Peter Speeth was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 architect.

Speeth was born in Mannheim

Mannheim

Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....

 and worked in Frankfurt

Frankfurt

Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...

 from 1788–1794 under Nicolas de Pigage

Nicolas de Pigage

Nicolas de Pigage was a French builder.Pigage was born in Lunéville. His father was a stonemason. In 1743 he began his studies at the École Militaire changing to the Académie Royale d'Architecture after only one year studying under Jacques-François Blondel...

 (1723-1796), in Heidelberg

Heidelberg

-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...

 from 1797, and from 1804 at Amorbach

Amorbach

Amorbach is a town in the Miltenberg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany, with some 4,100 inhabitants .- Location :...

 for the Prince of Leiningen. In 1807 he moved to Würzburg

Würzburg

Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....

 in the service of Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany

Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany

Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1790 to 1801 and, after a period of disenfranchisement, again from 1814 to 1824. He was also the Prince-elector and Grand Duke of Salzburg and Grand Duke of Würzburg .-Biography:Ferdinand was born in Florence, Tuscany, into the...

, where he designed the Women's Pententiary (1809–1810), an early and striking Neo-Renaissance

Neo-Renaissance

Renaissance Revival is an all-encompassing designation that covers many 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Grecian nor Gothic but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of classicizing Italian modes...

 design, as well as the Zeller Torhaus guard house (1814) which resembles Claude-Nicolas Ledoux's barrières for Paris, and the Gerichtsdienerhaus (House of the Court Usher, 1811–13). His employment for the Grand Duke ended in 1815, and in 1826 he moved to Russia. He died in Odessa

Odessa

Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...

in 1831.

Selected works

• Frauenzuchthaus (Former Women's Penitentiary) - Burkaderstraße 44, Würzburg, 1809–1810 http://eng.archinform.net/arch/1080.htm
• Gerichtsdienerhaus (House of the Court Usher) - 9 Turmgasse, Würzburg (1811–13, much altered) http://eng.archinform.net/projekte/4731.htm
• Direktorwohnhaus der Musikschule - Paradeplatz 1, Würzburg, 1812-1815
• Zeller Torhaus (guard house) -, 45 Zeller Strasse, 1814 http://eng.archinform.net/projekte/9232.htm
• Wohnhaus des Landrichters Wirth - Sanderstraße 31, Würzburg, 1821
• Church of St. John the Baptist - Unterhohenried, near Hassfurt, 1812–1817
• Metropolitan Church - Kishinev, Russia (begun 1826)