Max Hegele

Life and career Early life and education Maximilian Hegele was born in Vienna on 12 March 1873, the son of Karl Hegele, a goldsmith, and Maria Hegele. From 1889 he studied at the State Trade School of Civil Engineering, where he attended the Building of Constructions course, graduating in 1893. He subsequently enrolled in Vienna's Academy of Fine Arts (Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien) where, between 1893 and 1896, he specialised in architecture under Victor Luntz and Karl von Hasenauer. After having successfully completed his studies there, as a gifted student he earned the prestigious "Prix de Rome", a scholarship that allowed him to study for a year in Italy. one of the pioneers of Viennese Art Nouveau architecture, whose work had played a great influence on the young Hegele. The two halls show similarities as both are shallow buildings, with a central tower covered by a pyramidal copper roof. They are white on the exterior with geometric decorations. Each entrance is surmounted by anornamental arch with a clock placed at its center. The main hall of the first pavilion is lavishly decorated, with metallic chandeliers and matching sconces on the walls. A huge mosaic behind the altar stands out from the white interiors.

The cemetery gate Next came the main entrance or 2nd Gate (2° Tor), built in 1905‒1906. It stands out for its high secessionist obelisks; at the base of each, facing the street, is a couple of statues holding Vienna's coat of arms. Each figure has a funerary symbol in its hand: a skull, meaning death, an hourglass, for time passing, a laurel wreath, symbolising immortality, and a palm branch, representing resurrection. On both sides of the gate is placed a relief: the one on the left (Christ receives the Dead) was realised by Georg Leisek, the other one on the right (People at the Gate for a Place of no Return) is the work of Carl Anselm Zinsler. At the back of the obelisks are two inscriptions reading "Erected during the reign of Franz Josef" and "Built under mayor Karl Lueger". The already existing administrative buildings on each side of the gate were also remodeled to harmonize with its style.

The central Cemetery Church Hegele's original project. The two colonnades opposing the church were removed from the final design. The St. Charles Borromeo Cemetery Church (Friedhofskirche zum heiligen Karl Borromäus) is considered to be Max Hegele's masterpiece and it is probably the most renowned work by him. It is regarded as well as one of the best examples of Secessionist Church, along with Wagner's St. Leopold Church. Hegele's project for the church was already well defined in 1899, though it needed some improvement, but construction did not start until eight years later. Groundbreaking took place on 11 May 1908, with Vienna's Mayor Karl Lueger laying the first stone, and the building was ultimated in October 1910, opening the following year. Lueger, who had died in the meantime, was buried in the crypt; for this reason the church is sometimes referred to as "Dr. Karl Lueger's Memorial Church" (Luegerkirche). The church is an imposing building, reaching the height of 58.5 meters and occupying an area of 2231 square meters. The building was meant to replace the old baroque church of Pressbaum and Max Hegele and his assistant August Rehak were appointed to ideate it. After an initial neo-baroque design, they came up with the definitive concept. Construction started in 1906 The structure is a remarkable example of secessionist architecture blended with Austrian traditional architecture. The layout is substantially traditional, with a longitudinal nave and a high steeple on the left of the facade, but Hegele's Secessionstil emerges in multiple aspects: the metallic geometric ornamentation that appears both inside and outside, the disposition of elements on the facade, the Art Nouveau furniture (wooden pews, confessionals and wrought iron chandeliers) and the way the tower adjoins its pointed roof, recalling Hegele's previous creations. Medieval and neo-Gothic features are also present such as pointed arches and neo-medieval stained glass windows. Like in previous occasions, Hegele applied the Secessionstil principles to the building, combining architecture with applied arts. The chapel is cross-shaped, white on the outside, with a copper gable roof culminating in a belltower. A wide semicircular window characterizes the facade. External ornamentation is purely geometric, except for an elaborate crucifix at the top of the back wall. Murals with stylised angels and friezes of vegetal motifs embellish the interiors, while stained glass windows contribute to the lighting. Two family tombs are hosted within the chapel: the one of Eduard Herzmansky, again designed by Hegele in 1909‒1910, and the one of Jean Herzmansky, created by sculptor Theodor Khuen in 1912. In 1908 Austrian industrialist Arthur Krupp hired Max Hegele and Baurat Hans Peschl as architects for two school buildings in Berndorf. The schools' exterior display a historicist palace-like design (hence the name Schulpalästen, "School Palaces") while inside each classroom was decorated in a different historical style, from Doric to Empire, by academic painters Franz Wilhelm Ladewig and Robert Jüttner following Krupp's original idea. In the same year, Hegele collaborated once again with Rehak for the Flözersteig Bridge, that links Vienna's 14th and 16th districts. The bridge is an example of functional structure within the Vienna Secession aesthetics. His monument to polish pianist Theodor Leschetizky, in Türkenschanzpark (18th district), was completed in 1911; it consists of a curving wall with a bench. A medallion with a relief by sculptor Hugo Taglang depicts the musician.

Later years After the war, the Austro-Hungarian Empire disintegrated and a republic was proclaimed. Secessionstil was over and out of style in Red Vienna; given the lack of commissions in the capital, Hegele worked mainly in Lower Austria. One of the major projects he realized in this period is St. Pölten's Regional Health Insurance building (in collaboration with Florian Prantl), designed in 1925‒1926 in an architectural style typical of interwar Austria: elementary geometrical shapes, rigid lines, very simple ornamentation and pointed arches. Heavily altered and simplified between the late 1950s and the early 1960s, the building was torn down in the 2000s.

