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Alfred Messel (born 22 July 1853 in Darmstadt, died 24 March 1909 in Berlin) was one of the most well-known German architects 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, decoration, and function of his buildings, which ranged from department stores, museums, office buildings, mansions, and social housing to soup kitchens, into a coherent, harmonious whole. As an urban architect striving for excellence he was in many respects ahead of his time. His most well known works, the Wertheim department stores and the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, reflect a new concept of self-confident metropolitan architecture.〔Alfred Messel (1853-1909). Visionär der Großstadt (Eds.: Elke Blauert, Robert Habel und Hans-Dieter Nägelke together with Christiane Schmidt), Berlin 2009 (exhibition catalog of the Kunstbibliothek Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and the Architekturmuseum der Technischen Universität Berlin, published on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Messel’s death〕 His architectural drawings and construction plans are preserved at the Architecture Museum of the Technical University of Berlin. ==Early life and career== Alfred Messel was the third son of the banker Simon Messel. The family owned a bank which was later managed by Alfred’s brother Ludwig, first in Darmstadt and then, from the end of the 1870s, in Great Britain. In his youth Alfred Messel began a lifelong friendship with Ludwig Hoffmann, who later became a Berlin city planning official. In 1872 Messel graduated from the ''Ludwig-Georgs-Gymnasium'' in Darmstadt (with an ''Abitur''), after which he served in the military as a one-year volunteer in the First Grand Ducal Hessian Royal Guard Infantry Regiment. In 1873 he attended the Kassel art academy together with his friend Ludwig Hoffmann, followed by architectural studies at the Berlin Building Academy under Heinrich Strack. As a civil service trainee he then contributed to a new post office administration building on Spandauer Straße in Berlin designed by the architect Carl Schwatlo, before successfully passing his second state examination qualifying him as an assessor. In 1879 Messel became a member of the Berlin Architects Society, and in 1881 he won the prestigious Schinkel Prize for his plans for an exhibition building on the Tempelhofer Feld, a military parade ground in southern Berlin. Over the next two years he traveled extensively through France, Spain, Italy and Great Britain and was a lecturer at the newly founded Technical University in Berlin-Charlottenburg. In 1886 he took a leave of absence from the civil service to work as a private architect. On February 1, 1893 he married Elsa Altmann and in November of that year their first child, Ena, was born. In February 1894 he was appointed professor at the Berlin School of Fine Arts and in the same year founded an architectural firm together with Martin Altgelt. His first buildings were on the Werderschen Markt in Berlin, and from 1893 he worked with the Wertheim department store dynasty, erecting in 1894 in Berlin’s Oranienstraße the first department store in Germany to follow the French model. In 1896 his son Ludwig Leonhard was born (died during World War I). In 1899 Messel converted from Judaism to Protestantism. On May 17 of that year he received the Order of the Red Eagle, 4th Class, which caused him to quip that from that date he could really feel “fourth class”. Also that year his youngest daughter Irene was born (died 1992 in London). In 1900 he terminated his collaboration with Martin Altgelt. Starting in 1902 he suffered from heart disease, which caused him to spend long periods at a health resort in the following years. He was busy with the second extension of the Wertheim store on Leipziger Platz 1903/06. In 1906 Messel became a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin and in 1906 was awarded an honorary doctorate (Dr.-Ing.E.h.) from Darmstadt Technical University. In 1907 he was officially appointed architect of the Royal Prussian Museums and worked until his death primarily on plans for a new building to house the German, Pergamon and Near East collections in Berlin. Messel died on March 24, 1909 and was buried in the Alter St.-Matthäus-Kirchhof in Berlin-Schöneberg. Since he was of Jewish descent, city streets named after him were renamed during the Nazi era. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Alfred Messel」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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