Reinhold Schmaeling

Reinhold Georg Schmaeling
Reinhold Georg Schmaeling
Born	14 November 1840; Riga, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire
Died	17 October 1917 (aged 76); Riga, Governorate of Livonia Russian Empire
Nationality	Baltic Germans
Alma mater	St Petersburg Academy of Arts (1868)
Occupation	Architect
Spouse	Marie Eveline von Tiesenhausen
Children	2
Practice	Eclecticism, Art Nouveau
Buildings	Older buildings of Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital, and many others

Reinhold Georg Schmaeling (German: Reinhold Georg Schmaeling, 1840–1917) was a Baltic German architect of the city of Riga during years 1879 to 1915.

Schmaeling is notable in the history of Riga for his unique style of red brick architecture. From his architectural drawings, almost 100 buildings have been built in Riga, including 25 schools, 3 hospitals, 5 fire departments, 2 markets, night shelters, kindergartens, administrative buildings, cultural institutions, sports and religious buildings, barracks and residential buildings, which are integral to today's architectural environment of Riga.^[1]

Schmaeling is one of the architects included in the Latvian cultural canon.^[2]

Biography

Reinhold Georg Schmaeling was born in 1840 in Riga, Governorate of Livonia in a Baltic German family. He received his first education in a private primary school in Riga. In 1854, at age 14, Schmaeling went to Saint Petersburg to study mechanical engineering at the Institute of Technology, but had to leave because of his health. He then attended Larin Gymnasium (Russian: Ларинская гимназия) and, since 1856, a drawing class at the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, where he became more and more interested in the subject, and in 1858 he entered the Department of Architecture of the Academy of Arts.^[3]

From 1860 to 1862, in addition to his studies, Schmaeling worked for the architect and professor Ludwig Bohnstedt, who is known as the author of many public buildings in Finland, Russia, Germany and elsewhere, including the Riga National Theater (now Latvian National Opera).^[3]

Later, he received a travel grant 'pension' from his faculty, which made possible for their students to improve their professional skills abroad for four years. Subsequently, in 1869, when Schmaeling went to study in Germany, he married Marie Eveline von Tiesenhausen and they had a son Willy, who died prematurely of diphtheria. Then Schmaeling spent the next three years with his family in Italy.^[3]

Since 1873, Schmaeling had been working in Saint Petersburg, then for a while in Crimea, but since 1877 - again in Saint Petersburg, in the Department of Apanage. During this time, Schmaeling also led the arrangement of the Russian pavilion at the 1873 Vienna World's Fair. In 1874, a son, Woldemar, was born into the Schmaeling family, and in 1877, son Alexander.^[3]

In 1879, Schmaeling accepted an invitation to become an architect of the city of Riga, becoming a successor of architect Johann Daniel Felsko. Returning to his hometown, he dedicated most of his creative life for it - 36 years. At the beginning of the 20th century, when most of the buildings designed by Schmaeling were built, several other architects also worked in his office - Leopold Riemer, Rudolph Tode, Boris von Bock, Nikolai Nord and Gottfriedt Croon, who are not the only co-authors of Schmaeling's work.^[3]

In 1915, Schmaeling retired and two years later, in 1917 he died and was buried in the Great Cemetery of Riga.^[3]

Alexander (1877-1961),^[4] the son of Reinhold Schmaeling, was also a well-known Art Nouveau architect in Riga. Alexander's grandson Anthony Zbigniew was also an architect who lived in the Istrian peninsula in Croatia.^[3]

Architectural works

Few of the most notable include:^[3]

Āgenskalns Market (1911)
Vidzeme Market (1902)
Pumping station at Eksporta iela 2b (1908)
Riga city 1st hospital
Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital (formerly Riga 2nd hospital) at Pilsoņu iela 13 (1908–1915)
Residential buildings
- Miera iela 5 (1912)
- Matīsa iela 9 (1902)
- Ģertrūdes iela 38 (1907)

