Joseph, Rudolph

Architect

Born: 14.08.1893 in Pforzheim

died: 17.01.1963 in New York

Joseph moved to Wiesbaden with his father and older sister Mely Joseph after the early death of his mother in 1903. He studied architecture in Dresden from 1912-14 and took part in the First World War as a soldier. In 1918/19, he completed his studies at the TH Karlsruhe and graduated under the Art Nouveau architect Hermann Billing.

In 1923, he opened his own architectural practice at Arndtstraße 6 in Wiesbaden. His work included villas, office buildings and interior design. He worked as an architect in Karlsruhe, Koblenz, Cologne, Lorch im Rheingau, Frankfurt am Main and Wiesbaden, among other places. He published articles in specialist journals, for example about the Wiesbaden synagogue on Michelsberg, wrote poems and also a play. In an architectural competition in 1926, he was commissioned to build the Dieburg Synagogue, which was inaugurated on June 7, 1929. With this design, he joined the ranks of modern architects. He is mentioned in many specialist articles on modern synagogue construction in the Weimar Republic. In Wiesbaden, he designed a memorial for the Dotzheim cemetery in 1928 together with the sculptor Arnold Hensler.

Joseph emigrated to Paris with his wife and their daughter in 1933. Here he worked on the design of a Jewish pavilion at the 1937 World Exhibition, but his idea was not realized. Photos of the model can be found in his estate at the Leo Baeck Institute in New York. An unpublished manuscript on synagogues in ancient and modern times can also be found here.

In 1936, the family continued their flight to New York. Joseph found a job in an architectural office. There is no evidence of any further work by him to this day. His widow donated his estate to the Leo Baeck Institute.