Paul Friedrich Schulenburg
Textile manufacturer, art collector and orchid grower
Paul Schulenburg was born in Saint Louis/USA on 1 November 1871, moved to Germany with his parents in 1879, became an authorised signatory in the East Thuringian textile industry in 1895 and founded a wool and silk weaving mill in Gera together with Alexander Bessler in 1897.
In 1906, Paul Schulenburg purchased a van de Velde dining room at the 3rd Dresden Arts and Crafts Exhibition and had Haus Schulenburg built in 1913-14 according to Henry van de Velde’s plans.
In the mid-1930s, Paul Schulenburg handed over both the property of Haus Schulenburg and his company to his two eldest sons Wolfgang and Richard.
Paul Schulenburg died in Gera on 6 June 1937, and the last public funeral procession through Gera took place on the occasion of his burial.
The black and white photo shows the Schulenburg family around 1922. The mother Elisabeth Schulenburg, the father Paul Schulenburg, the children from left to right: Gunhilde, Richard, Adelheid and Joachim, with a children’s sister in between. The older son Wolfgang is missing from the photo.
