Johann Felsko
Johann Daniel Felsko (also: Felskau, Latvian Johans Daniels Felsko; born October 30, 1813 in Riga, Russian Empire; † October 7, 1902 ) was a Baltic German architect, urban planner and 1844-1879 city architect of Riga His most important life performance was the development of the people of Riga city center.
Life and Family
Johann Felsko was the son of the mason Johann Jakob Felskau (1779-1858), who had moved in 1805 from Königsberg to Riga, and Therese Luise Heydemann ( 1773-1868 ) born of Schoenberg in the government of Courland. Johann Felsko married in 1842 Georgine Wilhelmine Groos from Copenhagen; they had three children, including the architect Karl Johann Felsko (1844-1918) and the painter Oskar Eduard Daniel Felsko ( 1848-1921 ).
Training
Johann Felsko learned the building trade as a journeyman of the architect and master builder Johann Daniel Gottfriedt until his death 1831st He then formed until 1832 in the Technical Drawing by Johann Adolf walking long before his companions took him years to Konigsberg and Warsaw. In Warsaw he worked at Captain in-law of fortifications. On whose recommendation he came to Copenhagen, poses in South Prussia and Hillerød, again in Denmark. Felsko studied 1835-1840 Architecture studies at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts With a grant from the City Council of Riga, he continued his studies at the Russian Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg and earned a degree there in 1851 as an independent artist ..
Creator of the modern Riga
One of the first major projects Felskos was the reconstruction of the Town Hall of Riga in 1848. He increased the neoclassical building from 1785 to a third floor, but still retains the harmonic proportions and the historic character of the building. In 1849 he renovated the neo-Gothic tower of St. John's Church. 1856 Tsar Alexander II approved the demolition of the city fortifications and Felsko made himself, together with his colleague Otto Dietze immediately to the replanning of the city center. In the autumn of the same year the plans were finished, the year after they were adopted by the Tsar. [ Nb 1] and began to dismantle the old fortifications. For cost reasons, the original plan underwent some changes, the basic considerations Felskos remained untouched and were realized with the construction of a semicircle of boulevards. There was an urban ensemble in which a channel that has been redesigned from the ditch of Befestigungsanalagen, became a central axis of the composition, the free-standing public buildings, green spaces and individual residential buildings joined. In the 1870s, the citadel was demolished and reshaped the field of Esplanade according to the specifications of the plans of Felsko and Dietze.
Work in neo-gothic style
Felsko is also the author of various schools, including in 1874 the urban school on Rainis Boulevard 8 (now the National School Riga No. 1), from 1876 to 1879 the city school at the Krisjanis - Valdemar -Straße 1 (now the State High School No. Riga. 2) and 1876 of the School of handicraft guilds on Aspazijas Boulevard 34 He designed, among other 1873 Sadownikow - poorhouse at the Sadovnikov -Straße 20, various residential buildings at the Elisabeth- Straße 49 (1870 ), the Antonija street 2 (1879 ) which Brīvības street 71 (1879 ) and the Šķūņu street 11 Felsko used in its buildings a wide range of formal elements of eclecticism, also borrowed from the Renaissance and Rundbogenstil can be found. However, the neo-Gothic style Decisive was from building to building various forms. His ideas for the reconstruction of the city center of Riga also contained a development bank of the Daugava in the Gothic Revival style, this dream remained unrealized. The municipal gasworks No. 1 at Bastion Boulevard one he could build in 1861, today the powerful gas tanks are no longer available, however.
One of the most important works Felskos is the Small Guild at the Amata road 3/5 in the Old Town of Riga ( 1864-1866 ). The building blends with its slightly older neighboring buildings, the Great Guild. Felsko created a small open space in front of their massive pseudo- medieval appearance, which was well received by his contemporaries. The interior of the small guild is exquisite and ornate. Glass paintings of the Hanoverian artist Alois Freystadtl adorn many of the stained glass windows. The windows in the rooms that are now used by actors, have portraits of the artist and Felskos.
A number of churches in the Gothic Revival style also emerged on the drawing board Felskos: St. Martin's Church ( 1851) the old Gertrud Church ( 1863-1868 ), the Anglican Church of the Redeemer (1859 ), the Church of the Holy Trinity in the suburb Sarkandaugava ( 1876-1878 ), the Anne's Church (1857-1859) and the St. Nicholas Church (1873-1874), the last two on the estate Piņķi.