Friedrich Ludwig Persius

Persius was born in Potsdam, where he went to public school and grammar school. From 1817 to 1819 he worked with the building inspector Gotthil Hecker; he enrolled as a carpenter. From 1819 he studied to become a surveyor at the Academy of Architecture in Berlin, and took his exam in March 1821. From 1821 he worked as a building planner in Potsdam, working under, among others, Karl Friedrich Schinkel during the building of the castle and church on the grounds of Graf Potocki at Kraków. In 1824 Persius became a member of the Association of Architects. In Glienicke he worked as a successful architect under Schinkel. In 1826 he passed his exam to become a master builder at the Academy of Architecture in Berlin, and became a building planner in Charlottenhof.

In 1827 he married Pauline Sello (1808–1883), with whom he had six children: Elisabeth (1829–80), Ludwig (1832–1902), Marie (1834–47), Reinhold (1835–1912), Conrad (1836–1903) and Felix (1842–1885).

In 1829 Persius became a building inspector with the Royal Government in Potsdam. In 1833 he completed his first independent work, renovating the artificial mills (near the Roman Baths) into a residential house for Handmann, the gardener. In 1834 he became the Royal Court Building Inspector.

In 1840 he made a journey on the Rhine, that brought him to, among others, Heidelberg and Bacharach, as well as the Stolzenfels Castle and Ehrenbreitstein Fortress. In 1841 he travelled to Paris, and went on to visit Munich, Strasbourg, Andernach, Remagen-Rolandseck, Bad Godesberg and Cologne. In 1842 he went on a further journey: to Lehnin, Chorin, Halle and thence to Erfurt.

In 1841 Frederick William IV named Persius as his court architect. In 1842 he became a Royal Architectural Advisor and member of the Chief Architectural Authority. In 1843/44 Persius worked for Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau among others.

In 1843 he made a further journey on the Rhine, which included Bingen, Bad Godesberg and Trier. In 1844 he travelled to Bad Muskau and the Netherlands. In 1845 he undertook a journey to Italy via Nîmes, Marseille and Genoa to Rome, Naples, Vicenza, Padua, Venice and Verona.

In 1845 Persius was appointed as Head Architectural Advisor with retrospective effect from 12 October 1842. On 12 July 1845 he died and was laid to rest in the Bornstedt Cemetery in Sello-Teil (near the Krongut Bornstedt).

• Architekturführer Ludwig Persius - Architekt des Königs, Baukunst unter Friedrich Wilhelm IV., Hrsg.: Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg, Potsdam 2003

• Friedrich Ludwig Persius in the German National Library catalogue