Otto Paul Burghardt

• Name — Otto Paul Burghardt • Born — 17 January 1875 • Birthplace — Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony, German Empire • Died — 29 December 1959 • Place of death — Oldenburg, Germany • Significant Buildings — Europahaus, Racecourse Scheibenholz, Romanus House (renovation)

Burghardt received his Abitur from the Höhere Bürgerschule in Leipzig and then studied at the Technische Lehranstalt. He worked for two years in the studio of the Leipzig architects Georg Weidenbach and Richard Tschammer. He undertook study trips throughout Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Austria-Hungary and Czechoslovakia. From 1 April 1904 he worked as an independent architect in Leipzig. He mainly built historicist buildings in Leipzig, but also the 13-storey-Europahaus. He is buried on the protestant cemetery in Jever.

• Illustration — Scheibenholz racecourse grandstand Burghardt's architecture from the early 20th century is characterized by a modern architecture that, like the architecture of Leipzig before the First World War, is adapted to the historic urban cityscape. His buildings are characterized by a large surface area, by the clear effort to grasp functions and not to obscure the purpose with excessive decoration. However, he still devotes particular attention to ornament, and thus achieves a clearly characteristic autonomy in small details. In 1906, the Romanus House was sold to the Steinmann brothers. They commissioned a complete renovation by Burghardt, known for his studies of Leipzig's Baroque buildings. As part of the expansion of the Scheibenholz racecourse, which had existed since 1867, the existing wooden grandstand was to be replaced. Burghardt designed a massive grandstand building with two massive towers and a restaurant.