School built in 1912, located in Kalnciema iela 118

List of buildings

Address	Construction function	Year of construction
Abrenes street 3	City Real Estate Administration	Around 1902
Akmeņu street 17	Fire station	1886
Allažu street 2	Police station	1902–1903
Āpšu street 24	Police barracks	1912
Aspazijas boulevard 32	Rental house	1881
Aspazijas boulevard 3	Riga City Theater I (renovation)	1885–1887
Aspazijas boulevard 7	Police department (extension)	1908–1909
Aspazijas boulevard 7	Police Department	1889–1891
Augusta Deglava street 3	City primary school	1908–1909
Baltajā street 10	City primary School (extended 1937)	1910–1911
Bruņinieku street 28	City primary school	1913–1914
Bruņinieku street 35	Rental house	1896
Bruņinieku street 5 – k. 15	Pavilion of Riga City Hospital I	1902
Bruņinieku street 5 – k. 23	Riga City Hospital I Women's Clinic	1902
Bruņinieku street 5	The main building of Riga City Hospital I	1906–1907
Bruņinieku street 5	Riga City Hospital I outpatient clinic	1909
Bruņinieku street 75	Rental house	1890
Daugavgrīvas street 7	Rental house	1887
Duntes street 12/22	Two pavilions in a mentally ill institution	1905
Dzirnavu street 60	Rental house	1892
Eksporta street 2b	Sewage pumping station	1908
Gaiziņa street 1	Mary Girls School	1912–1913
Gaiziņa street 3	City School of Commerce	1912
Gaujas street 23	City primary School (expanded in 1912 and 1926)	1911
Hāmaņa street 2a	City primary School (expanded)	1913–1914
Hanzas street 5	Fire station	1909–1910
Jaunstreet 15	Rental house	1888
Jēkabpils street 19a	Children's day shelter	1910–1911
Kalēju street 8	Rental house	1891
Kalēju street 10	City Municipal Institution Building	1914
Kalnciema street 118	City primary school	1912–1913
Kalpaka boulevard 8	City primary school	1883
Kaļķu street 16	Russian association "Ulya"	1880–1882
Krasta street 5/7	Spikeri district warehouses	1882
Krimuldas street 2a	City primary school (expanded in 1926)	1910–1911
Krišjāņa Barona street 71	City primary school	1883
Krišjāņa Barona street 88	Rental house	1883
Krišjāņa Valdemāra street 2	City girls school	1881–1884
Krustabaznīcas street 11	16th barracks of the Irkutsk Hussar Regiment	1913
Kuģu street 15/17	Police station	Around 1900
Lavīzes street 2a	City 4th elementary school	1901
Lomonosova street 1	Barracks of the Izborsk regiment	1902–1903
Lomonosova street 4	City primary school	1908–1909
Ludzas street 2	City primary school	1911–1912
Ludzas street 13/15	Russian primary school	Around 1890
Ludzas street 24	Fire station	Around 1886
Maskavas street 172	Rental house	1891
Maskavas street 116	Grebenshchikov Old Believers Association School and Children's Shelter	1893
Maskavas street 3	Fire station (expanded)	1902
Maskavas street 3	Fire station	1886
Maskavas street 63	Synagogue (not preserved)	1889
Matīsa street 7	Alexander market	1902
Matīsa street 9	Fire station	1886
Melnsila street 11	Rental house	1897
Nometņu street 64	Agenskalns market	1911–1924
Patversmes street 20	City primary school	1912–1913
Pērnavas street 25	Artillery brigade barracks	1905
Pētersalas street 10	City primary school	1911–1912
Pilsoņu street 13	Riga City 2nd Hospital Administration Building (building 25)	1908–1914
Pilsoņu street 13	Riga City 2nd Hospital Infectious Disease Pavilions and Surgical Pavilion (buildings 5, 7, 8 and 24)	1908–1909
Pilsoņu street 13	Riga City 2nd Hospital director building and Gate building (buildings 1 and 2)	1910–1911
Pilsoņu street 13	The second surgical pavilion of Riga City Hospital II, operating room, outbuilding, corridor, communicable disease isolator, morgue and servants' residential building (buildings 3, 4, 6, 12, 18, 21, 23 and 40)	1912–1914
Pilsoņu street 13	Pavilions for patients with contagious diseases of Riga City 2nd Hospital (buildings 9, 10 and 11)	1914–1915
Pulkveža Brieža street 20	Rental house	1894
Raņķa dambis 1	City primary school	1910–1911
Riharda Vāgnera street 5	City municipal institution building	1914
Rūdolfa street 5	Artillery brigade barracks	1903
Sarkandaugavas street 24	City primary school (expanded in 1938)	1905
Skolas street 36a	Rental house	1899
Skrindu street 1	City primary school	1902–1903
Slāvu street 12	City primary school	1912–1913
Slokas street 65	City primary school	1908–1909
Sparģeļu street 2	Shelter for poor children	1905
Stabu street 63	Jewish house of prayer	1899
Stabu street 42	Horse post station	Around 1880
Stabu street 74	Rental house	1893–1898
Šarlotes street 8	City primary school	1912–1913
Telts street 2a	City primary school	1910–1911
Telts street 1	Shelter for the terminally ill	1903
Torņakalna street 16	Rental house	1895
Torņakalna street 16	Single-family building	1900
Vienības gatve 45	Outpatient and pharmacy at James Armitsted Children's Hospital	1912
Vienības gatve 45	James Armitsted Children's Hospital	1895–1899
Vienības gatve 45	James Armitsted Children's Hospital (expanded)	1909–1910
Vingrotāju street 1	Gymnastics	1880
Zeļļu street 4	City primary school and library	1910–1911