(b Lippstadt, 17 Oct 1871; d Lorettohöhe, 16–17 March 1915). German writer and architect. He studied architecture at the Technische Hochschulen of Stuttgart, Hannover and Charlottenburg, Berlin. At the latter he was a pupil of Carl Schäfer. Schäfer was a professor of medieval architecture, and his ideas about architecture, based on craft and traditional skills, were disseminated through his pupils. Although a practising architect, Ostendorf’s main work was theoretical, and he followed Schäfer in becoming a scholar of medieval architecture. He became a professor of architecture at the Technische Hochschule in Danzig when he was very young. From 1907 he taught at the Technische Hochschule in Karlsruhe. His main work was a series of books entitled Sechs Bücher vom Bauen, but only the first three volumes were published (Berlin, 1914–20). Other writings include Geschichte des Dachwerkes and the treatise Die deutsche Baukunst des Mittelalters, which was published posthumously. The buildings he designed, such as the Physikalisches Institut for the University of Heidelberg, the Landeshauptkasse in Karlsruhe (Schlossplatz) or Haus Krehl in Heidelberg, reflect his eclectic tendencies. His writings were well received at the time and were referred to with considerable respect for their academic and analytical standard. Stylistically Ostendorf’s work is grouped with that of such architects as Paul Schultze-Naumburg and Paul Schmitthenner who saw architecture as the expression of organic and natural rules.

• Ostendorf, Friedrich
  • Timber structure, §II, 1: Roof types
  • pupils
    • Hilberseimer, Ludwig
    • Przybylski, Czeslaw
  • works
    • Karlsruhe, §1: History and urban development
    • Timber structure, §II, 2(ii): Roofs: Europe