Friedrich Ludwig Persius

Friedrich Ludwig Persius (15 February 1803 in Potsdam – 12 July 1845 in Potsdam) was a Prussian architect and a student of Karl Friedrich Schinkel.

Persius assisted Schinkel with, among others, the building of the Charlottenhof Castle and the Roman Baths in Sanssouci Park in Potsdam. He was also involved with the construction of the Great Fountain, the Church of Peace, and the Orangery and observation tower on the Ruinenberg opposite Sanssouci Palace.

Persius was born in Potsdam, where he went to public school and grammar school. From 1817 to 1819 he worked with the building inspector Gotthil Hecker; he enrolled as a carpenter. From 1819 he studied to become a surveyor at the Academy of Architecture in Berlin, and took his exam in March 1821. From 1821 he worked as a building planner in Potsdam, working under, among others, Karl Friedrich Schinkel during the building of the castle and church on the grounds of Graf Potocki at Kraków. In 1824 Persius became a member of the Association of Architects. In Glienicke he worked as a successful architect under Schinkel. In 1826 he passed his exam to become a master builder at the Academy of Architecture in Berlin, and became a building planner in Charlottenhof.

In 1827 he married Pauline Sello (1808–1883), with whom he had six children: Elisabeth (1829–80), Ludwig (1832–1902), Marie (1834–47), Reinhold (1835–1912), Conrad (1836–1903) and Felix (1842–1885).

In 1829 Persius became a building inspector with the Royal Government in Potsdam. In 1833 he completed his first independent work, renovating the artificial mills (near the Roman Baths) into a residential house for Handmann, the gardener. In 1834 he became the Royal Court Building Inspector.

In 1840 he made a journey on the Rhine, that brought him to, among others, Heidelberg and Bacharach, as well as the Stolzenfels Castle and Ehrenbreitstein Fortress. In 1841 he travelled to Paris, and went on to visit Munich, Strasbourg, Andernach, Remagen-Rolandseck, Bad Godesberg and Cologne. In 1842 he went on a further journey: to Lehnin, Chorin, Halle and thence to Erfurt.

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