Paul Mebes
Paul Louis Adolf Mebes (23 January 1872 – 9 April 1938) was a German architect, architectural theorist and university professor.
Paul Mebes
OTFW, Berlin · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Name
- Paul Louis Adolf Mebes
- Born
- 23 January 1872
- Birthplace
- Magdeburg, Germany
- Died
- 9 April 1938
- Place of death
- Berlin, Germany
- Known for
- Apartment housing estates
- Occupation
- Architect
- Full name
- Paul Louis Adolf Mebes.
- Nationality
- German Reich.
- Education
- TU Braunschweig and Technische Universität Berlin.
- Honours
- honorary doctorate and Ehrengrab.
- Languages
- German.
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Paul Louis Adolf Mebes (23 January 1872 – 9 April 1938) was a German architect, architectural theorist and university professor.
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wikidata · Q98111 · wikipedia · Paul Mebes
In this article
Biography
Biography
Paul Mebes studied at TU Braunschweig and Technische Universität Berlin. The recorded working language is German. Places of work recorded in the authority are Berlin. Works named in the authority record are Nordsternhaus, Krochsiedlung and Friedrich-Ebert-Siedlung. Distinctions recorded are honorary doctorate and Ehrengrab.

Memorial plaque, Vereinsstraße 19, Johannes-Werner-Straße 19A, Berlin-Johannisthal, Germany
OTFW, Berlin · Self-photographed
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Paul Louis Adolf Mebes • Born — 23 January 1872 • Birthplace — Magdeburg, Germany • Died — 9 April 1938 • Place of death — Berlin, Germany • Known for — Apartment housing estates • Occupation — Architect
Life
Life
Paul Mebes was born on 23 January 1872 in Magdeburg. He completed practical training as a carpenter and then studied at the Technische Hochschulen in Braunschweig and Charlottenburg. After graduating he worked as a government architect (assessor) in the public works department. By 1906 (according to some sources as early as 1902) Mebes was working for the Berlin Civil Servants Dwelling Association. From 1909 to 1919, he served as a part-time member of its technical board. From 1911, he and Paul Emmerich ran the architectural firm of "Mebes and Emmerich", which was devoted mainly to the Dwelling Association's buildings. The firm also created designs for other buildings, including schools and administrative buildings. On 19 November 1920 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Technische Hochschulen Braunschweig. In 1931 Mebes became a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts. He resigned this membership on 15 May 1933. Mebes died on 9 April 1938 in Berlin. His memorial grave is located in the Städtischer Friedhof Berlin-Zehlendorf. The "Paul Mebes Park" on Potsdamer Strasse at the corner of Fischer-Dieskau-way in Zehlendorf, Berlin was named in his honor.
Style
Style
• Illustration — Former commerce building of the Iduna insurance company at Charlottenstraße No. 82 in Berlin-Kreuzberg. It was built in 1913 to a design by Paul Mebes. The building has been designated as a cultural heritage monument. Mebes' designs were innovative and won him recognition in Europe. He was one of the pioneers of housing estates before the First World War. His apartment building designs for the Berlin Civil Servants Dwelling Association and the Kroch village in Leipzig were particularly notable. The activity of Mebes can be divided into three periods: the early phase (1909–1918), an expressive phase (1918–1924) and the substantive phase that continued until his death (1925–1938). The early phase was characterized by work within the traditional architecture of Berlin's early days, with elaborate stucco facades and indiscriminate eclecticism. Here, Mebes worked entirely within existing styles: particularly often using classical details, but various forms of North German or Baroque Dutch details, and even early Gothic forms, occur. In the expressive phase, residential buildings were created with expressive, but sparingly used elements, such as contrasting colors of alternating brick and plaster, jagged protruding stairways and pointed windows. From the second half of the 1920s he created buildings in a classical modernism style. Mebes was less concerned about the details than before, but still designed aesthetically coherent works. He continued to emphasize color effects. He made carefully considered floor plans, with bright and well ventilated apartments.
