Otzen, Johannes

Architect

born: 08.10.1839 in Sieseby an der Schlei

died: 08.06.1911 in Berlin

In 1875, Otzen won the tender for the construction of the Wiesbaden Bergkirche, which was built according to his plans in 1876-79. Without a competition, he was awarded the contract to build a third Protestant church in Wiesbaden with the condition that it be planned according to the Wiesbaden program developed by Emil Veesenmeyer. This church building, which became known as the Ringkirche, was completed in 1892-94.

Otzen had completed an apprenticeship as a carpenter and subsequently attended the building trade school and studied at the polytechnic in Hanover under Konrad Wilhelm Hase (1818-1902). He developed prestigious villa colonies near Hamburg and Berlin for the Hamburg building contractor Johann Anton Wilhelm von Carstenn (1822-1896). In 1878, Otzen became a lecturer at the newly founded TH Charlottenburg, which appointed him professor in 1891.

In 1885, he moved to the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin, where he trained architecture students and held the office of president from 1904-07. In 1888 he became a privy councillor. An independent architect since 1874, he became one of the most important church architects of his time. As a delegate of the Academy of Arts, he gave a lecture at the International Congress of Architects in Paris in 1900, which attracted a great deal of attention, particularly in France.

He sharply opposed any mixture of styles and thus opened the door to an artistic movement that he himself held in low esteem: he promoted Art Nouveau, in which many churches were subsequently built according to the Wiesbaden program, such as the Lutherkirche by Friedrich Pützer in Wiesbaden. 22 church buildings commemorate Otzen's work, for example in Rheydt, Wuppertal, Apolda and Berlin. A street is named after him there.