Cramer, Hans

BIOGHIST REQUIRED Hermann Muthesius was born on April 20th, 1861, in Gross-Neuhausen in Thuringia. His father was a master mason who built numerous country churches. A local pastor recommended Muthesius to the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar as a promising candidate for higher education. From 1881-1883, he studied philosophy at Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität (now Humboldt University), before transferring to the Technische Hochschule Berlin where he studied architecture. As a complement to his formal education, Muthesius also learned the trade of masonry from his father during the two and a half years that elapsed between finishing his studies at the local school and heading to Berlin for his secondary education. Muthesius gained practical experience in a number of architectural offices, including that of Paul Wallot, the architect of the Reichstag building. From 1887-1891 he worked for the firm of Ende & Böckmann in Tokyo and from 1893-1894 he worked in the architectural offices of the Prussian government before becoming the editor of the Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung.

BIOGHIST REQUIRED He married Anna Trippenbach, a prominent singer, in 1896. Anna Muthesius shared her husband's interest and in 1903, she published a book on reform clothing, entitled Das Eigenkleid der Frau. Muthesius traveled widely, visiting Japan, China, Thailand, India, Egypt and Italy. However, his sojourn in England proved to have the most lasting effect on his intellectual development and reputation. In 1896, he was appointed technical attaché to the German Ambassador in London. He lived in England from the time of his appointment until 1903, writing reports on railways, gasworks and other industrial installations for the Prussian Board of Trade. He also befriended many leading members of British artistic circles, including Charles Rennie Mackintosh and William Morris. Muthesius was fascinated by recent innovations in English domestic architecture and eventually wrote a three volume study on the topic, entitled Das englische Haus. Using the works of Charles Voysey, William Lethaby and Richard Norman Shaw, among others, Herman Muthesius illustrated the ground-breaking functional planning of the English house. This emphasis on a functional approach to design formed a fundamental underpinning of the Modern movement in Europe.

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