Großsiedlung Törten: a modernist suburban satellite

Near the tiny village of Törten a few miles south of Dessau a suburban satellite was planned in the 1920s. After the move of the Bauhaus School of Architecture and Applied Design from Weimar to Dessau in 1925, Walter Gropius decided to build model housing on modernist principles. The Groβsiedlung Törten was set up as an exhibition of prefabricated family housing.  

The Stahlhaus was designed by the architect Richard Paulick with Georg Muche, painter, graphic designer and an important teacher at Bauhaus. This construction in steel and precast concrete panels was finished in 1927 and is an elaboration on the ideas advocated by Gropius. The building is named after the innovative steel frame and translates as “steel house”. This 90 square meter detached house is located directly north of the Bauhaussiedlung.

The buildings of the Bauhaussiedlung were also built by joining precast reinforced concrete panels. The central join between panels is a narrow fluted concrete standard that is clearly visible in these row houses. The openings for the windows and doors were integrated into the panels.

The cubist white houses with darker trim accents line streets that are typical of 1920s suburban housing estates. The streets are lines by trees and grass verges that replace the front gardens that characterise standard garden city estates. Here the straight street called Doppelreihe (double row).

The houses in this estate are built in only three types that are all composed of similar standardised concrete building panels. By varying the building line, resulting in a castellated row, visual interest is created along the streets.

The streets of the Doppelreihe and Enkelreihe are straight with a setback section at the entrance conform Unwinesque principles. The other streets all curve, thus following the artistic principles advocated by the followers of Camillo Sitte. The houses in these streets have front gardens.

Some of the buildings show the original intentions. Many other buildings -yes even those listed as monuments of architecture- show unsympathetic alterations and improvements by the owners. The buildings were conceived as cubist compositions with the horizontal and vertical lines emphasised by coloured accents that were inspired by the Dutch Style Movement made famous by Piet Mondriaan.

These houses along the north side of the thoroughfare, that was built as part of the housing estate, show the construction manner with prefabricated elements with panels that were slid between. The elements that were placed first are higher and give the facade a lovely rhythm.

These brick faced blocks of flats were built in 1930 around a concrete frame with concrete floor slabs. These slabs show on the outside as horizontal bands that recall the banded renaissance architecture with banding in natural stone. At the front these floor slabs extend as external walkways or galleries.

The Laubenganghäuser don’t look very special, but these low blocks of flats are a prototype of the gallery flat buildings that were an important type of mass housing of post-WW2 international modernism. The flats are arranged in sequence on each floor. Access is provided by an outdoor walkway instead of an internal corridor.

The southern section of the housing satellite was built in the 1930s in a traditionalist style that was favoured by the regime of the day. This style is also known as the Stuttgarter Schule (Stuttgart School) and can be seen as the opposite of the modernist idiom of the Bauhaus.

The Meisterhäuser were built as model villas on the edge of Dessau to showcase Bauhaus principles. These cubist compositions are still viewed as the summit of modern architecture. The large windows connect outside and inside. The villas were built by the city of Dessau to be rented to the main teachers of Bauhaus, here the Haus Kandinsky/Klee.

All remaining examples of Bauhaus architecture in Dessau are part of the Unesco World Heritage site and are linked by a cycling tour: the Bauhaustour. This tour takes you through the whole of Dessau. One of the stops on the tour is the iconic Bauhaus building that is still used as a school and a centre for design.

A far outlier on the Bauhaustour is the Kornhaus Pavilion on the Elbe. This recreational pavilion on the dyke along the river was commissioned by the city and the Schultheiss-Patzenhofer Brauerei AG (a brewery). Carl Fieger a long-time assistant of Gropius was responsible for the design. It is still in use as a café.

Großsiedlung Törten: a Bauhaus model estate in Dessau

After 1900 the city of Dessau in Saxony-Anhalt quickly grew into an important industrial centre on the Elbe. Expanding heavy industry lead to a sharp increase in demand for housing for both workers and personnel, especially from 1920 onwards. The first housing was provided by private developers and community groups (the Siedlerbewegung). The local authorities provided land especially for Siedlergesellschaften (Building Cooperatives), but also had small numbers of housing built. Improving infrastructure was part of the decision making process for allotting certain plots for development as new housing estates were used to realise important road infrastructure. After 1920 several estates with amenities were developed: Gartenstadt Askania (a true garden village), Siedlung Hohe Lache, Knarrberg-Siedlung, Reichsbahn-Siedlung, Neue Siedlung, two AGFA-Siedlungen and the Bauhaussiedlung.

