Neues Frankfurt, a 1920s affordable public housing program

Dr. Ludwig Landmann, originally from Mannheim, was elected mayor of Frankfurt in 1924. He was a member of the social liberal German Democratic Party and the first Jewish mayor of Frankfurt. He was removed from office in 1933 en died exiled in the Netherlands in 1945 two month before WW2 ended. Landmann lead a significant modernisation and expansion of the city. He reorganised the planning department and initiated the Neues Frankfurt plan, an ambitious scheme for a "New Frankfurt". This plan included improvements in infrastructure, redevelopment of former military and industrial sites, new industrial sites, new public parks and recreational areas, and most famously new affordable housing.

Immediately after become mayor Landmann hired Ernst May to head the reorganisation of the planning department and deliver the ambitious Neues Frankfurt agenda. Landmann also founded the Nassauische Heimstätte (Nassau Homes) a public housing corporation with the purpose of guaranteeing every resident access to decent accommodation. Neues Frankfurt started in 1925 and ran until 1931. At the same time a magazine was published under the same name. May set to work on an overall plan for Frankfurt and the surrounding villages. He redrew the inner-city area and made allowances for change of use and better access. The new housing he projected around the de facto ring road (Hapsburgalle-Rothschilallee-Nibelungeallee-Adickesallee-Miquelallee-Zeppelinallee-Senckenberganlage built 1898-1910) mostly close to existing villages. New tram halts or train stations were part of the planning of these new housing estates. In the German tradition of social housing allotments and sports facilities were included in the schemes as well as some amenities (schools, shops, laundry, church, community hall).

The edge of the Heimatsiedlung shows the rhythm of the long apartment blocks which comprises of 9 almost identical angled buildings. This estate is a good example of New Objectivity.

Ernst May's work is an example of modernist total planning. Under May 12.000 apartments were built some 2.000 more than initially planned. These were rented at affordable rates set by Heimstätte. By developing on a large scale with modular housing, advantages of scale could be produced, reducing the total cost. Many well-known architects of the time worked in Frankfurt on one of the Neues Frankfurt projects. Mays work is best characterised as a mix of Expressive Modernism and New Objectivity.

The 9 parallel streets that make up the Heimatsiedlung are connected by a circular road (the Heimatring) Here the long blocks end in gateways with sculptural angled sections attached. The colour also subtly changes from soft yellow to peach. Small shops are located on either side of a gateway.

The buildings are separated by public gardens with grass trees, shrubs and flowering plants along the parallel streets run between the long blocks. Each street is named after a tree and planted with the eponymous tree species. Also note the difference in treatment of the north-facing facade (right) with the entrances and the south-facing one (left) with balconies and large windows.

As part of Neues Frankfurt standards were set for minimum floor space, maximum number of residents per dwelling (on a metres squared per person basis), proximity to amenities and transport and amounts of natural light to enter the houses. Most dwellings were apartments. Some were built as Gartenhof ensembles around communal gardens, others as long blocks or middle rise blocks. Terraced housing was also included in some schemes. Other estates also had double maisonettes in four storey buildings. All houses were fitted with standard appliances like a bathroom, door and window fixtures and a Frankfurt kitchen. The projects were publicised in the magazine to inspire others.

Another famous project are the so-called Zig-Zag-Houses on the Bruchfeld Estate in Niederrad. To prevent a stern streetscape, and also to angle the dwellings towards the sun, the maisonettes have been angled creating this staggered building line. Colour blocking also works to create a sense of scale and interest with a greyish plinth on the ground floor bright white elevations topped by an orange red trim along the flat roof with the smaller windows of the attic emphasising the difference.

Neues Frankfurt has great affinity with similar large-scale housing projects in Vienna and Amsterdam. The Nazis criticised the municipal housing projects as examples of communism. When they came to power all construction activity was stopped and the standardised housing models were abandoned for the traditionalist small-scale Stuttgarter Schule or the typical monumentalist architecture. Most employees of the planning office left the country after 1933. It would take until the 1960s that new large-scale housing projects would be initiated. Ernst May planned the Nordweststadt, a large modernist satellite of middle-rise and high-rise blocks set in greenery northwest of Frankfurt near the village of Niederursel. In the 1970s some blocks by Mart Stam in the Hellehofsiedlung were demolished. This lead to public outcry and anger amongst architects and art historians, so all nine housing estates of Neues Frankfurt now have listed status as protected landmarks.

Nine large housing estates were completed before the New Frankfurt program was abandoned. These all circle the old city of Frankfurt (F). The nine housing estates are: Siedlung Westerhausen (1), Siedlung Praunheim (2), Siedlung Römerstadt (3), Siedlung Höhenblick (4), Siedlung Bornheimerhang (5), Siedlung Riederwald (6), Heimatsiedlung (7), Siedlung Niederrad (8) and Hellerhofsiedlung (9). For orientation the airport (A) and the cities of Offenbach (O), Neu-Isenburg (N) and Hanau (H) are indicated. 

From a planning perspective all the housing projects of the New Frankfurt Initiative (Neues Frankfurt) should all be classified as suburbs, They aren't separate satellites as advocated by the Garden City Movement, but are always located within travelling distance of the central city Frankfurt near an existing settlement (village). These New Frankfurt Estates are not dissimilar to Garden Suburbs, but differ in building type and density.

In German there is a difference between Siedlung (Housing Estate) and Großssiedlung (Housing Estate or Housing Project), with some of the latter known as Trabantenstadt (Satellite Town). The translation doesn't quite express the size difference implied in German. A Großssiedlung is a housing estate with amenities provided; in contrast a Siedlung is a residential estate tacked onto an existing village or urban area with few or no amenities. A Großssiedlung isn't necessarily by definition larger than a Siedlung.