"Thilo Schoder and his colleagues – Buildings of Modernist Architecture

Thilo Schoder – Master-class student with Henry van de Velde

He went down in architectural history as the innovative architect and designer, as a master of form, structure and proportion, as the best-known Thuringian representative of new ways of building and construction - Thilo Schoder (1888-1979). And he is closely connected with the city of Gera, the birthplace of Otto Dix. More than any other artist, he influenced the image of the industrial city of Gera in the so-called Golden Twenties. In Gera, Henry van de Velde’s master- class student spent his most productive years in Germany. In Gera and its environment he left several marks between 1919 and his move to Norway in 1932.

53 buildings, projects, competition entries and exhibitions represent his Gera period. His industrial buildings and housing developments as well as residential buildings – most of them are heritage-protected now – still today serve as the dawn of Modernism in the period of the Weimar Republic. To be mentioned are the former silk-weaving mill Schulenburg & Bessler, the teachers’ houses and a former private clinic. Not to forget the industrial building Golde, Schoder’s very first building in Gera.

The architectural landscape of Gera has rapidly changed after 1990. The buildings designed by Thilo Schoder and his colleagues, however, are notable features in it.