After the Bauhaus school for Architecture and applied Arts had moved to Dessau from Weimar in 1925 the main teachers strived to realise buildings to better propagate their teachings. The Meisterhäuser (master houses) were built in 1926 on the edge of the city. These four villas -one detached, three semidetached- in a modernist idiom were designed with precast industrial concrete modules and sections by Walter Gropius with László Moholy-Nagy. The furniture and fittings were all designed by Marcel Breuer.

Near the village of Törten the new urban area of Dessau-Süd (Dessau South) was planned in the early 1920s. Between 1926 and ’28 the Bauhaussiedlung was built as a section of Dessau-Süd. The estate was never finished; the Laubenganghäuser (gallery flat buildings), finished in 1930 were the only part of the second building phase to be realised. The estate was conceived as a model estate of industrial construction at low cost with high comfort.

The houses and the layout were designed with changing seasons, influx of natural light, modern living for all ages and effective use of material and space. They have the typical cubist aesthetic with flat roofs. The back gardens are large in order to facilitate gardening and vegetable growing. The houses that were built come in a limited number of types. Most are low row houses that are arranged along 3 curved roads (Grossring, Mittelring and Kleinring). The middle-rise flat buildings were erected along the new thoroughfare to the village of Törten and further south on parallel streets. At the heart of the estate Gropius designed a Konsumgebäude -a cooperative supermarket and community hall in one. The estate also had several schools planned with the housing. Later a few shops sprang up in the 1930s section that was built in the traditionalist Stuttgarter Schule Style.

The Siedlung Törten has no iconic layout and is characterised by a considered piecemeal layout in several sections making the most of the sites available. The Bauhaus buildings that are listed monuments are shown in the lighter tone. At the centre, below the thoroughfare, the Konsum-building (K) stands, with a church (C) and a secondary school (S). The Laubenganghäuser (L) were built as a precursor to the planned southern section. At the north end of the first section two Bauhaus villas were built: Stahlhaus (SH) and Haus Fieger (HF).

Not all original Bauhaus buildings survive. The ones that do survive have sometimes been altered very unsympathetically. Only a few of the buildings have been restored. It is a real shame that this Unesco Heritage site looks so shabby and in places unsightly. All houses should be restored, including the front gardens as there are so few examples of early modernist housing estates.  

Bedford Park, London: an exemplary garden suburb

Often called the first garden suburb, Bedford Park served as an exemplary development for the many garden villages and garden suburbs that would follow after 1900.

The housing estate of Bedford Park was named after an estate of the same name that lay adjacent to Acton Green Common just north of Chiswick. The common is now a large expanse of grass bordered by trees that hide the elevated railway that runs alongside on a bank. It is used as a public park by residents. The whole housing estate was designed with streets focusing on the green.

On the edge of the green some amenities were included in the housing plans. There is a row of shops along what was once the edge of the gardens of Bedford Park House (left) and another near the station. These houses all feature Tudor revival architecture. Along the green several large villas were built, as there was an intentional mix of building types.

Some houses were designed to emulate mansions, they are in fact linked family houses.The outline of the roofs with the large chimney stacks recall grand buildings. This was seen as especially fitting in this suburban setting. Before the car the impression would have been rather convincingly rural.

The estate was designed as a whole. So great attention was paid to unifying details like the fences and gates that separated street and garden space. Several types of fence were designed, but all share the overall characteristic of a brick plinth with a white wooden fence on top. Posts can be in wood or in brick. Some of the gates have an ornamental arch in metal. As part of the conservation area status these fences are being restored throughout the estate.

An example of some blocks in what is known as Queen Anne Revival, a nineteenth century reiteration and reworking of the original architecture from the Queen Anne period. The reign of Queen Anne coincided with the baroque era although the architecture was more subdued than for instance contemporary French examples. There is a connection with Dutch Classicism. This is clear in these Queen Anne Revival blocks with shapely gable ends that resemble Dutch Gables. Also note the eclectic combination with the large chimney stacks and the white fence.

The architect Shaw, who was responsible for most of the housing on this estate, is known for popularising Queen Anne Revival, but is actually an eclectic architect who mixed various styles simply for overall effect. This is clear in these houses with bicoloured faced in a combination of white render and red brick, with protruding upper halves.

