Finsterwalder, Eberhard

Architect, government architect

Born: 07.04.1893 in Munich

died: 03.04.1972 in Wiesbaden

Finsterwalder initially studied architecture in Munich, where Friedrich von Thiersch and Theodor Fischer were among his teachers. In 1914-19 he took part in the First World War as an officer. He completed his architectural studies after the end of the war and constructed various postal buildings for the Reichspostministerium in Munich and the Postal Construction Office in Regensburg until the mid-1920s. In 1927, he moved to Wiesbaden, where his brother, the civil engineer Ulrich Finsterwalder, lived, and joined the city's building administration. In 1937, he became head of the building construction and engineering department. In 1946, the city entrusted him with the duties of city planning officer, which he held until his retirement in 1954.

His term of office included the redesign of the Wiesbaden railroad station district with the Reisinger facilities, the construction of the Opelbad on the Neroberg, the construction of the Goethe-Warte on the Geisberg, the planning of the Freudenberg housing estate and the redesign of the fountain colonnade. After the Second World War, his name was primarily associated with the reconstruction of Wiesbaden. This included the rebuilding of the war-damaged new town hall and the conversion of the Kavalierhaus, the construction of the Federal Criminal Police Office and the Federal Statistical Office. The promotion of housing construction was Finterwalder's particular concern. His grave is in the cemetery in Wiesbaden-Sonnenberg.