Richard Lucae

• Name — Richard Lucae • Birth Name — Johannes Theodor Volcmar Richard Lucae • Born — 12 April 1829 • Birthplace — Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia • Died — 26 November 1877 • Place of death — Berlin, German Empire • Spouse — Marie Schacht • Significant Buildings — Alte Oper Borsig Palace

Richard Lucae came from an old Berlin pharmacy family. His father was Dr. Phil. h.c. August Friedrich Theodor Lucae (1800 – 1848), pharmacist and owner of the Rothen Adler-Apotheke. His mother was Caroline Lucae, born Wendel (1803 – 1870), daughter of Johann Georg Wendel (1754 – 1834), a professor of drawing arts at the Gymnasium in Erfurt. One of Richard's siblings was noted otologist Dr. August Lucae. Richard's early diverse artistic inclinations were greatly influenced by his uncle, August Soller, a Prussian government construction officer and an important architect of the Schinkel school.

Lucae received training as a surveyor 1847–49. In 1850 he began studies in plasterwork at the Bauakademie at the instigation of Johann Gottfried Schadow. He could not pass the entrance examination, so Schadow asked him to simply paint a human ear from memory. When Lucae was able to do it with ease, Schadow admitted him to the class contrary to all the rules. Lucae completed his studies in 1852 and then received practical experience in the construction of Cologne Cathedral from 1853 to 1855. He then returned to the Bauakademie for advanced studies (1855–1859), taught there from 1859 onward, joined the academic committee in 1863, and in 1873 became its director.

• Illustration — Church of the Resurrection, Katowice Richard Lucae's first complete work is the Church of the Resurrection at Kattowitz, in the Prussian Province of Silesia. Built in cooperation with architect Friedrich August Stüler, the foundation stone was laid on 17 July 1856. The hall building was completed in Rundbogenstil, the then popular German Neo-Renaissance architectural style. Apart from a Romanesque Revival and Art Nouveau transept added in 1900, the core of the building is Lucae's, including the main tower, the apse, part of the nave, the façade, and the rose window.

• Illustration — Villa Joachim, Berlin After a study journey to Italy in 1859, Lucae was at first unable to find work in Berlin. All public building was tightly controlled by the Prussian government. He therefore started his own architectural business and focused on private residential buildings, such as Villa Kamel (1860) and Villa Siemens (1874-76). He then began work on the monumental Borsig Palace (1875–77), completed for industrialist Albert Borsig, one of the grandest Italianate villas ever built in Germany Its walls, enlivened with sculpted window aediculae, also marked a new period in Berlin's architectural history.

• Illustration — Alte Oper, Frankfurt • Illustration — Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg Richard Lucae's residential work solidified his reputation and brought him into contact with prominent industrialists of the period. He went on to win design competitions for large public projects in 1873, including the Magdeburg Stadttheater (built 1873–76) and the Alte Oper in Frankfurt am Main (built 1873–1880). The floor plan of the Opera was influenced by the style of Gottfried Semper and the panther quadriga on the Renaissance-style building recalls the famous Semper Opera House in Dresden. In 1874 Lucae began plans for the complete reconstruction of the interiors of the Bauakademie itself, which were complete in 1875. In 1876 the new German government initiated plans to create the Königlich Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg in a merger of the Bauakademie and the Königliche Gewerbeakademie (Royal Trade Academy). Richard Lucae was called upon to design the new main building for the university, at that time the largest construction project in Berlin. He completed the grand Neo-Renaissance plans shortly before his death, with architect Friedrich Hitzig and master builder Julius Raschdorff making alterations during execution of the project. The new university opened in 1879.

Lucae was a prolific lecturer and writer. He became a critic of the existing architectural styles and deplored housing of the era for its lack of natural lighting, ventilation, and functionality. In particular he was fascinated by the new iron and glass buildings exemplified by the Crystal Palace. In contrast to conservative architects of the day, Lucae embraced this technology as a new way of defining architectural space. By 1877 he was also serving as a Privy Councillor in the Prussian government's Technical Construction Department and was a member of both the Prussian Academy of Arts (Kunstakademie) and the Art Association (Kunstverein). He was friends with Theodor Fontane and F. Kugler through his membership in the literary club Tunnel über der Spree, which influenced literary life in Berlin for more than seventy years. One of Lucae's students at the Bauakademie was Alfred Messel, who became one of the most well-known German architects at the turn of the 20th century He created new architectural style which bridged the transition from historicism to modernism, reflected in his designs for such buildings as the Pergamon Museum and Wertheim department store.

• 1856–58: Church of the Resurrection, Katowice (extant) • 1861–62: Villa Heckmann, Berlin (destroyed) • 1861–63: Villa Stoltmann, Berlin (destroyed) • 1868–70: Villa Henschel, Kassel (demolished during the depression, 1932) • 1870–71: Villa Joseph Joachim, Berlin (damaged 1945, demolished 1950) • 1872–73: Home of Dr. August Lucae, Lützowplatz, Berlin (destroyed 1943) • 1872–76: State Theatre in Magdeburg (destroyed 1944) • 1873–74: Villa von Heyden, Berlin • 1873–74: Villa Werner Siemens, Berlin-Charlottenburg (destroyed 1944) • 1873–80: Alte Oper, Frankfurt am Main (destroyed 1944, rebuilt 1981) • 1874–75: Reconstruction of the Bauakademie, Berlin (damaged 1943, partially restored 1951, demolished 1962) • 1875–78: Borsig Palace at Voßstraße 1, Berlin (damaged 1945, demolished 1947) • 1875–78: Extension for the Prussian Ministry of Public Works, Voßstraße 35, Berlin (destroyed 1944) • 1876–77: Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg (damaged 1943, partially rebuilt 1965) • Chemistry Laboratory, Gewerbeakademie, Berlin (destroyed) • Schloss von Homeyer, Ranzin • Schloss Kuhnau • Schloss Schönfeld