in

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

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

Neuruppin Neuruppin (, , in contrast to ":de:Alt Ruppin, Old Ruppin"; ; North Brandenburgisch dialect, Brandenburgisch: ''Reppin'') is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, the administrative seat of Ostprignitz-Ruppin district. It is the birthplace of the noveli ...

-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 Berlin-Mitte, Mitte. During the Cold War era, it was one of the poorest areas of West Berlin, but since German reunification in ...

, 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 ...

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

(1882–84), completed by Heino Schmieden after Gropius's death. *Old Library at the University of Greifswald *Bureau of Mines in

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...

(1877–1880) * Prussian Eastern Railway Headquarters in

Bromberg Bydgoszcz is a city in northern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Kuyavia. Straddling the confluence of the Vistula River and its left-bank tributary, the Brda, the strategic location of Bydgoszcz has made it an inland ...

, now

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz is a city in northern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Kuyavia. Straddling the confluence of the Vistula River and its bank (geography), left-bank tributary, the Brda (river), Brda, the strategic location of Byd ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Image:Martin Gropius Krankenhaus Eberswalde.jpg, Martin Gropius Krankenhaus 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 Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a German town law, town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Kingdom ...

*the

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

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 Walter Gropius