Alexander Baerwald

Alexander Baerwald (Berlin, 1877 - Haifa, 1930) was a German-Jewish architect, best known for his work in Haifa, then under Ottoman and later British rule. He studied in Berlin and Munich and from 1903 to 1927 worked for the Prussian construction administration, rising to the rank of Royal Ministerial Construction Councillor. There he managed the construction of the new Prussian Royal Library (1908-1913), a Neo-Baroque building designed by Ernst von Ihne and adapted by Baerwald.

Around 1912 he moved temporarily to Ottoman Palestine and designed the Technion campus in Haifa (1912-1924), along with the neighbouring school Beit Sefer haReali. He taught architecture at the Technion for much of his later life and in 1915 designed the moshav of Merchavya. By 1925 he had settled in Palestine permanently; his later works include the Anglo-Palestine Bank building in Haifa (1924) and the Central Hospital in Afula (1928). He died in Haifa in 1930, shortly after completing the Philips House, his last project. His legacy lies mainly in introducing German-style architecture to the country's institutions of higher education.