Finsterwalder, Eberhard

Architect, government architect

Born: 07.04.1893 in Munich

died: 03.04.1972 in Wiesbaden

Finsterwalder initially studied architecture in Munich, where Friedrich von Thiersch and Theodor Fischer were among his teachers. From 1914 to 1919, he served as an officer in World War I. He completed his architecture studies after the war ended and, through the mid-1920s, designed various postal buildings for the Reich Ministry of Posts in Munich and the Postal Construction Authority in Regensburg. In 1927, he moved to Wiesbaden, where his brother, the civil engineer Ulrich Finsterwalder, lived, and joined the city’s building administration. In 1937, he took over as head of the Building and Mechanical Engineering Office. In 1946, the city appointed him City Planning Director, a position he held until his retirement in 1954.

His tenure included the redevelopment of Wiesbaden’s train station district with the Reisinger Gardens, the construction of the Opelbad on the Neroberg, the erection of the Goethe-Warte on the Geisberg, the planning of the Freudenberg housing development, and the redesign of the fountain colonnade. After World War II, his name was primarily associated with the reconstruction of Wiesbaden. This included the rebuilding of the new city hall, which had been destroyed during the war, as well as the renovation of the Kavalierhaus and the construction of the Federal Criminal Police Office and the Federal Statistical Office. Promoting housing construction was a particular priority for Finterwalder. His grave is located in the cemetery in Wiesbaden-Sonnenberg.