Herman Backer
| Herman Backer | |
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Herman Backer
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| Born |
30 October 1856 Christiania, Norway |
| Died | 21 May 1932 (aged 75) Christiania, Norway |
| Nationality | Norwegian |
| Alma mater | Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Known for | St John's Church, Bergen |
| Children | Lars Backer, Julie Backer |
Herman Major Backer (October 30, 1856 – May 21, 1932) was a Norwegian architect. He is best known for having designed many luxury houses, grand public buildings, and business buildings, as well as hotels and churches. Backer was very productive and was one of the leading architects in Norway in the decades around 1900. His son Lars Backer was later one of Norway's leading functionalist architects.
Backer was educated at Wilhelm von Hanno's drawing school, at the Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry in Christiania, and in Dresden. When he returned to Norway from abroad, he first worked for three years as a stipendiary building inspector in Christiania before he established his own practice in the town in 1882.
One of the first large commissions that Backer accepted was to design a mansion for the lumber merchant and government minister Hans Rasmus Astrup. The Minister Astrup Mansion (Norwegian: Statsråd Astrups villa) stands at Drammensveien no. 78 in Oslo and was built in 1887 as a private home for Astrup and his family. In 1911 the building was taken over by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, which still owns the building today.
Around the same time he designed the Fridheim Mansion (Norwegian: Villa Fridheim) on the shore of Krøderen for the lumber merchant Svend Haug from Drammen. The building was intended to serve as a country home for the lumber merchant and his family. Later it was used as a hotel, and since 1986 the Fridheim Mansion Adventure Museum has been located there.
Backer designed another mansion at the Skaugum estate. It was commissioned by Fritz Wedel Jarlsberg and was built in 1891 in a style similar to that of the Fridheim Mansion. The Skaugum estate was presented to Crown Prince Olav and Crown Princess Märtha, who moved into it in 1929. The mansion was destroyed by fire on May 20, 1930.
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