Hermann Hahn (architect)
Hermann Hahn (full name Christian Friedrich Hermann Hahn; 21 March 1841 – 9 February 1929) was a German architect. Hahn lived and worked in Eisenach, where he reached importance, particularly through his plans (designs) of numerous completed villas in Eisenach's south quarter. These mansion districts were established on the hillsides of Mariental valley in the construction boom between 1850 and 1914.{{cite book |last=Reiß |first=Herlind |date=2006 |title=Stadt Eisenach: Villen und Landhäuser am Fuße der Wartburg. |trans-title=Eisenach: Villas and mansions at the foot of the Wartburg castle|url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/stadt-eisenach-villen-und-landhauser-am-fusse-der-wartburg/|language=de|location=Altenburg, Germany |publisher=Reinhold, E. |isbn=3937940243}}
Life and work
Hermann was born on 21 March 1841 in Eisenach.{{cite book |title=LKAE, Kirchenbuchfilm, Eisenach, Taufen 1838-1845, K 1/1-26, Kf 1/6 Ref. 97 S. 120 |trans-title=LKAE, Churchbookfilm, Eisenach, Baptisms 1838-1845, K 1/1-26, Kf 1/6 Ref. 97 |page=120|language=de|location=Microfilm |publisher=Landeskirchenarchiv Eisenach}} He was the eldest son of Wilhelm Hahn and his wife Maria Dorothea Bonewitz.Eisenach Church Register of baptisms item 97 page 120 1841 He began a three-year apprenticeship in masonry, whitewash and stone cutting after completing secondary school in Eisenach. The Hahn family was established in the building industry in Eisenach as master masons, while the Bonewitz family had established themselves as leading fishmongers in Eisenach.
In 1859 Hermann began the traditional journeyman "Wanderschaft" period which took him firstly northwards to Bremen, via Kassel and Hannover; then to Munich where he was employed on the construction of St. Johann Baptist church (Haidhausen)). Later to Austria (Salzburg, and Vienna), Traveling to the Saxon Switzerland ({{langx|de|Sächsische Schweiz}}) through Bohemia (Prague, Aussig). Thereafter by ship to Dresden before returning home.{{Cite web|url=http://www.katharinenschule.com/v1/Hermann_Hahn.html|title=Baumeister & Architekt Hermann Hahn - Kurzfassung des Lebenslaufes|trans-title=Hermann Hahn - Career Abstract |language=de|access-date=17 May 2021}}
Hahn is listed as an architect on his registration of citizenship in June 1866.Eisenach Citizenship Register 1830–1900, page 276, 1866 His civic works in Eisenach include the designs of the New Synagogue built in 1885,{{Cite web|url=https://www.eisenach.info/en/eisenach-erleben/sehenswuerdigkeiten/alte-synagoge|title=Old synagogue in Eisenach|access-date=17 May 2021}} and the church tower of the St. George's Church built between 1899 and 1901.{{cite magazine |last= |first= |date= |title=Der Creuzburger Amtsphysikus Dr. Urban und der sog. Bäckerstein an der Eisenacher Georgenkirche. Einblicke 1815 - 1915 - 2015|trans-title= |url=https://www.treffurt.de/werrtalbote-20162.html?download=301:werratalbote-2016-kw-15 |language=German |magazine=Werratal Bote |location=Creuzburg |publisher=Creuzburg;Mihla|access-date=23 May 2021}}{{cite book |last=Voss |first=Georg |title=Großherzogthum Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach: Verwaltungsbezirk Eisenach: Amtsgerichtsbezirke Gerstungen und Eisenach (ohne Wartburg): Amtsgerichtsbezirk Eisenach - die Stadt Eisenach |year=1915 |volume=[1], Bd. 3, Abt. 1, [2] = H. 39 |trans-title= |url=https://digitalesammlungen.uni-weimar.de/viewer/object/PPN632401974/177/ |language=de|via=Digitale Sammlungen der Bauhaus-Universität Weimar |publisher=Fischer }}
Hermann also designed or built schools in Eisenach Charlottenschule (now called Goetheschule),{{Cite web|url=https://goetheschule-eisenach.de/schulgeschichte/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130923002250/http://goetheschule-eisenach.de/schulgeschichte|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 23, 2013|title=School History (in German)|access-date=23 May 2021}} the Katherinenschule, and Elisabethenschule (now both Geschwister-Scholl-Schule),{{cite web|title=Historisches zur Katharinenschule |trans-title=History of the Katharinenschule |url=http://www.katharinenschule.com/v1/Historisches.html |language=de|location=Eisenach|access-date=23 May 2021}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.archive-in-thueringen.de/de/findbuch/view/searchterm/hermann+hahn/submit/submit/page/2/bestand/27904/systematik/42191/archivgut/947643/searchall/hermann+hahn|title=Archivportal Thüringen - Anbau an die Katharinenschule und Bau der Elisabethschule (in German)|access-date=23 May 2021}} as well as schools in nearby villages of Stregda, Mihla, Stedtfeld, Ifta, Dankmarshausen, Kittelsthal.
The castle-like Villa Pflugensberg in Eisenach's cityscape and built for the industrial family von Eichel-Streiber is probably the most famous projects that Hermann Hahn was involved in. As construction manager, he built the mansion in 1890 from the designs of renowned Frankfurt architects Ludwig Neher and Aage von Kauffmann.{{cite book |last=Seidel |first=Thomas A. |date=2003 |title=Im Übergang der Diktaturen eine Untersuchung zur kirchlichen Neuordnung in Thüringen 1945-1951 |trans-title=In transition of dictators: an investigation into the reorganization of the church in Thuringia 1945-1951|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0p_YAAAAMAAJ&q=eisenach+%22hermann+hahn%22&pg=PA76 |language=de|publisher=Kohlhammer |isbn=3170179004}}