Gotthilf Ludwig Möckel

Gotthilf Ludwig Möckel was the first child of the Zwickau coppersmith Gotthilf Heinrich Möckel (1786-1847) and his second wife Caroline Rosine Möckel.

Möckel married on June 25, 1866, in Zwickau Emilie (Emmy) Amalie Christiane Schlegel (1844-1926), a daughter of the bricklayer of Göttingen and Senator Carl Schlegel (1819-1890). The couple had five sons and two daughters: Erwin (1867-1929), Johannes (1868-1936), Elsa (1870-1926), Erich (1871-1926), Hermann (1874-1948), Käthe (1878- 1954) and Ludwig (1881-1934).[1]

Möckel attended a public school from 1844 to 1852 in Zwickau. From 1852 to 1853, he attended the Royal Trade School in Chemnitz, then apprenticed until 1856 as a bricklayer in Zwickau. At the same time Möckel studied at the Königlichen Baugewerkschule (building trade school) in Chemnitz.

Möckel worked from 1856 to 1858 as a bricklayer and later as a construction manager. From 1858 to 1859, he worked as a draftsman as the senior engineering office of the Upper Ore Mountain State Railways in Chemnitz and worked in the architectural office of Edwin Oppler in Hannover.

From 1861 to 1862, Möckel attended the Polytechnic Hannover. This school taught Gothic architecture, and was known for North German medieval brick building. Möckel's first project was the construction of the psychiatric institution in Göttingen, as a construction technician and assistant to architect Julius Rasch. At the end of 1865, Möckel applied to the Akademie der Bildenden Künste Dresden for approval, then in 1867 he got accepted.

In 1866, Möckel moved back to Zwickau. There he worked until 1875 as a freelance architect. During this time, he designed mainly unpainted neo-gothic houses and villas. In Planitz, one of Möckel's highlights was the Lukaskirche.

In 1875, Möckel moved to Dresden, where he worked until 1885. A freelance architect, he mainly designed church's and palace's. Among other things, he designed the Johanneskirche which is considered to be his main work. He also, restored the St.-Nikolai-Kirche in Löbau. He was appointed on March 3, 1881, by the Academy of Fine Arts Dresden as an honorary member.

After Rasch recommended him for membership, Möckel was admitted to the Architects and Engineers Club Hannover in 1865.[2] In 1873, he was admitted into the Leipzig-based Saxon Engineering and Architects Association.

In the summer of 1877, Möckel was in Doberan to participate in the measures to preserve the Doberan monastery ossuary in Münster. Later the Grand Duke Friedrich Franz III visited the ossuary. They exchanged letters (Mein Lieber Möckel), which started the idea to restore other parts of the Doberan monastery. The letters also led to Möckel building a hunting lodge for the Duke and the construction of the katholischen Kapelle in Heiligendamm.[3] In 1883, the restoration of the Doberan Minster by the Grand Ducal Chamber of Church Affairs in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, to the stilfesten Baumeister. Until 1896, the extensive restoration work, which required his constant presence, so that he can receive permanent residence in Doberan from 1885. To this end, he had 1887 to 1888 build a prestigious villa in neo-Gothic style in a prime location.

On November 11, 1886, Möckel became a technical advisory board for church construction in the Grand Ducal Chamber and thus head of Mecklenburg-Schwerin church building.[4] For his services in the civil service, he was awarded on March 19, 1897 [5] the character of a Privy Building Council and on October 3, 1900,[6] of a Secret Court Building. He remained until his retirement on September 30, 1915[7] because of his responsibility to the church.[8]

Möckel continued to work as a freelancer. Many buildings, such as residential and commercial buildings, villas, schools, and other public buildings, including the Ständehaus Rostock, and the Gelbensande castle were built according to his designs. He also supported the Schwerin museum director Hofrat Friedrich Schlie, who like Möckel, was a member of the Grand Ducal Commission for the Conservation of Monuments, in the publication of the extensive reference work The Art and History Monuments of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.[9]

At the age of 77 years, the seriously ill Möckel applied for his retirement, a few weeks later he died.