Johann Eduard Jacobsthal (1839 - 1902)

RA Collection: People and Organisations

Johann Eduard Jacobsthal (1839-1902) was a German architect and university lecturer.

He studied architecture with Friedrich Adler (1827–1908) and Eduard Biermann at the Königlichen Bauakademie, (Royal Academy of Architecture), in Berlin, completing his studies in 1866. In 1872 he was appointed as the master builder of Berlin. As an architect he specialised in railway design and was responsible for the Alexanderplatz and Bellevue stations in Berlin and the Strasbourg and Metz railway stations. He also designed numerous churches, grave monuments and bridges.

In 1868 Jacobshtal was appointed to the newly established Deutsche Gewerbe-Museum, (German Trade Museum), as an assistant teacher of ornament drawing. He also taught at the Königlichen Kunstschule, (Royal School of Art), from 1870 to 1876. In 1874 he was appointed Professor of Ornamentation at the Königlichen Bauakademie, (Royal Academy of Architecture), in Berlin – the same year in which he published his Grammatik der Ornamente.

From 1879 to 1902 Jacobsthal was Professor of Ornament and the newly established Königlichen Technischen Hochschule (Royal Technical University in Berlin).