Buildings
Buildings
• Illustration — Building ensemble Innsbrucker Platz 4/Martin Luther Straße 126, 1922–28 by Mebes und Emmerich • Illustration — Building ensemble Innsbrucker Platz 4/Martin Luther Straße 126, 1922–28 by Mebes und Emmerich • 1906–1907: housing development at Planufer in Berlin-Kreuzberg • 1906–1907: Residential Development in Berlin-Schöneberg, just north of the Rudolph Wilde Square (now John F. Kennedy Platz) • 1907–1908: Condominium Steglitz II Fritschweg / Grillparzerstraße / Rückertstraße, officials Dwellings Association, Berlin • 1907–1910: Condominium Charlottenburg IIa and b, Horstweg / Danckelmannstraße / Wundtstraße / Vereinsweg, officials Dwellings Association, Berlin • 1908–1909: Residential Development in Berlin Niederschönhausen, Grabbeallee / Paul Franke Road, officials Dwellings Association, Berlin • 1909–1910: houses for the housing association officials in Berlin-Zehlendorf, Clayallee 289–303 • 1909-1914/1921-1923: development "Reichshof" (now the "family farm") for the apartment association officials to Bochum in Bochum Grumme: 210 residential units in four stages along the streets Herder avenue Wielandstraße, family farm and at the family farm • 1910–1912: Garden City Zehlendorf in Berlin-Zehlendorf, 1st Phase: elf house groups along the Camphausen, Dallwitz, Berlepsch and Thürstraße, and in Stieg Rother • 1912: Villa Fahrenholtz, Jean-Burger-Straße 2 in Magdeburg district Leipziger Straße • 1913–1929: so-called " brass housing settlement "with water tower in Finow • 1914: Schadow Gymnasium in Berlin-Zehlendorf • 1918–1922: Condominium "Rechener Busch" in Bochum Wiemelhausen, Else-deer-road 13–21, 18–20, 32–40, Ottilie Schoenewald-road 16–24, 21–27, Dr. David Moritz -Straße 1–3 • 1919–1921: Garden City Zehlendorf 2nd, Phase: eleven groups along the house-door, and Dallwitz Radtkestraße • 1921–1923: Garden City Zehlendorf 3rd, Phase: 108 apartments between Schrock, Berlepsch and Camp Street house • 1921–1927: Housing in Bochum Wiemelhausen, Grolmannstraße 4–14, 11–17, Kampmann street 4–22, 17–23, 1–13 Mulderpaßstraße, Brinkmann Straße 5–9, Friedrich-Strasse 21 Harkort • 1923: Semi-detached house in Bochum Wiemelhausen, Ostermann Straße 5–7 • 1923–1925: development "On Heidehof" in Berlin-Schlachtensee • 1924–1926: Residential Building "Werra block" in Berlin-Neukölln • 1925–1930: Residential Development in Berlin-Pankow • 1926: houses in Bochum-Hamme, Overdycker 8–10 • 1926–1927: Housing Development Lincoln, Zachert, Bietzke, Eggersdorfer and Einbecker street in Berlin-Friedrichsfelde • 1926–1927: houses in Bochum Wiemelhausen, Königsallee 160–164, 36 units • 1926–1929: Housing in Bochum Grumme, Heckertstraße 108–110, Starenweg 7–9 • 1926–1929: Housing in Bochum Wiemelhausen, Danziger Strasse 1–11, 2–14, Thorner Road 20–28, Druze mountain road 138, 130 apartments • 1927: Group of houses in the village bear, Bochum-Weitmar, Graff ring 39–49 • 1927–1928: residential development in central Berlin, Oslo Road 94–98 • 1926–1928: residential development of the SPD in Berlin-Schöneberg, Rubens / Otzen / Traeger / Eisackstraße • 1928–1930: Mountain School in Apolda • 1929–1930: Housing in Bochum Grumme, Alexandrinenstraße 6–24, 18–25 Teylestraße • 1930–1932: residential development, called " Kroch settlement ", in Gohlis (Leipzig) • 1930–1934: "fire-and smoke-free settlement" in Berlin-Steglitz, Steglitz dam • 1932–1934: residential development, so-called "Flußpferdhof" in Berlin-Alt-Hohenschoenhausen, Große-Leege Road 60–82 • 1934–1935: Administration Building Feuersozietät the Province of Brandenburg in Berlin-Tiergarten, at Carlsbad
Gallery
Gallery
• Illustration — Villa Hirsch (Erich-Steinfurth-Str. 12) in the Messingwerksiedlung in Eberswalde, Germany • Illustration — Berlin-Charlottenburg Horstweg (architect: Paul Mebes for Beamten-Wohnungs-Verein zu Berlin) • Illustration — Landhaus, Binger Straße 51/52, Berlin-Wilmersorf. Bauzeit: 1924–25, Architekten: Pauk Mebes, Paul Emmerich, Bauherr: Geheimrat Hans Riese. • Illustration — Siedlung Flusspferdhof, Märkisches Viertel in Berlin-Alt-Hohenschönhausen • Illustration — The first gallery building in Berlin-Steglitz! • Illustration — Berlin-Steglitz Fritschweg (Architekt: Paul Mebes für Beamten-Wohnungs-Verein zu Berlin)
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1872
Paul Mebes born at Magdeburg.
1938
Paul Mebes died at Berlin.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Magdeburg.
Birth place
Berlin.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
Institutional database
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q98111: Paul Mebes
Scholarly · Wikimedia Foundation
reference work
- “Paul Mebes”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
Institutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q98111: Paul MebesWikimedia Foundation
Institutional witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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