Reinhold Schmaeling

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Reinhold Georg Schmaeling
Born14 November 1840
Died17 October 1917(1917-10-17) (aged 76)
NationalityBaltic Germans
Alma materSt Petersburg Academy of Arts (1868)
OccupationArchitect
SpouseMarie Eveline von Tiesenhausen
Children2
PracticeEclecticism, Art Nouveau
BuildingsOlder buildings of Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital, and many others

Reinhold Georg Schmaeling (German: Reinhold Georg Schmaeling, 1840–1917) was a Baltic German architect of the city of Riga during years 1879 to 1915.

Schmaeling is notable in the history of Riga for his unique style of red brick architecture. From his architectural drawings, almost 100 buildings have been built in Riga, including 25 schools, 3 hospitals, 5 fire departments, 2 markets, night shelters, kindergartens, administrative buildings, cultural institutions, sports and religious buildings, barracks and residential buildings, which are integral to today's architectural environment of Riga.[1]

Schmaeling is one of the architects included in the Latvian cultural canon.[2]

Biography[edit]

Reinhold Georg Schmaeling was born in 1840 in Riga, Governorate of Livonia in a Baltic German family. He received his first education in a private primary school in Riga. In 1854, at age 14, Schmaeling went to Saint Petersburg to study mechanical engineering at the Institute of Technology, but had to leave because of his health. He then attended Larin Gymnasium (Russian: Ларинская гимназия) and, since 1856, a drawing class at the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, where he became more and more interested in the subject, and in 1858 he entered the Department of Architecture of the Academy of Arts.[3]

From 1860 to 1862, in addition to his studies, Schmaeling worked for the architect and professor Ludwig Bohnstedt, who is known as the author of many public buildings in Finland, Russia, Germany and elsewhere, including the Riga National Theater (now Latvian National Opera).[3]

Later, he received a travel grant 'pension' from his faculty, which made possible for their students to improve their professional skills abroad for four years. Subsequently, in 1869, when Schmaeling went to study in Germany, he married Marie Eveline von Tiesenhausen and they had a son Willy, who died prematurely of diphtheria. Then Schmaeling spent the next three years with his family in Italy.[3]

Since 1873, Schmaeling had been working in Saint Petersburg, then for a while in Crimea, but since 1877 - again in Saint Petersburg, in the Department of Apanage. During this time, Schmaeling also led the arrangement of the Russian pavilion at the 1873 Vienna World's Fair. In 1874, a son, Woldemar, was born into the Schmaeling family, and in 1877, son Alexander.[3]

In 1879, Schmaeling accepted an invitation to become an architect of the city of Riga, becoming a successor of architect Johann Daniel Felsko. Returning to his hometown, he dedicated most of his creative life for it - 36 years. At the beginning of the 20th century, when most of the buildings designed by Schmaeling were built, several other architects also worked in his office - Leopold Riemer, Rudolph Tode, Boris von Bock, Nikolai Nord and Gottfriedt Croon, who are not the only co-authors of Schmaeling's work.[3]

In 1915, Schmaeling retired and two years later, in 1917 he died and was buried in the Great Cemetery of Riga.[3]

Alexander (1877-1961),[4] the son of Reinhold Schmaeling, was also a well-known Art Nouveau architect in Riga. Alexander's grandson Anthony Zbigniew was also an architect who lived in the Istrian peninsula in Croatia.[3]

Architectural works[edit]

Few of the most notable include:[3]

School built in 1912, located in Kalnciema iela 118
Old main building of Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital
Riga 2nd hospital (1910)
Agenskalns market (1911)
School building at Telts street 2a, Riga, Latvia

List of buildings[edit]

