Otto Haesler

Otto Haesler (13 June 1880 – 2 April 1962) was an influential German architect.

He is often grouped with Bruno Taut, Ernst May and Walter Gropius as being among the most significant representatives of the Modernist ("Neues Bauen") architecture that became important initially during the Weimar period, notably in respect of residential accommodation.

Life

Early years Otto Haesler was born in Munich slightly fewer than ten years after Bavaria had been incorporated into the new German state. He attended secondary school in Passau In 1908, he joined an architectural partnership with Karl Dreher. In 1914, he applied unsuccessfully for a position in public office locally as Bürgervorsteher.

There are three residential Otto Haesler developments in Celle dating from the mid 1920s and early 1930s.

Italian Garden Settlement With his first, the "Italian Garden Settlement" ("Siedlung Italienischer Garten") of 1924/25 Haesler incorporated inspiration he had gained from a visit to Bruno Taut in Magdeburg. Haesler publicised the modern design-language of the new buildings across Germany: shortly after completion, the Italian Garden Settlement came to be seen as the first "Neues Bauen" residential development in the country. The Georgsgarten also marked the first outing for the protruding three-sided glazed stair housing which from now on became a Haesler trademark.

The "Friedrich Ebert Ring road settlement" in Rathenow again featured Haesler's "trademark" three-sided glazed stair housinings.

Blumläger Field Settlement It was only with the florally named "Blumläger Field Settlement" ("Siedlung Blumläger Feld") of 1930/31 that it became possible to apply the planned rents. Buildings in the "Dammerstock settlement" in Karlsruhe (1929) The "Rothenburg settlement" in Kassel (1929–31) In 1930 he was appointed as Expert Advisor to the RfG board. He died four years later in 1962, following medical complications after he fell into a trench that was part of a project to build a house he had designed for himself and Erna.