Walter Curt Behrendt

Walter Curt Behrendt ( born December 16, 1884 in Metz, Lorraine, † April 26, 1945 in Norwich, Vermont ) was a German - American architect, urban planner and author.

Life and work

Walter Curt Behrendt studied at the Institute of Technology ( Berlin ) Charlottenburg, in Munich and Dresden. After his studies, he received his doctorate in 1911 with a dissertation on "The single block front than in the urban space element. A contribution to the urban design of the present ", which appeared in the same year at the prestigious publishing house of Bruno Cassirer. Also in 1911 he published a monograph on at Cassirer Alfred Messel died in 1909 as a tribute to the famous Berlin architect of the Wertheim department stores in Berlin.

From 1912 Behrendt worked in the Prussian civil service, including from 1912 to 1919 in the Ministry of Public Works, 1919-1926 at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. 1927-1933 he was a consultant in the Ministry of Finance responsible for the oversight of all public construction projects in Prussia.

Behrendt was from 1912 a member of the Deutscher Werkbund ( DWB) and from 1926 in the Society of Architects The ring. Besides his work in the civil service Behrendt always remained active in publishing. Between 1919 and 1924 he took over the editorship of the magazine The People's apartment, from 1925 also the editorial carried by the German Werkbund magazine The shape until its replacement by Walter Riezler 1927. Moreover, he was the editor of other magazines and newspapers and occurred mainly with its articles for the Frankfurter Zeitung forth.

In 1934 he emigrated to the USA and then was there in various fields, mainly in housing and town planning, works. After teaching at Dartmouth College, Hanover, North Hampshire, he was from 1937 to 1941 professor of urban planning and housing at the University of Buffalo. In 1941, he received U.S. citizenship.

Writings (selection )

  • The uniform block front than in the urban space element. Berlin: Bruno Cassirer, 1911.
  • Alfred Messel. . Cassirer, Berlin 1911 ( a reprint: Gebr man, Berlin, 1998. )
  • New tasks of architecture. Stuttgart, Berlin, 1919.
  • The fight to the style in the arts and in architecture., 1920.
  • Planning and Housing in the United States. 2nd edition, Berlin 1927.
  • The victory of the new architectural style. Akademischer Verlag, Dr. Fritz Wedekind & Co., Stuttgart, 1927.
  • The Dutch city. Berlin 1928.
  • Modern Building. Its nature, problems and forms. New York 1937.

Important essays:

  • About the German architecture of the present. In: Art and Artists, Issue 12/1914, p 263-276, p 328-340, p 373-383.
  • The city problem. In: Art and Artists, vol 21/1922/1923, pp. 171-179.
  • The architecture on the Great Berlin Art Exhibition 1924 In: . Art and artists, Issue 22/1923/1924, pp. 347-352.
  • The first tower in Berlin. In: The week No. 9 of March 4, 1922, pp. 193-194.
  • The skyscraper. In: Art and Artists, vol 22/1923/1924, pp. 175-181.
  • Skyscrapers in Germany. In: Journal of the American Institute of Architects 1923, pp. 365-370.
  • From new construction. In: Journal of the Central Building Administration, Volume 48 1928, No. 41 ( 10 October 1928), pp. 657-662.
  • Berlin is a cosmopolitan city metropolis in the heart of Europe. In: New Berlin, No. 5/1929, pp. 98-101.

In addition, Behrendt editor of the second edition was (Munich 1918) and the 3rd edition (Munich 1920), the influential book:

  • Paul Mebes. Around 1800 architecture and craftsmanship in the last century its traditional development.
Norwich (Vermont) Georg Wertheim Der Ring Integrated Authority File
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