German architect who designed cemeterie in Turkey: Who is Martin Elsaesser?

He was born on May 28, 1884 in Tübingen, Germany. Between 1901 and 1906, he studied under Friedrich von Thiersch at the Technical University of Munich, before transferring to the Technical University of Stuttgart under Theodor Fischer.

After winning the Baden-Baden Protestant Congregation prize in 1905, he started working freelance. Between 1906 and 1908 he worked as Theodor Fischer's assistant in Munich, and between 1911 and 1913 he worked with his student Paul Bonatz at the Stuttgart Technical University.

Finally, in 1912, he became a professor at the Stuttgart Technical University in the fields of design, medieval building art, and the theory of building forms. Elsaesser, who was appointed by Cologne Mayor Konrad Adenauer as the director of the Cologne School of Applied Art, which was later named Kölner Werkschulen, left this chair in 1920.

Martin Elsaesser (28 May 1884 – 5 August 1957) was a German architect and professor of architecture. He is especially well known for the many churches he built.

Five years later, he was appointed director of the Frankfurt am Main Public Works Directorate and remained in this position until 1932. He then worked as a freelance architect in Munich and Berlin.

Since he could not get a job during National Socialism, he carried out the Cebeci Cemetery project in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, between 1935 and 1938, and the Sümerbank Headquarters Building project between 1937 and 1938.

He lived a reclusive life in Berlin. He was rarely able to get a job after the Second World War ended. For this reason, Martin Elsaesser temporarily took over the professorship in the design department of the Munich Technical University in 1948, which he held until his retirement in 1955.

Martin Elsaesser died on August 5, 1957, in Stuttgart, Germany.