Wilhelm Victor Alfred Tepe
Wilhelm Victor Alfred Tepe (* November 24, 1840 in Amsterdam, † November 23, 1920 in Dusseldorf ) was a Dutch architect. Besides Pierre Cuypers he was the most important architect of the Gothic Revival in the Netherlands. After his designs, many churches were built, mainly in the former territory of the Archdiocese of Utrecht.
Biography
Tepe was born the son of a German textile merchant in Amsterdam. From 1861 to 1864 he studied architecture at the Berlin Academy of Architecture, where he was dissatisfied with the strongly leaning against the classicism training. In his spare time he studied the works of EE Viollet -le- Duc, the French experts in the field of Gothic architecture. From 1865 to 1867 Tepe worked in Cologne for one of Germany's most important architects of the Gothic Revival, Vincenz Statz. He was also involved in the restoration of the Cologne Cathedral.
1867 Tepe returned back to Amsterdam, where he worked with an architect named Ouderterp. In 1872 he moved to Utrecht. There he became one of the main supporters of the St. Bernulphusgilde. This was a group of Catholic priests who had the respect of national tradition and expertise in religious art and architecture to the target. In particular, the medieval indigenous styles and the use of indigenous materials such as bricks were of importance here. This ideology played in Tepes most buildings a crucial role.
Between 1871 and 1905, Tepe built about 70 churches of brick with little use even of natural stone. He took to the Lower Rhine Gothic of the 15th and 16th centuries as a model. The interior of the church was in many cases performed by artists who had also joined the guild. Notably Tepe collaborated with the sculptor Friedrich Wilhelm Mengelberg.
Until about 1882 Alfred Tepe had a kind of monopoly on the design of new Catholic churches in the core area of the Archdiocese of Utrecht. Only after the death of the archbishop Schaepman also got other architects a chance.
In addition to church buildings Tepe designed many other buildings which were often connected in one way or another with the Catholic Church, such as Monasteries, schools and orphanages. A good example of this is the St. Jerome orphanage and home for the elderly in Utrecht between 1875 and 1877.
From about 1900 Tepe also built several churches in Germany. In 1905, when the orders failed in the Netherlands, he returned to Germany, this time to Dusseldorf, where he died in 1920, one day before his 80th birthday.
Architecture
Tepe was a leading architect of St. Bernulphusgilde that purported a clearly discernible direction in the Dutch Gothic Revival. This work was continued under alia by Johannes Wilhelmus Boerbooms and Wolter te Riele. Inspired by the Lower Rhine Gothic Gothic Revival of Utrecht school is quite different from the more modern Amsterdam School around Cuypers. While Cuypers Gothic merely the starting point was a further emergent architecture, it was for Tepe always the only true architecture for the church, especially the Lower Rhine variant. Tepes churches are characterized by a most simple but thoughtful style, with high possibility according west towers. Elaborate ornaments on the outside that one searches in vain. Exceptions are the typical Rhenish balustrades, niches and decorative turrets on the front facades of some buildings Tepes. Auto Air sheets were rarely scheduled and only once a choir aisle was built.
Unlike Cuypers Tepes works show therefore little further in style. Nevertheless, one must distinguish four phases of his career: In the first phase from 1871 to 1876, he developed his own personal style and tried his hand at various church types. In the second phase from 1876 to 1890 he had more ornaments to than before. Between 1890 and 1900, its third phase Tepe experimented with concentric floor plans, especially in the form of hall churches. The fourth phase, after 1900, shows a return to earlier designs from the early days. Tepe changed its neo-Gothic style in Germany. His church in Bawinkel is even largely of sandstone.