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The greatest church architect
you’ve never heard of

Ludwig Becker and His Churches

For such a prolific church architect of such high quality, not much is known about Ludwig Becker and, alas, he seems to be little studied. Born the son of the master craftsman and inspector of Cologne Cathedral, Becker had church building in his blood. He studied at the Technische Hochschule in Aachen from 1873 and trained as a stone mason as well.

In 1884 Becker moved to Mainz where he became a church architect and in 1909 he was appointed the head of works at Mainz Cathedral, a position he held until his death in 1940. His son Hugo followed him into the profession of church architecture.

That’s about all I can find out about Becker. But here are a selection of some of his churches, to get a sense of his agility in a wide variety of styles.

St Joseph, Speyer, is my favourite of Becker’s churches for the beautiful organic fluidity of its style. Here Art Nouveau, Gothic, and Baroque are mixed somehow without affectation. Rather enjoyably, it was built as a riposte to a nearby monumental Protestant church commemorating the Protestant Revolt. These two rival churches are the largest in the city after its famous cathedral.

St Jakobuskirche, Ockstadt (Protestant)

St Elisabeth, Bonn

St Theresia, Rhens

St Bonifatius, Bad Nauheim

St Elisabeth, Darmstadt

St Fridolin, Mulhouse/Mülhausen

St Peter, Heppenheim and below

St Hubertus, Nonnweiler and its high altar below

St Michael, Unter-Hambach

St Rochus, Hohenecken

St Mauritius, Straßburg / St Maurice, Strasbourg and its high altar below

St Matthäus, Bad Sobernheim

Sacred Heart of Jeuss, Emsdetten

St Marien, Schmelz

Published at 4:45 pm on Thursday 2 April 2020. Categories: Architecture Church Germany Tags: , , .
Comments

A splendid find. His work is vigorous and finely detailed. How lucky he was, too, to live at a time when craftsmanship was at its peak, and his ideas were capable of being perfectly rrealised by those who worked in stone, wood, and metal.
I agree that his Speyer church is his best; St Fridolin in Mulhouse is almost a copy.
I know St Elisabeth in Bonn; different from the others, with that blocky look (but again, finished to perfection) typical of German architecture in general of the period. In complete contrast we have the light and lacy elegance of St Matthäus in Bad Sobernheim.
Herz Jesu in Emsdetten would be near the top of the list had a later architecht not ruined the external effect with his messy poygonal porch. Schade.

— Hetterscheidt 11 Apr 2020 11:00 am

Believe it or not, but we have a Ludwig Becker church in Chicago.
Lots of German Catholics settled in Chicago, and they had Ludwig Becker design a church – St Martin of Tours, now known as the Embassy Church. design seems similar to Becker’s church in Strasbourg

— Alex Severino 12 Oct 2021 4:20 am
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