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Hentrich, Helmut
(b Krefeld, 17 June 1905). German architect. He studied architecture from 1924 to 1928 at the universities in Freiburg and Vienna (Dr. Ing. 1929) and also at the Technische Hochschule, Charlottenburg, Berlin, under Hans Poelzig. He then became director of restoration work in the local government offices in Düsseldorf. Between 1930 and 1932 he worked with Ernö Goldfinger in Paris and Norman Bel Geddes in New York. He became a government architect in 1933 and then an independent architect, founding an office with Hans Heuser in 1935. In 1936 he was appointed a member of the Deutsche Akademie für Städtebau und Landesplanung in Düsseldorf. His work concentrated on office and administration buildings; early examples include the Bankhaus Trinkaus (1949–50) and Drahthaus (1951–2), Düsseldorf, and the BASF-Hochhaus (1953), Ludwigshafen. After the death of Heuser in 1953, Hentrich entered into partnership with HUBERT PETSCHNIGG. Their work included the well-known Thyssen-Hochhaus (1957–60; now the Phoenix-Rheinrohr building), Düsseldorf, Unilever-Haus (1961–4) and Finnlandhaus (1961–6), both in Hamburg. Orientated towards functional requirements, these buildings were strongly influenced by Mies van der Rohe and American high-rise curtain-wall architecture. The clear, simple appearance of Hentrich’s buildings characterizes him as a member of the second generation of modern architects. In 1960 he became a professor and in 1969 his firm expanded to become Hentrich-Petschnigg & Partner (HPP). Later works included the Europa Centre (1963–5), Berlin, a 22-storey retail and leisure complex; the Standard Bank Centre (1965–70), Johannesburg; main administration offices for Rank Xerox (1966–71), Düsseldorf; a diamond sorting building (1970–74) for De Beers in Kimberley; and the conversion (1975–7) of the partially destroyed Tonhalle by Wilhelm Kreis into the Rheinhalle, Düsseldorf. In 1976 Hentrich was awarded the Bundes-Verdienstkreuz.
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