Architect Johann Daniel Felsko

Johann Daniel Felsko (1813-1902) was the first architect of the city of Riga. Felsko prepared a town plan (1856-1857) after the removal of the historic fortifications. It meant connecting Inner Riga with its vast suburbs, creating a circle of boulevards and a green canal with free-standing public buildings. Felsko designed churches, public and residential buildings in Riga and its rural properties (Piņķi, Sala, Salaspils, Ikšķile, Limbaži, Vilķene etc.). Sons: architect Karl Johans Felsko (Carl Johann Felsko, 1844-1919) and the painter Oskar Eduard Felsko (1848-1921).

Johann Daniel Felsko was born in Riga on October 30, 1813 (October 18, old style) into the family of the bricklayer Johann Jakob Felsko (1779-1853) and Therese Luise Heydemann (1773-1868). The father had come from East Prussia, but the mother had come from the Barbel Manor near Skaistkalne.

Johann Daniel Felsko studied masonry with Johann Daniel Gottfriedt (1768-1831), a construction worker in the city of Riga. 1832.-1835. Felsko visited Königsberg, Warsaw, Poznan, Berlin, Lübeck and Copenhagen as bricklayers. 1935 - 1840 he studied architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. In 1851, Felsko received an artist's degree in construction art from the Imperial Academy of Art in St. Petersburg. In 1842 Johann Daniel Felsko married Georgine Wilhelmine Grooss (1823-1901) at the Riga Dome and raised five sons and two daughters in their family. In 1843, Felsko became Jakob Graen (1779-1844), a Construction Master in Riga, assistant, but in 1844 he was appointed Riga City Construction Master, who since 1851 was also honored as City Architect.

Johann Daniel Felsko's first major project was the rebuilding of the Riga City Council (1848-1850) with the construction of the third floor of a centennial building.

Between 1856 and 1857, Felsko, together with Otto Dice, developed a new project of the Riga Plan, which resulted in the formation of a city center ensemble. According to the Felsko project were built St. John's Church tower in Riga and St. St. Anne's Church in Pinki. In Riga Felsko built and rebuilt St. St. Martin's Church, Old St. Gertrude Church, Anglican Church, St. Trinity Church, Small Guild Hall, and schools of downtown Riga. The buildings designed by Felsko are mainly built in the form of Neo-Gothic, Neo-Renaissance and Rundbogenstil.

Johann Daniel Felsko died in Riga on October 7, 1902 (September 24, old style) and was buried in the Great Cemetery, Riga.