Wilhelm Dörpfeld as an architect

Abstract

Original title: Wilhelm Dörpfeld als Architekt

Wilhelm Dörpfeld, a pioneer within the field of architectural research in archaeology and cofounder of this discipline, worked throughout his life as an architect in addition to his occupation as a researcher. This little-known activity is summarised here. Dörpfeld conceived around twenty buildings of varying size and significance. The four most important ones which consisted of the ambassador’s summer residence in Istanbul, the building of the German Archaeological Institute in Athens, his own summer house in Kephissia, and the envisaged new building of the institute are discussed in more detail. All four projects show that Dörpfeld took his practical designing work very seriously, but also that he fell short of developing his own architectural style. It was probably more important for him to be perceived not only as a successful scientist, but also as a devising architect.