Roland Weber (3 March 1909 – 14 October 1997) was a German
landscape architect.
Life
Weber was born in Düsseldorf as the son of the self-employed engineer Karl Weber and his wife Agnes. Until 1926, he attended a
Realgymnasium in Cologne, but left without graduating for financial reasons, instead completing a gardener's apprenticeship at the Jürgl wholesale nursery in
Sürth [
de] from 1927, where he was already making small planting drafts.
From 1931, he studied at the
Königliche Gärtnerlehranstalt am Wildpark bei Potsdam [
de] in
Berlin-Dahlem, among others with the influential perennial gardener
Karl Foerster. In 1933, he graduated as a garden technician. Weber then worked again at the Jürgl nursery, now as head of the planning department.
In 1936 he founded his own office in
Rodenkirchen. During the Second World War, Weber was drafted for military service, which he performed as a medic in Russia, among other places.
After the war, Weber moved with his office to Düsseldorf, where he created numerous public and private gardens.
Weber was intensively involved with the garden art of other cultures. In 1978, for example, he travelled to southern Spain to study
Moorish architecture and garden art such as the gardens of the
Generalife in the
Alhambra. He also travelled to countries on other continents, such as Morocco, Iran, Thailand and Japan.
Weber lived alone and in seclusion; he died in 1997 at the age of 88 from the late effects of a fire accident in his own house. His grave is in the Linnep cemetery in Ratingen-Breitscheid. The architect
Helmut Hentrich, who was a friend of his, created his gravestone. His office continues as WKM Landschaftsarchitekten Weber Klein Maas.[2]
Weber, Roland (1999). Roland Weber : die Kunst des Gartens ; Landschaftsgärten, Parks und Gartenhöfe (in German). Ostfildern-Ruit Germany: Hatje Cantz.
ISBN3-7757-0840-5.
OCLC50065080.