Paul Wallot
b. Frankfurt-am-Main, 1841;
d. Langenschwalbach, 1912.

Late c19 German architect, who is best known for the Reichstag in Berlin. Wallot studied architecture in Berlin under two influential Prussian famous architects and academics, Richard Lucae and Martin Gropius. The latter was professor at the Bauakademie and director of the Kunstschule. The prevailing architectural climate of the second half of the c19 reflected the bourgeois ambitions of the Bismarckian empire in a spate of buildings executed in dark brick with stone trim and fussy metallic detailing. This nationalistic mode lasted well into the c20, and Wallot’s early work in Frankfurt shows that he had absorbed its influence. His career reached a watershed in 1884 when he won the competition for the Reichstag building in Berlin, his overwhelmingly monumental Neo-Baroque design owing more to Vanbrugh than Bernini. This and other buildings formed part of a general revival of Neo-Baroque taste which began to challenge the established order. The Reichstag took ten years to build and was intended to symbolize the power and grandeur of the New Reich (ironically the Reichstag was destroyed by fire in 1933 during Hitler’s rise to power and reconstructed during the 1970s). This commission brought Wallot fame and established his reputation, also earning him a teaching post at the Art Academy in Dresden. He was an influential teacher; his students included Heinrich Stratimer, the noted architect and engineer.

Major buildings / works:
Store, Offices and Residence, Frankfurt-am-Main, 1882.
Reichstag, Berlin, 1884-94.
House, Darmstadt Artists’ Colony, 1901.
President of the Reichstag’s Residence, Berlin, 1903.

Bibliography:
W Mackowsky, Paul Wallot and seine Schuler, Berlin, 1912.