Max Littmann (3 January 1862 - 20 September 1931) was a German architect.
Littmann was educated in the Gewerbeakademie Chemnitz and the Technische Hochschule Dresden. In 1885, he moved to Munich where he met Friedrich Thiersch and Gabriel von Seidl and where - after two study trips to Italy and Paris - he established himself as a free architect.
In 1891, he joined the contracting business of his father-in-law Jakob Heilmann, thus transforming it into the Heilmann & Littmann general partnership (later becoming a limited partnership), taking charge of the planning department. Littmann excelled in the erection of magnificent buildings, e. g. theaters, department stores and spas and was the perfect supplement to Heilmann, who had specialized in living house construction.[citation needed]
February 1905 two department stores opened their door in Munich, both designed by Littmann, who at the time had already achieved the status of a prominent architect in Munich. The Kaufhaus Oberpollinger and the Warenhaus Hermann Tietz were both prominently positioned in central Munich near the München Hauptbahnhof (Munich Central Train Station). Littmann designed both department stores so that the exteriors were historicist, while the interiors provided consumers with a modern shopping environment. Littmann arranged both department stores around an atrium with a glass and iron cupola. Littmann also insisted on state of the art building techniques, such as reinforcing steel, and reinforced concrete.[1] Littmann hired renown Munich artists to help with the design of the two department stores, including Heinrich Düll, Georg Pezold, and Julius Seidl.[2]
Even during his lifetime, Littmann was listed in the Encyclopaedia Judaica. His pedigree doesn't give any clue on the often referred Jewish descent, rather he is descended from a Protestant family in Oschatz (Saxony), which can be traced back for centuries.