Address Construction function Year of construction
Abrenes street 3 City Real Estate Administration Around 1902
Akmeņu street 17 Fire station 1886
Allažu street 2 Police station 1902–1903
Āpšu street 24 Police barracks 1912
Aspazijas boulevard 32 Rental house 1881
Aspazijas boulevard 3 Riga City Theater I (renovation) 1885–1887
Aspazijas boulevard 7 Police department (extension) 1908–1909
Aspazijas boulevard 7 Police Department 1889–1891
Augusta Deglava street 3 City primary school 1908–1909
Baltajā street 10 City primary School (extended 1937) 1910–1911
Bruņinieku street 28 City primary school 1913–1914
Bruņinieku street 35 Rental house 1896
Bruņinieku street 5 – k. 15 Pavilion of Riga City Hospital I 1902
Bruņinieku street 5 – k. 23 Riga City Hospital I Women's Clinic 1902
Bruņinieku street 5 The main building of Riga City Hospital I 1906–1907
Bruņinieku street 5 Riga City Hospital I outpatient clinic 1909
Bruņinieku street 75 Rental house 1890
Daugavgrīvas street 7 Rental house 1887
Duntes street 12/22 Two pavilions in a mentally ill institution 1905
Dzirnavu street 60 Rental house 1892
Eksporta street 2b Sewage pumping station 1908
Gaiziņa street 1 Mary Girls School 1912–1913
Gaiziņa street 3 City School of Commerce 1912
Gaujas street 23 City primary School (expanded in 1912 and 1926) 1911
Hāmaņa street 2a City primary School (expanded) 1913–1914
Hanzas street 5 Fire station 1909–1910
Jaunstreet 15 Rental house 1888
Jēkabpils street 19a Children's day shelter 1910–1911
Kalēju street 8 Rental house 1891
Kalēju street 10 City Municipal Institution Building 1914
Kalnciema street 118 City primary school 1912–1913
Kalpaka boulevard 8 City primary school 1883
Kaļķu street 16 Russian association "Ulya" 1880–1882
Krasta street 5/7 Spikeri district warehouses 1882
Krimuldas street 2a City primary school (expanded in 1926) 1910–1911
Krišjāņa Barona street 71 City primary school 1883
Krišjāņa Barona street 88 Rental house 1883
Krišjāņa Valdemāra street 2 City girls school 1881–1884
Krustabaznīcas street 11 16th barracks of the Irkutsk Hussar Regiment 1913
Kuģu street 15/17 Police station Around 1900
Lavīzes street 2a City 4th elementary school 1901
Lomonosova street 1 Barracks of the Izborsk regiment 1902–1903
Lomonosova street 4 City primary school 1908–1909
Ludzas street 2 City primary school 1911–1912
Ludzas street 13/15 Russian primary school Around 1890
Ludzas street 24 Fire station Around 1886
Maskavas street 172 Rental house 1891
Maskavas street 116 Grebenshchikov Old Believers Association School and Children's Shelter 1893
Maskavas street 3 Fire station (expanded) 1902
Maskavas street 3 Fire station 1886
Maskavas street 63 Synagogue (not preserved) 1889
Matīsa street 7 Alexander market 1902
Matīsa street 9 Fire station 1886
Melnsila street 11 Rental house 1897
Nometņu street 64 Agenskalns market 1911–1924
Patversmes street 20 City primary school 1912–1913
Pērnavas street 25 Artillery brigade barracks 1905
Pētersalas street 10 City primary school 1911–1912
Pilsoņu street 13 Riga City 2nd Hospital Administration Building (building 25) 1908–1914
Pilsoņu street 13 Riga City 2nd Hospital Infectious Disease Pavilions and Surgical Pavilion (buildings 5, 7, 8 and 24) 1908–1909
Pilsoņu street 13 Riga City 2nd Hospital director building and Gate building (buildings 1 and 2) 1910–1911
Pilsoņu street 13 The second surgical pavilion of Riga City Hospital II, operating room, outbuilding, corridor, communicable disease isolator, morgue and servants' residential building (buildings 3, 4, 6, 12, 18, 21, 23 and 40) 1912–1914
Pilsoņu street 13 Pavilions for patients with contagious diseases of Riga City 2nd Hospital (buildings 9, 10 and 11) 1914–1915
Pulkveža Brieža street 20 Rental house 1894
Raņķa dambis 1 City primary school 1910–1911
Riharda Vāgnera street 5 City municipal institution building 1914
Rūdolfa street 5 Artillery brigade barracks 1903
Sarkandaugavas street 24 City primary school (expanded in 1938) 1905
Skolas street 36a Rental house 1899
Skrindu street 1 City primary school 1902–1903
Slāvu street 12 City primary school 1912–1913
Slokas street 65 City primary school 1908–1909
Sparģeļu street 2 Shelter for poor children 1905
Stabu street 63 Jewish house of prayer 1899
Stabu street 42 Horse post station Around 1880
Stabu street 74 Rental house 1893–1898
Šarlotes street 8 City primary school 1912–1913
Telts street 2a City primary school 1910–1911
Telts street 1 Shelter for the terminally ill 1903
Torņakalna street 16 Rental house 1895
Torņakalna street 16 Single-family building 1900
Vienības gatve 45 Outpatient and pharmacy at James Armitsted Children's Hospital 1912
Vienības gatve 45 James Armitsted Children's Hospital 1895–1899
Vienības gatve 45 James Armitsted Children's Hospital (expanded) 1909–1910
Vingrotāju street 1 Gymnastics 1880
Zeļļu street 4 City primary school and library 1910–1911

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Pilsētas arhitekta dienests - Reinhold Georg Schmaeling (1840–1917) – Riga City Architect (1879–1915)". arhitekts.riga.lv. Retrieved 2022-04-10.
  2. ^ "Architect Reinhold Schmeling (1840–1917) | Latvijas Kultūras kanons". Retrieved 2022-04-10.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Krastiņš, Jānis (2010). "Reinholds Georgs Šmēlings - Rīgas pilsētas arhitekts". State Inspection for Heritage Protection.
  4. ^ "Alexander (Alexander) Schmaeling (Šmēlings (Schmaeling)) (1877-1961)". Geni. Retrieved 2022-04-11.