Gartenstadt Rüppurr: from the Unwinesque aesthetic to German Plattenbau

The buildings along the Heckenstraße (Hedge Street) are typical for early garden villages that follow the Unwinesque aesthetic. The oldest buildings (at the front) are mostly semidetached and terraces of three, whilst the houses that were built after 1912 are mostly terraced as can be seen further down the street.

Two examples of vernacular inspired architecture in the first building phase along the Holderweg (Elder Road) that at the time was called Auerweg (Meadow Road). Both buildings have variable roof shapes with protruding gables and windows with shutters. The walls are rendered with a fine roughcast or with weatherboarding.  

The Blütenweg (Flower Road) is a classic Unwinesque close with buildings along a central public garden. Most buildings are semidetached except for the row of terraced housing along the northside of the close.

The buildings from the first and second phase  sit well next to the ensemble around the Ostendorfplatz. The two buildings (as seen on the right) directly behind the shops on the garden square show that although slightly different in details have been designed along the same lines as the semicircular blocks of shops. This second and third phase were designed by Friedrich Ostendorf after whom the central square was named in 1915.

The semicircular Ostendorfplatz was designed as the new centre linking garden village and the old village of Rüppurr. The buildings still house shops and are located near the S-Bahn Station Gartenstadt. n ornamental fountain sits at the centre of this garden square.

 

The curved street Im Grün (In the Green), built in phases 1 and 2, is typical of the classical Unwinesque design principles with mainly large semidetached properties and some terraces that are set back from the road to create a more interesting streetscape. 

The streets laid out as part of Ostendorf's phase 2 are all similar with alternation terraces and semidetached houses. The Rosenweg (Rose Road) is an excellent example. Along this street the houses are finished in white roughcast with bottle green wooden shutters and hipped roofs that reference the vernacular architecture of the Back Forest. The buildings along the Asternweg (Aster Road) and Resedenweg (Weld Road) are coloured ochre instead of white.

In the details of Ostendorf's buildings it is clear that he has tried to integrate multiple ideas within buildings that have a cottage-like and romantic feel. The floor plans of most of the properties are similar, but there has been great effort made to differentiate the buildings in appearance.

Two L-shaped along Krokusweg (Crocus Road) form a formal termination of the garden village along the central Holderweg. These buildings are part of the 1930s buildings built in the so-called Stuttgarter Schule (a traditionalist school of architecture favoured after 1933).The buildings blend well into the earlier and even later building phases.

The blocks of flats that were built after WW2 to replace damaged buildings (right) are very sympathetically designed and fit in well with the older remaining blocks of flats (left). The older apartment buildings have hipped roofs, are 1 storey lower and have more elaborately detailed wall openings.

 

Along the Irisweg (Flag Iris Road) the shift away from Unwinesque treatment of the streets and placement of the housing blocks can be clearly seen. On the southside of the road are long terraces of family houses with a front and back garden. On the northside of the street are parallel blocks of flats (Zeilenbau in German). That way of building has been a staple of social housing in Germany since the 1920s as a part of the modernist movement.