This horse shoe shaped garden village is an excellent
example of the 1920s German Genossenschaftswohnungsbau
(cooperative house building) that was influenced by the Garden City Movement.
Baugenossenschaften (building cooperatives) predate the Garden City Movement
(and served as an inspiration). The first of these cooperatives was founded in
1867 in Prussia with the aim of providing affordable housing for its members. The
financial crash at the end of the nineteenth century meant that most wouldn't
survive for very long. The model of housing provision by means of building
cooperatives picked up again after 1905 and especially after 1918 in de
German-speaking world.
In 1909 the Gothaer
Baugenossenschaft für Beamte und Arbeiter der Eisenbahnverwaltung (Gotha
Building Cooperative for Officials and Workers of the Railway Company) was
founded. In the same year a plot of land was acquired south of the railway
tracks and the so-called Alte Kolonie
(Old Colony) was built along a few cul-de-sacs. Between 1909 and 1926 the
number of houses was expanded by building westwards in small developments of a
few blocks each spread along new streets that followed or connected to former
country lanes.
After an urban expansion plan was drawn up for the
city of Gotha in 1923, urban expansion became less haphazard and separate
development were align within an overarching spatial plan. The southern edge of
the city was designated as suitable for development, so in 1925 the local
council and the Supervisory Board of the Building Cooperative agreed a new
housing development here. This next development was aimed at a broader range of
people than merely railway employees.
The housing estate was designed by the architects
Richard Neuland, Bruno Tamme and the Regierungsbaumeister (Governmental
Architect) Pfitzmann. The estate was named Am
Schmalen Rain after a fieldname that indicated the position along a narrow
border ditch, which still runs along the edge today as the Ratsrinne. The designers were asked to consider the
exceptional situation of a quiet urban border area, to create a good
arrangement of traffic conditions for a housing development of 150 to 200 units
with a "centre area" and stores for the supply of local residents,
and also take into account the garden city idea. This last condition refers
more to the German Garden City (a garden village combined with allotments and
amenities) than to the true Garden City (which was basically a suburban
satellite between city and countryside).
The executives involved made significant changes to the
first plan and decided that all three architects should design a section of the
estate to avoid monotony. In the first budget for the new housing estate 161
housing units, 3 business premises, 1 restaurant and an office for the manager
of the cooperative were included. For the build only local contractors and
workers were employed. Construction started in 1926 and the topping out
ceremony for the first houses was held in 1927. After this -to make savings- the
number of housing units was first raised to 190 and later to 202. Initially
apartment blocks were added to the scheme. Housing originally intended as
terraced housing was additionally split in 2 apartments. This resulted in a
total of 269 housing units (in 1935). This meant that in the houses originally
built as family housing the two inserted apartment tenants had to share the
bathroom. The estate held 12 bedsits, 146 one bedroom flats, 95 two bedroom
flats, 15 three bedroom houses and 1 four bedroom house.
The estate Am
Schmalen Rain was developed as an ensemble around a series of public spaces
(streets, a large square -S- and a small park with playground -P). The
buildings envelop the public, shared, space and also dominates the streetscape.
At the centre the community block (C) that once housed the amenities. To the
west a large allotment (A) was built for the residents. On the east the narrow
stream Ratsrinne (R) is the Schmaler
Rain that gave its name to the neighboring field and thus to the housing
estate. Typical for 1920s examples are the gate buildings and arched gateways
(G).
Due to financial difficulties during the 1930s the
estate was never expanded further south, as was originally intended. Although
called Gartenstadt Am Schmalen Rain, this estate isn't a collection of
semidetached cottages along road planted with fruit trees as most people would
typify a garden village. Am Schmalen Rain is a good example of the very German
translation of Garden City Ideas into a specific more closed version that
combines terraced housing, apartments and amenities. Such spatial ensembles are
similar to the Gartenhof complexes that are completely comprised of flats. They
should be typified as halfway between suburban and urban. There are many
examples in Germany and Austria. The more urban 1920s-30s housing complexes in
the Netherlands also follow this German model. Space for gardening was set
aside by planners and developed as allotments. Allotment complexes still form
an integral part of the German urban landscape. The complex has -almost
entirely- been renovated with the bright colours of the facades, window
shutters and the family housing of the terraces reinstated. The residents are
very proud of their lovely historic housing estate and were keen to point out
the improvements made and share their knowledge of the history of this place.
Well worth a visit when one is travelling to for instance Weimar!
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