Two Architects between the Imperial Era and the Nazi State
Paul Schultze-Naumburg and Paul Ludwig Troost
Paul Schultze-Naumburg (1869-1949) was commissioned to build Cecilienhof and designed the plans, facades and many of the interiors. Six of the rooms were furnished by Paul Ludwig Troost (1878-1934).
Paul Schultze-Naumburg
Paul Schultze (known as Schultze-Naumburg after his birthplace) was a painter and initially editor of the magazine Der Kunstwart. He promoted reformist ideals, criticised industrial building styles and called for a return to traditional craftsmanship.
The Kulturarbeiten
Schultze-Naumburg became famous for his series of books Kulturarbeiten (1901-1917). In them he explored topics such as architecture, town planning, landscape design. His method was to juxtapose photographs with what he saw as positive and negative examples.
Paul Schultze-Naumburg: Kulturarbeiten, Volume 4: Städtebau (1906/1906) by Katrin AlbrechtCecilienhof Palace
He argued for a 'correct' architecture based on the rural architectural styles of the 1800s, thus shaping ideals of homeland protection. His work is regarded as the foundation of a 'conservative' modernism.
With the Kulturarbeiten he created a kind of model collection. From 1902 Schultze-Naumburg worked as an architect and wanted to prove that his teachings were correct. Many motifs from the examples shown in the 'Kulturarbeiten' can be found in the buildings he designed. He was mainly commissioned to build large country houses, castles and estates - his clients came from the aristocracy, the upper middle classes and the reform-minded educated bourgeoisie.
By 1901 Schultze-Naumburg was teaching at the Weimar Art Academy, initially in painting and drawing, and later in architecture and applied arts. In 1904 he founded the 'Saalecker Werkstätten', which gradually developed from an educational institution into a commercial enterprise with up to 70 employees. They planned and executed all of Schultze-Naumburg's architectural and interior design projects, including the construction of Cecilienhof.
Schultze-Naumburg and Cecilienhof
Cecilienhof is an exception in his oeuvre: it was the first time he worked for the state - the Prussian royal family. Instead of his usual rural late baroque or simple early classicism, he designed an English country house at the request of the crown prince and princess.
After the First World War, his architectural work diminished and he turned more and more to his writings, becoming increasingly radical both aesthetically and politically.
Still a reformer at the turn of the century, by the 1920s Schultze-Naumburg was increasingly seen as conservative, even reactionary. He wrote numerous pamphlets against the new building movement, including the Bauhaus. Saaleck became a meeting place for like-minded architects, artists and writers - and from the mid-1920s it was visited by senior Nazis such as Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels and Heinrich Himmler.
Cultural critique as demagogy
Schultze-Naumburg increasingly combined his cultural criticism with a racist ideology. The high point of this radicalisation was his polemical essay ‘Art and Race’ (1928).
Auf diese Weise führte er den künstlerischen Verfall auf eine Degeneration der „nordischen Rasse“ zurück und schuf die theoretischen Grundlagen für die später von den Nationalsozialisten initiierte Aktion „Entartete Kunst“. Wie in früheren Publikationen nutzt er den direkten Vergleich zur Untermauerung seiner Thesen vom „Guten“ und „Schlechten“ – hier jedoch auf besonders perfide Art: Abbildungen von moderner Kunst stellt er in Zusammenhang mit solchen von Menschen mit Behinderung.
Political Activities
In 1930 Schultze-Naumburg joined the NSDAP, which had already come to power in Thuringia. He was also appointed director of the Weimar Art Academy in order to erase all traces of the Bauhaus, which had been founded there.
He also had works by modern artists removed from the Weimar Palace Museum, anticipating the 'Degenerate Art' campaign by seven years. In the university building, for example, he had Oskar Schlemmer's 1923 murals whitewashed.
Reichstag building in Munich (1920/1930) by UncreditedCecilienhof Palace
Schultze-Naumburg entered the Reichstag for the NSDAP in 1932, but his hopes of higher office in the 'Third Reich' were not realised.
Auditorium of the Nuremberg Opera House by UncreditedCecilienhof Palace
Disappointed Hopes
Hitler sharply criticised him for the rebuilding of the Nuremberg Opera House (1935). After this he received no more public commissions and turned his attention back to private clients. He died in 1949 in Jena.
Paul Ludwig Troost
Paul Ludwig Troost studied architecture in Darmstadt and set up as a freelance architect in Munich in 1903. He came into contact with the 'Vereinigte Werkstätten' through numerous interior design commissions.
The workshops supplied the interiors for the steamships of the Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL) shipping company. In 1912, NDL finally hired Troost as an architect - the beginning of a meteoric career.
As NDL's in-house architect, Troost had a decisive influence on the so-called 'steamship style' in the years to come. Exquisite interiors made of the finest materials served to emphasise the splendour of the NDL's enormous budget.
In 1913 he met Crown Princess Cecilie in Gdansk, where she saw his designs for the steamship Columbus. Cecilie, who had a great affinity for ships, was so impressed that she commissioned Troost to furnish her private rooms at Cecilienhof.
While Cecilie and Troost were in close contact during the planning and construction and seemed to work well together, the collaboration with Paul Schultze-Naumburg was more difficult. There was probably an underlying competition between the two. In the end, Troost designed six rooms at Cecilienhof, but a bathroom, a desk and a fireplace were never built.
New Times
Despite the emerging avant-garde trends of the Weimar Republic, Troost remained true to his conservative, elegant style, with functional, playful decorations giving way to monumental Art Deco.
In 1930 he met Adolf Hitler, who immediately commissioned him to work on NSDAP building projects. Enthusiastic about the 'movement', Troost even waived his fee in some cases. His designs now followed Hitler's preferred cool neoclassicism.
Hitler's favourite Architect
After the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, Troost became Hitler's favourite architect and was commissioned to design prestigious buildings such as the Fuehrer Building and the House of German Art, where the monumental style typical of Nazi architecture was first applied.
However, his early death in 1934 prevented him from further advancing in the Nazi state. His wife Gerdy (1904-2003), also a committed Nazi, continued his work.
Cecilienhof Palace, view of the facade, north-east side (2018/2018) by Reinhardt & SommerCecilienhof Palace
Cecilienhof Palace is the place where the paths of Schultze-Naumburg and Troost, who had much to separate them and much in common, once crossed.
Curator: Carlo Paulus, public relations, SPSG
Project management: Nicole Romberg, Social Media Manager, SPSG
Picture credits
SPSG (unless otherwise stated)
