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.
Schmaeling is one of the architects included in the Latvian cultural canon.
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 () 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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
In 1915, Schmaeling retired and two years later, in 1917 he died and was buried in the Great Cemetery of Riga.
Alexander (1877-1961), 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.
Architectural works Few of the most notable include: 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)
List of buildings AddressConstruction functionYear of constructionAbrenes street 3City Real Estate AdministrationAround 1902Akmeņu street 17Fire station1886Allažu street 2Police station1902–1903Āpšu street 24Police barracks1912Aspazijas boulevard 32Rental house1881Aspazijas boulevard 3Riga City Theater I (renovation)1885–1887Aspazijas boulevard 7Police department (extension)1908–1909Aspazijas boulevard 7Police Department1889–1891Augusta Deglava street 3City primary school1908–1909Baltajā street 10City primary School (extended 1937)1910–1911Bruņinieku street 28City primary school1913–1914Bruņinieku street 35Rental house1896Bruņinieku street 5 – k. 15Pavilion of Riga City Hospital I1902Bruņinieku street 5 – k. 23Riga City Hospital I Women's Clinic1902Bruņinieku street 5The main building of Riga City Hospital I1906–1907Bruņinieku street 5Riga City Hospital I outpatient clinic1909Bruņinieku street 75Rental house1890Daugavgrīvas street 7Rental house1887Duntes street 12/22Two pavilions in a mentally ill institution1905Dzirnavu street 60Rental house1892Eksporta street 2bSewage pumping station1908Gaiziņa street 1Mary Girls School1912–1913Gaiziņa street 3City School of Commerce (now German Private School)1912Gaujas street 23City primary School (expanded in 1912 and 1926)1911Hāmaņa street 2aCity primary School (expanded)1913–1914Hanzas street 5Fire station1909–1910Jaunstreet 15Rental house1888Jēkabpils street 19aChildren's day shelter1910–1911Kalēju street 8Rental house1891Kalēju street 10City Municipal Institution Building1914Kalnciema street 118City primary school1912–1913Kalpaka boulevard 8City primary school1883Kaļķu street 16Russian association "Ulya"1880–1882Krasta street 5/7Spikeri district warehouses1882Krimuldas street 2aCity primary school (expanded in 1926)1910–1911Krišjāņa Barona street 71City primary school1883Krišjāņa Barona street 88Rental house1883Krišjāņa Valdemāra street 2City girls school1881–1884Krustabaznīcas street 1116th barracks of the Irkutsk Hussar Regiment1913Kuģu street 15/17Police stationAround 1900Lavīzes street 2aCity 4th elementary school1901Lomonosova street 1Barracks of the Izborsk regiment1902–1903Lomonosova street 4City primary school1908–1909Ludzas street 2City primary school1911–1912Ludzas street 13/15Russian primary schoolAround 1890Ludzas street 24Fire stationAround 1886Maskavas street 172Rental house1891Maskavas street 116Grebenshchikov Old Believers Association School and Children's Shelter1893Maskavas street 3Fire station (expanded)1902Maskavas street 3Fire station1886Maskavas street 63Synagogue (not preserved)1889Matīsa street 7Alexander market1902Matīsa street 9Fire station1886Melnsila street 11Rental house1897Nometņu street 64Agenskalns market1911–1924Patversmes street 20City primary school1912–1913Pērnavas street 25Artillery brigade barracks1905Pētersalas street 10City primary school1911–1912Pilsoņu street 13Riga City 2nd Hospital Administration Building (building 25)1908–1914Pilsoņu street 13Riga City 2nd Hospital Infectious Disease Pavilions and Surgical Pavilion (buildings 5, 7, 8 and 24)1908–1909Pilsoņu street 13Riga City 2nd Hospital director building and Gate building (buildings 1 and 2)1910–1911Pilsoņu street 13The 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)1912–1914Pilsoņu street 13Pavilions for patients with contagious diseases of Riga City 2nd Hospital (buildings 9, 10 and 11)1914–1915Pulkveža Brieža street 20Rental house1894Raņķa dambis 1City primary school1910–1911Riharda Vāgnera street 5City municipal institution building1914Rūdolfa street 5Artillery brigade barracks1903Sarkandaugavas street 24City primary school (expanded in 1938)1905Skolas street 36aRental house1899Skrindu street 1City primary school1902–1903Slāvu street 12City primary school1912–1913Slokas street 65City primary school1908–1909Sparģeļu street 2Shelter for poor children1905Stabu street 63Jewish house of prayer1899Stabu street 42Horse post stationAround 1880Stabu street 74Rental house1893–1898Šarlotes street 8City primary school1912–1913Telts street 2aCity primary school1910–1911Telts street 1Shelter for the terminally ill1903Torņakalna street 16Rental house1895Torņakalna street 16Single-family building1900Vienības gatve 45Outpatient and pharmacy at James Armitsted Children's Hospital1912Vienības gatve 45James Armitsted Children's Hospital1895–1899Vienības gatve 45James Armitsted Children's Hospital (expanded)1909–1910Vingrotāju street 1Gymnastics1880Zeļļu street 4City primary school and library1910–1911
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