Some of the architecture was lees ornate and less aimed at creating visual effect. These houses have brick facades with a continuous decorative roof trim in white. Ground floor bay windows create rhythm and add a vernacular flavour, especially in combination with the white fences.

Although most of the housing was built as family housing in two storeys on similar floor plans, some building know a greater height. On the left a double-height building with apartments. The corner window bay was extended into a tower-like feature. Other eclectic houses have a New-England feel with square window bays topped by balconies with wooden railings. These square bays may extend over one or two floors (right).

Shaw was well known for mixing Dutch Classicism with Tudor Revival element, including hanging tiles and timber frame panels. Examples of this Mock-Tudor style may be mixed with buildings in another style creating great visual variation. The floor plans are often similar however. 

The timber frame panels were mostly used on the elevation. The timber is often not structural and merely decorative, as the architect tries to evoke a sense of times gone by and rural architecture. On the left an example with timber frame panels that dominate the protruding elevation and thus the whole facade. The brick support post is a nice detail. The same rural reference can also result in buildings with a combination of render and brick details that contrast a sense of lightness and heaviness (shown on the right).

These blocks are not dissimilar to those of Merton Park as they use the same London stock brick. Here a contrasting upper section that protrudes of a central bay window is dressed with hung tiles in red creating contrast and a more rural effect. The planted streets -with an eclectic mix of species- create the desired semi-rural feel that would inspire the Garden City Movement.

Bedford park, London: a garden suburb built around old trees

The suburban development and urban sprawl around London was driven by a desire to own a house (which came from an anti-urban sentiment that idolised country living) and the appearance of reliable infrastructure (to effectively make the move beyond the city possible as proximity to the workplace was no longer a guiding factor in housing). Along the metropolitan railway many suburban developments were built by the train company (so-called Metro-land). In other places rail infrastructure preceded planned and unplanned development. Most early development was unplanned or at best piecemeal.

In 1875 Jonathan Carr bought 24 acres (97.000 m2) of land near Turnham Green Station which had opened six years earlier. From here it was only 30 minutes by train to the City of London. The site he acquired had many large trees standing on it and it was this character that lead to a development plan being drawn that was very different from the usual Victorian housing development. To protect the mature trees on site an informal plan was made. The new streets around Bedford House don't follow older country lanes (as we saw in Merton Park), but instead fan out from the edge of Acton Green Common (Turnham Green is actually located further west on the edge of Chiswick near Chiswick Park station). A north-south street (The Avenue) connects the development to the station. Streets are typically rather short and straight or have a curve at beginning or end.

Most of the buildings were designed by Richard Norman Shaw, one of the leading architects of the day, who used ornament and detailing to create great visual variety with a limited number of house types. The houses were designed in a typical Queen Anne revival style. Shaw eclectic style often also included Tudor element like massive chimney stacks, half-timbered panels, hanging tiles and projecting gables. The development also included a church, parish hall, pub, art school and a row of shops near the station.

This suburb is often called the first garden suburb in the world. This isn't accurate, as Merton Park predates it by some years, although most of the buildings in both estates were constructed around the same time. Bedford Park however did directly influence the Garden City Movement and served as a spatial model for other suburban developments around the world. The estate was praised by Sir John Betjeman, founding member of the Victorian Society, and Hermann Muthesius. Bedford park is mentioned in Das Englische House (1904): "It signifies neither more nor less than the starting point of the smaller modern house, which spread from there over the whole country."  Each house had a custom designed fence on a low wall with gate along the front garden. This gave the whole estate a more rural feel. Hence also the name garden suburb, as the front gardens were so visible the building were effectively set within gardens. This contrasted with typical Victorian developments where the facade dominated the streetscape and gardens were hidden from view at the back of buildings.

The development of Bedford park shows rapid urbanisation. From a large manor house (called Bedford Park) standing among the fields on the edge of a small common the area developed into a suburb. Bedford House still remains as the end of a row of shops. Initially the large trees around the house were built around. and the new streets were planted with a mix of ornamental trees. The listed status doesn't extend to additions after 1910.

After the 1950s the estate became overcrowded as a result of the large houses being split into flats and bedsits. When a large building was demolished in 1963 and replaced by a five-storey retirement home, the Bedford Park Society was set up aimed at preserving this historic place. As a result the government listed most of the estate in 1967. This was followed by the councils of  Hounslow and Ealing designating Bedford Park a conservation area. The area has much improved since.