(b Aachen, 8 Nov 1885; d Düsseldorf, 24 May 1966). German architect and teacher. He studied architecture at the Technische Hochschulen in Aachen and Düsseldorf and then taught at the Kunstgewerbeschule and Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf, where he directed the master studio for house building and interior design. He first became well known as the architect of the industrial buildings (1921–3) for Rheinstahl A.G. in the Ruhr area. Other work of the 1920s included the Stadthalle (1925), Mülheim an der Ruhr; a block of flats (1926–7) in Emser and Pariser Strasse, Berlin; the multi-storey Shell-Haus (1930–31; now the BEWAG administration centre), Berlin; and an administration building (1931–2) for the Deutsche Versicherungskonzern, Berlin, and its extension (1935). His projects of the 1920s reveal expressionistic, decorative elements in their clear and simple forms; decoration was a significant part of his work in this period. After 1933 he subordinated his earlier style to the monumental and large-scale architectural approach of the Nazis, which neglected decorative detail. He produced designs for an extension to the Reichsbank (1933–4), for a main building for the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (1935; executed 1936-8), Fehrbelliner Platz, and for the German Tourist Board (1937; building inc.), Unter den Linden, all in Berlin, and he built the German pavilion at the International Water Exhibition (1939) in Liège, Belgium. Fahrenkamp was also involved in various projects for Albert Speer’s monumental plans to redesign Berlin, including a housing block (1939–40; unexecuted) with a traditional, representative façade on the projected North–South Axis. In 1939 Fahrenkamp was appointed Director of the Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf, and after World War II he contributed to the rebuilding programme in Berlin.

• Fahrenkamp, Emil
  • Nazism, §2: Art and architecture
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