Knoop, Karl Julius Gerhard von (ennobled 1877)

Merchant

born: 17.11.1822 in Bremen

died: 06.04.1893 in Wiesbaden

In 1864, Wiesbaden welcomed a remarkable new citizen with the arrival of the extraordinarily wealthy textile merchant Knoop. The basis for his wealth was his share in the company Jersey & Co in Manchester, one of the largest internationally active cotton factories. Knoop's successful business activities had earned him a financial fortune that enabled him to live as a rentier at the age of 42. In 1870, Knoop was the highest taxed resident of Wiesbaden, according to the city accounts, with a tax sum of 626 thalers.

Knoop, who had been married to Theodore von Knoop since 1847, owned a spacious estate with a large park on the upper Bierstadter Straße. His villa soon became the center of high society. Emperor Wilhelm I was a guest of Knoop on several occasions; he elevated him to the Prussian nobility in 1877 and conferred upon him the dignity of personal baronage in 1888.

Knoop earned a high social standing through considerable financial donations to charitable institutions, e.g. for the construction of the children's home and for the building of a home for the local Red Cross sisters. He also remembered these and other institutions in his will. Knoop also took a lively interest in efforts to improve Wiesbaden's bathing and spa facilities. He campaigned for the construction of a new theater in the Neue Kolonnade in a public petition.

In 1907, the dirt road formerly known provisionally as "Auerbachstraße" was renamed Juliusstraße.