Wilhelm Hirsch

German horticultural architect Wilhelm Hirsch was educated in his father’s horticulture company, then studied at Elmshorn, and came back to his hometown of Wiesbaden. From 1931-33 he was Chairman of the Association of German Architects but supported the dissolution and reorganization of this association to the “Reichsverband des deutschen Gartenbaus” (Third Reich Association of German Horticulture). During the Nazi regime he earned many orders as a supporter of the Reich. When working around of the “Führer”’s headquarters, he had contact with Hitler, but after World War II he was not prosecuted. Before and after the war, he was also involved in the greening of highway projects.

In 1932 he began planning the Opel bath in Wiesbaden together with Franz Schuster and Edmund Fabry. The pool was built in 1933-34 in the Bauhaus style on the southern slope of the Neroberg. The white structures and terraces bounded by “railings” are features of the nautical architecture. The bath has been extended several times and is now a listed building.