Background
He was born in Tübingen, Germany on 28 May 1884 and died in Stuttgart, 5 August 1957.
He was born in Tübingen, Germany on 28 May 1884 and died in Stuttgart, 5 August 1957.
From 1901 to 1906, Elsaesser studied architecture at the Technical University of Munich under Friedrich von Thiersch and the Technical University of Stuttgart under Theodor Fischer.
He is especially well known for the many churches he built. From 1911 to 1913 he served as an assistant to Professor Paul Bonatz, at Stuttgart Technical University. In 1913, he became prrofessor for medieval architecture at the same institution (until 1920).
From 1920 to 1925 he was managing director of the School of Arts and Crafts at Cologne (later known as the Kölner Werkschulen).
In 1925, Ernst May, then government building surveyor in Frankfurt am Main, made him chief of the city"s municipal building department whis was responsible for the New Frankfurt project Elsaesser kept that post until 1932.
His largest construction during his time at Frankfurt was the Grossmarkthalle. Nonetheless, he did not opt for emigration.
Instead he spent the war years in internal exile, pursuing architectural study tours and utopian designs.
After the war, he was professor of design at Munich Technical University from 1947 to 1956. Many of his churches contain paintings by the artist Käte Schaller-Härlin. 1909: Königliche Fachschule für Edelmetallindustrie Schwäbisch Gmünd, today Hochschule für Gestaltung
1909-1910: Secondary School, Tübingen
1910: Railway bridge, Tübingen
1911-1914: Covered market, Stuttgart
1913-1914: Wagenburg-Gymnasium (secondary school), Stuttgart-Gänsheide
1922-1924: extension to Kölner Werkschulen
1922-1924: Office block for Rheinisches Braunkohlensyndikat, Mannheim
1924-1925: Private home, Doctor South., Cologne
1925-1926: Lutheran Südkirche, Esslingen
1925-1926: own home, Frankfurt am Main
1926-1928: Grossmarkthalle, Frankfurt am Main
1928-1929: Primary school in Römerstadt, Frankfurt am Main
1930-1932: Villa Reemtsma, Hamburg-Altona
1937-1938: Sumerbank Headquarters, Ankara, Turkey
1950-1951: Residential high-rise, Munich
1953-1954: Rebuilding of Gustav-Siegle-Haus (Stuttgart Philharmonic).
During the reign of National Socialism, Elsaesser did not receive any commissions.