Bonatz, Paul Michael Nikolaus

Architect, university lecturer

Born: 06.12.1877 in Solgne near Metz

died: 20.12.1956 in Stuttgart

Bonatz studied mechanical engineering and architecture in Munich and Berlin. In 1900 he worked for Theodor Fischer at the Munich City Planning Office and in 1902 became Fischer's assistant at the Technical University of Stuttgart.

In 1907 he won the competition for the Henkell & Co. sparkling wine cellars in Biebrich and in 1911 the competition for Stuttgart Central Station (1914-28). He had previously been appointed as Fischer's successor to the Chair of Design and Urban Planning in 1908, which he held until his retirement in 1942.

In 1908, together with Friedrich Eugen Scholer (1874-1949), he founded the architectural firm "Bonatz & Scholer", which existed until 1949. Up until the First World War, numerous public buildings were built according to Bonatz's plans, including the Mainz Justice Building (1903-10), the University Library in Tübingen (1908-12) and the Hanover City Hall (1910-14).

Together with the architect Paul Schmitthenner (1884-1927), Bonatz founded the so-called Stuttgart School, which around 1930 was considered "one of the most progressive German schools of architecture" (Voigt/May, pp. 70, 74).

Due to his achievements in civil engineering as an advisor to the Neckar Construction Directorate (Neckar canalization project), Bonatz was invited to work on the construction of the Reich freeways (a central propaganda project of the Nazi regime) in 1934, although he was not a party member, and in 1935 he was appointed artistic advisor to the "General Inspector(s) for German Roads", Fritz Todt. Bonatz's position towards the Nazi regime was ambivalent. He found himself in threatening situations on several occasions due to denunciations and critical statements, and yet he cooperated. Between 1939 and 1944, he provided designs for the planned "High Command of the Navy" in Berlin and for a new Munich Central Station with a gigantic dome.

From 1944 to 1948, he lived without interruption in Turkey, where he had been appointed to a chair at the TH Istanbul in 1946. He ended his teaching career in 1954 and returned to Stuttgart.

Bonatz received many honors, including an honorary doctorate from the TH Aachen (now the Rheinisch-Westfälische TH Aachen) in 1920 and the Goethe Medal for Art and Science awarded by Hitler in 1942. In 1952, he was appointed to the Order Pour le merité for Sciences and Arts by Theodor Heuss.