He was born to an illustrious family that produced notable people in several fields. His great-grandfather,
Friedrich Thiersch was a
philologist. His grandfather,
H. W. J. Thiersch, was a
theologian; brother of the surgeon
Karl Thiersch and the artist
Ludwig Thiersch. Paul's father, , and his uncle,
Friedrich, were also architects, and his older brother, , was an
archaeologist. Following his primary education, and a brief stint as a bricklayer, he attended the
Zurich University of Applied Sciences from 1897 to 1898, then studied art at the from 1900 to 1901. This was followed by three years at the
Technical University of Munich, where his instructors included
Martin Dülfer and
Theodor Fischer. After completing his studies, he found a position with the Munich Building Department. In 1906, he moved to
Düsseldorf, where he became Office Manager for the architect and painter,
Peter Behrens, but stayed there for only a short time, then went to Berlin; serving in the same position for
Bruno Paul and teaching at the
Kunstgewerschule. By 1909, he was able to open his own office. '' During this time, he married the artist, Fanny Hildebrandt (1880-1960). They had one daughter, Gemma (1907-1994), who became a goldsmith, and two sons: Stefan (1911-1984), who was also an architect, and , a well-known sculptor. Through his brother-in-law, the psychiatrist , he came into contact with an intellectual group that included the historian,
Friedrich Wolters and the lawyer, . They, in turn, introduced him to the "
George-Kreis", centered around the poet,
Stefan George, of which he became an enthusiastic member, as did his children. In 1927, Gemma would marry Wolters, who was three years older than her father. In 1915, upon the recommendation of Bruno Paul, he was chosen from seventy-six applicants to become director of the Handwerkerschule (Crafts School) in
Halle. He immediately began to reorganize the school according to the principles of the
Deutscher Werkbund, hiring several new instructors and beginning a new program for textiles. He was also influenced by the ideas of the Georeg-Kreis. In 1922, the school moved to
Burg Giebichenstein, its name was changed to the "State-Municipal School of Applied Arts" and it became a center for the
Bauhaus movement. Thiersch endeavored to help design the area around the Burg. In 1926, he and
Gerhard Marcks worked together on designing the new over the
Saale, which is now one of the city's landmarks. That same year, he created plans for the new
Leipzig/Halle Airport, but only the main hangar was built. He had more success with projects for stage design, of which he created almost forty for theatres in Halle,
Leipzig and
Göttingen. From 1921 to 1926, he was also Director of the . While there, he acquired paintings by
Emil Nolde,
Franz Marc and
Oskar Kokoschka. In hopes of working full-time as an architect, he accepted the chair of "spatial art" at the
University of Hanover, and was succeeded at the Burg by Marcks. However, only a few weeks after arriving there, he died suddenly, at the age of forty-nine. A street in Halle was later named after him. == Sources ==