Alfred Messel
German architect (1853-1909) · Architects · Died at 55
Alfred Messel was a German architect at the turning point to the 20th century, creating a new style for buildings which bridged the transition from historicism to modernism.
Alfred Messel is read about 21 times a day, in 14 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 16 June 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 60 days, one point a day.
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Photos 6
Messel's Wertheim department store on Leipziger Platz in the 1920s.
The lofty central hall of the store
Entrance to the Pergamon Museum, Berlin
Messel's building for the Berliner Handelsgesellschaft at Behrenstraße No. 32, a typical example of the "bank palaces" in the architectural tradition of
Italian Renaissance buildings constructed in Berlin at the time of the German Empire; now designated as a historic landmark
Messel's building Chausseestraße 105 (historically located at Chausseestraße 98 a), BerlinAwards
About this person
Messel was able to combine the structure, decoration, and function of his buildings, which ranged from department stores, museums, office buildings, mansions, and social housing to soup kitchens, into a coherent, harmonious whole. As an urban architect striving for excellence he was in many respects ahead of his time. His best known works, the Wertheim department stores and the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, reflect a new concept of self-confident metropolitan architecture. His architectural drawings and construction plans are preserved at the Architecture Museum of Technische Universität Berlin.
