Friedrich Lahrs

Johann Ludwig Friedrich Lahrs(11 July 1880 – 13 March 1964) was a Germanarchitectand professor.

Life

Lahrs was born inKönigsberg,East Prussia.After attending theLöbenicht Realgymnasium,Lahrs studied at theTechnical University in Charlottenburgin 1898. He worked inBerlinand Charlottenburg until 1908; in 1906 he was awarded the Schinkelpreis in honor ofKarl Friedrich Schinkel.In 1908 Lahrs began working at theKunstakademiein his native Königsberg. He served as architectural professor at the Kunstakademie from 1911 to 1934.

Lahrs' most prominent designs included theKunsthalle(completed 1913) inTragheimand the new Kunstakademie (completed 1919) after it moved toRatshof.In 1920 Lahrs andStanislaus Cauerdesigned a memorial in the Gemeindefriedhof cemetery nearRothensteinandMaraunenhof;the memorial honored 200 workers killed in a munitions explosion in Rothenstein.

Lahrs also designed the new mausoleum forImmanuel KantnearKönigsberg Cathedralin 1924. In the same year he designed a regimental memorial atBrandenburg Gatehonoring casualties from Königsberg's foot artillery duringWorld War I.In 1926 he led an excavation of the courtyard ofKönigsberg Castle.Two years later he designed the provincial finance office, the Landesfinanzamt, just outsideNeurossgarten.Lahrs also designed the bookstore Gräfe und Unzer.

Lahrs remained at the Kunstakademie until 1934, when he retired his professorship after the appointment ofKurt Frickto the academy duringGleichschaltung.Lahrs was married to Maria Lahrs, a painter and silhouette artist, with whom he had three daughters. After beingexpelledfrom Königsberg in 1945 as a result ofWorld War II,Lahrs settled inStuttgart.In 1956 he publishedDas Königsberger Schloß,an architectural history of Königsberg Castle. Lahrs died in 1964 after an auto accident in Stuttgart.

Gallery

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  Kant Mausoleum
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  Kant Mausoleum

References

• Albinus, Robert (1985).Lexikon der Stadt Königsberg Pr. und Umgebung(in German). Leer: Verlag Gerhard Rautenberg. p. 371.ISBN3-7921-0320-6.
• Gause, Fritz(1971).Die Geschichte der Stadt Königsberg. Band III: Vom Ersten Weltkrieg biz zum Untergang Königsbergs(in German). Köln: Böhlau Verlag. p. 327.ISBN3-412-38871-8.