Apartment building in Brigittenauer Lände, Vienna. Built in 1931‒1932 following Hegele's plans. He continued to design residential buildings in Vienna and in smaller towns as well. One notable example is the apartment block built in the early 1930s in Brigittenauer Lände, 20th district of Vienna. A symmetrical imposing structure, it is characterised by horizontal lines, with mouldings separating floors and polygonal windows. This works show how Hegele, despite having moved away from Art Nouveau, still paid much attention to detail and never completely abandoned decoration.

In 1937 Hegele ceased his activity as professor at the Trade School and retired in Hadersdorf-Weidlingau where he lived with his wife until his death in 1945. He is buried in the Hadersdorf-Weidlingau cemetery, not far from the chapel he had designed in the heyday of his career.

Works This is an incomplete list of works by Max Hegele.

Public buildings 1903‒1911: Cemetery Halls I and II, Cemetery Gate, St. Charles Borromeo Cemetery Church and colonnades with columbarium, Central Cemetery, Vienna 11th (1899 contest, 1st prize) 1904‒1906: March Dam Chapel, Markthof an der March, Lower Austria (with August Rehak) 1905‒1907: Fillgraderstiege, Fillgradergasse, Vienna 6th 1906‒1908: Parish Church, Pressbaum, Lower Austria (with August Rehak, selected competition) 1908: Flözersteig Bridge, Vienna 14th‒16th 1908‒1909: Hadersdorf-Weidlingau Cemetery Chapel, Friedhofstrasse 12–14, Vienna 14th 1908‒1909: "School Palaces", Margaretenplatz 2 and 5, Berndorf, (with Hans Peschl from Ludwig Baumann's concept) 1909‒1910: Eduard Herzmansky family tomb, Hadersdorf-Weidlingauer Cemetery, Friedhofstraße 12–14, Vienna 14th before 1911 Savings Bank in Pressbaum, Lower Austria 1911: Theodor Leschititzky monument and bench in Türkenschanzpark, Vienna 18th (with sculptor Hugo Taglang) 1913‒1919: Aspern Bridge over the Danube Canal, Uferbauten, Vienna 1st-2nd (destroyed) 1925‒1926: Lower Austria's Regional Health Insurance building, Dr. Karl Renner Promenade 14, St. Pölten (with Florian Prantl, destroyed)

Residential and commercial buildings 1906‒1907: Apartment building, Breitenseer Straße 37 / Muthsamgasse, Vienna 14th (with August Rehak) 1912: Apartment buildings, Huttengasse 55 / Wiesberggasse 2, 4, 6 / Enenkelstraße 10, Vienna 16th 1914: Apartment buildings, Kriemhildplatz 1 and 10, Vienna 15th 1914‒1916: Villa Bistritzky, Schindeltal 2, Inner-Wiesenbach, Sankt Veit an der Gölsen, Lower Austria 1929: Apartment Building, Roseggerstraße 9, St. Pölten, Lower Austria 1931‒1932: Apartment block, Brigittenauer Lände 138–142, Vienna 20th

Interior designs 1908: Property of Imperial-Royal court painter Leopold Jell (for Vienna's Jubilee Trade Exhibition) Designs of various other interiors

Unrealized projects 1898: Project for the redevelopment of Karlsplatz, Vienna 1st (with F. Neumann e A. Wildhack, contest entry, 2nd prize) 1901: Emperor Franz Joseph City Museum, Karlsplatz, Vienna 1st (pre-competition entry) 1903: Two countryside churches (sketches) 1907: Exhibition Hall entrance (for the 1908 Congress of Architects) 1907: Museum of popular arts and crafts of Tyrol, Innsbruck (contest entry) 1909: Ferdinand Bridge / Sweden Bridge, Vienna 1st-2nd 1909: Vienna Technical Museum, Vienna 14th (contest entry) 1910: Seats and observation tower of the Trabrennbahn Krieau (with the Drexler brothers, contest entry, 3rd prize) 1910: Nursing Home in Karlsbad, Bohemia (today Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic; competition entry) 1911: Public Bath in Komotau, Bohemia (today Chomutov, Czech Republic; competition entry) 1912: Emperor Franz Joseph City Museum, Schmelz, Vienna 15th (contest entry, 3rd prize) 1913: Resting place for the Knights of the Order of Maria Theresa in the Schmelz, Vienna (contest entry) 1913: Cemetery complex of Tetschen on Elbe, Bohemia (today Děčín, Czech Republic; contest entry, 2nd prize) 1914: Chamber of commerce and industry, Linz, Upper Austria (with F. Pindt) 1914: New Colonnade in Franzensbad, Bohemia (today Františkovy Lázně, Czech Republic; contest entry) 1915: Plan for the completion of the Schottenring, part of the Ringstraße, Vienna (contest entry, won one of the 5 prizes) 1915: Project for the rebuilding of Stadtpark's Kursalon, Vienna 1st (contest entry, won one of the 5 prizes) 1919: Secondary school in Oderberg, Brandenburg, Germany (contest entry) 1920: New buildings for the Technical University, Vienna 3rd (with F. Pindt, contest entry, 3rd prize, no 1st prize awarded) 1920: Barcelona Riding Club clubhouse, Spain (competition entry) 1926: Project for the rebuilding of the Vienna Künstlerhaus, Vienna 1st (contest entry)