Schickhardt, Heinrich (1558–1635). German architect, one of the earliest of the Renaissance period, and therefore of importance in spite of the fact that very little of his work survives. In his capacity as Architect to the Dukes of Württemberg (from 1592), he travelled in Italy to gather ideas for his addition to the Schloss in Stuttgart (1600–11—destroyed 1778). It was symmetrical, and employed many Tuscan columns. Of even greater importance was his layout for the new town of Freudenstadt (Town of Gladness), originally founded for Protestant refugees from Salzburg in 1599, and rebuilt after a fire in 1632. It was laid out around a huge square, partly occupied by gardens and surrounded by houses on arcades, and was based on C16 plans for Ideal Cities, notably one by Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528). A similar design occurred in Christianopolis (1619) by the scholar and humanist Johann Valentin Andrea (1568–1654). Freudenstadt's Protestant church consisted of two naves at right angles to each other (one for males and one for females), on an L plan, with the pulpit and altar in the corner, and a tower at the end of each nave. The town was burned in April 1945 and subsequently rebuilt. Among his other works may be cited the Renaissance façade of the Town Hall, Esslingen (1586–9); extensions to the town of Mömpelgard (Montbéliard—then part of the Duchy of Württemburg (until 1793) ), including the Church of St Martin (1601–7); and the belfry of Cannstatt Church, Stuttgart (1612–13).

Bibliography

Hitchcock (1981);
Jane Turner (1996);
van Vynckt (ed.) (1993)