Martin Haller 1835 - 1925. Privat- und Luxusarchitekt aus Hamburg

The first biography about the "private and luxury architect" of Hamburg's Belle Époque Martin Haller (1835 - 1925) reads like the textbook of a successful education. And like a novel. The manuscripts of the city hall architect, written in his old age and only recently transcribed, reveal the secret of his successful life in Hamburg between 1860 and 1920. After studies in Potsdam, Berlin and Paris, Haller found his first clients - not least through social connections. Villas on the western bank of the Alster, bank buildings around the stock exchange and entertainment venues between Uhlenhorst and the Reeperbahn soon ensured full order books for the son of a senator, who also had a talent for drawing. In total, he carried out more than 500 new buildings and conversions in Hamburg. Some of his clients - such as the wealthy von Ohlendorff brothers, the bankers von Schinckel and the Warburgs, the American couple B.