Paul Mebes was born on 23 January 1872 in Magdeburg. He completed practical training as a carpenter and then studied at the Braunschweig University of Technology and the Berlin Institute of Technology in Charlottenburg. After graduating he worked as a government architect (assessor) in the public works department.
By 1906 (according to some sources as early as 1902) Mebes was working for the Berlin Civil Servants Dwelling Association. From 1909 to 1919, he served as a part-time member of its technical board. From 1911, he and Paul Emmerich ran the architectural firm of "Mebes and Emmerich", which was devoted mainly to the Dwelling Association's buildings. The firm also created designs for other buildings, including schools and administrative buildings. On 19 November 1920 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Braunschweig University of Technology. In 1931 Mebes became a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts. He resigned this membership on 15 May 1933.
Mebes died on 9 April 1938 in Berlin. His memorial grave is located in the Städtischer Friedhof Berlin-Zehlendorf.. The "Paul Mebes Park" on Potsdamer Strasse at the corner of Fischer-Dieskau-way in Zehlendorf, Berlin was named in his honor.
Style
Mebes' designs were innovative and won him recognition in Europe. He was one of the pioneers of housing estates before the First World War. His apartment building designs for the Berlin Civil Servants Dwelling Association and the Kroch village in Leipzig were particularly notable.
The activity of Mebes can be divided into three periods: the early phase (1909–1918), an expressive phase (1918–1924) and the substantive phase that continued until his death (1925–1938). The early phase was characterized by work within the traditional architecture of Berlin's early days, with elaborate stucco facades and indiscriminate eclecticism. Here, Mebes worked entirely within existing styles: particularly often using classical details, but various forms of North German or Baroque Dutch details, and even early Gothic forms, occur.
In the expressive phase, residential buildings were created with expressive, but sparingly used elements, such as contrasting colors of alternating brick and plaster, jagged protruding stairways and pointed windows. From the second half of the 1920s he created buildings in a classical modernism style. Mebes was less concerned about the details than before, but still designed aesthetically coherent works. He continued to emphasize color effects. He made carefully considered floor plans, with bright and well ventilated apartments.
Buildings
1906–1907: housing development at Planufer in Berlin-Kreuzberg
1906–1907: Residential Development in Berlin-Schöneberg, just north of the Rudolph Wilde Square (now John F. Kennedy Platz )
1907–1908: Condominium Steglitz II Fritschweg / Grillparzerstraße / Rückertstraße, officials Dwellings Association, Berlin
1907–1910: Condominium Charlottenburg IIa and b, Horstweg / Danckelmannstraße / Wundtstraße / Vereinsweg, officials Dwellings Association, Berlin
1908–1909: Residential Development in Berlin Niederschönhausen, Grabbeallee / Paul Franke Road, officials Dwellings Association, Berlin
1909–1910: houses for the housing association officials in Berlin-Zehlendorf, Clayallee 289–303
1909-1914/1921-1923: development "Reichshof" (now the "family farm") for the apartment association officials to Bochum in Bochum Grumme: 210 residential units in four stages along the streets Herder avenue Wielandstraße, family farm and at the family farm
1910–1912: Garden City Zehlendorf in Berlin-Zehlendorf, 1st Phase: elf house groups along the Camphausen, Dallwitz, Berlepsch and Thürstraße, and in Stieg Rother
1912: Villa Fahrenholtz, Jean-Burger-Straße 2 in Magdeburg district Leipziger Straße
1913–1929: so-called " brass housing settlement "with water tower in Finow
1914: Schadow Gymnasium in Berlin-Zehlendorf
1918–1922: Condominium "Rechener Busch" in Bochum Wiemelhausen, Else-deer-road 13–21, 18–20, 32–40, Ottilie Schoenewald-road 16–24, 21–27, Dr. David Moritz -Straße 1–3
1919–1921: Garden City Zehlendorf 2nd, Phase: eleven groups along the house-door, and Dallwitz Radtkestraße
1921–1923: Garden City Zehlendorf 3rd, Phase: 108 apartments between Schrock, Berlepsch and Camp Street house
1921–1927: Housing in Bochum Wiemelhausen, Grolmannstraße 4–14, 11–17, Kampmann street 4–22, 17–23, 1–13 Mulderpaßstraße, Brinkmann Straße 5–9, Friedrich-Strasse 21 Harkort
1923: Semi-detached house in Bochum Wiemelhausen, Ostermann Straße 5–7
1923–1925: development "On Heidehof" in Berlin-Schlachtensee
1924–1926: Residential Building "Werra block" in Berlin-Neukölln
1925–1930: Residential Development in Berlin-Pankow
1926: houses in Bochum-Hamme, Overdycker 8–10
1926–1927: Housing Development Lincoln, Zachert, Bietzke, Eggersdorfer and Einbecker street in Berlin-Friedrichsfelde
1926–1927: houses in Bochum Wiemelhausen, Königsallee 160–164, 36 units
1926–1929: Housing in Bochum Grumme, Heckertstraße 108–110, Starenweg 7–9