Nordbahndorfl: eclectic architecture and beyond

The original buildings still stand proudly along the Nordbahnhofstraße. The mansion block-type apartment buildings are built with decorative brick facades. On the corners towers emphasize the street grid. The architecture is typical for the eclectic late nineteenth century revival styles.

A peek into one of the Gartenhöfe. This communal outdoor space is for use of the residents of the surrounding apartments. Although garden court is the literal translation of Gartenhof, it often has a different meaning in Britain and especially in the USA. On the right a good example of how the architects have reduced the apparent scale of the housing development by using rows of separated apartment blocks with differentiated roof shapes.

The Mittnachtstraße (literally: Midnight Street) runs at a 90° angle off the Nordbahnhofstraße and bisects the neighbourhood. It is one of the few streets with trees in it, making the whole neighbourhood very urban in character.

The second phase of construction in 1911 saw the application of a different style of architecture. This is both apparent in the centrally placed bathhouse (left) and the apartment blocks.  The light, smooth rendering of the facades contrasts greatly with the older brick architecture. The stone dressings and plinth make  a subtle connection to the older architecture in colour.

This new block replaced a damaged block of eclectic architecture. It is executed in brick with rendered ribbon panels. Note the different effect this continues facade has on the streetscape and the perception of scale.

The original apartments in the Nordbahndorfl had no private outdoor space. The bring the living accommodation up to modern standards balconies have been added, The courtyard garden is still in communal use by the residents. Waste collection is located here. Most of the space is green and used for drying the washing, playing fields and small vegetable gardens.

The colour and banding of this continuous rendered facade contrasts sharply with the much older eclectic buildings. It is rather unfortunate that such architecture has been introduced here, as it stands apart so much from the original architecture of both the first and second building phase.

An early Gartenhof: Nordbahndorfl, Stuttgart

The old railway station of Stuttgart was built directly adjacent to the old city on the Schloßstraße in 1846. The first station building, a terminus station, was built by Karl Etzel for the opening of the Württemberg Central Railway (Zentralbahn), with its two branches to Ludwigsburg and Esslingen. The building comprised of a station hall, made of wood, covering the four tracks. To relieve the main station a second station was planned further north at the junction of the Gäubahn and Nordbahn railways. Work on this Nordbahnhof (literally the northern station) was completed in 1893. The new station was located near the Pragsattel a high ridge between the Stuttgart-basin and the Neckar river valley.

Between 1894 and 1912 a neighbourhood for railway personnel (Bahnarbeiter) was built directly south of the railway station. On a circa 9,5 hectare plot 890 apartments were constructed in two building campaigns. This so-called Nordbahnhofdorfl (literally: little village by the northern railway station) is a high density development consisting of a series of Gartenhöfe (Garden Courts).

The dwellings, designed by the Königliche Hochbausektion (The Royal High-rise Department) are arranged in large blocks around communal gardens. Originally none of the apartments had any private outdoor space. The two building campaigns resulted in 10 such garden courts. At the heart of the neighbourhood a bathhouse was built in 1911. The whole was developed on a grid plan, that was skewed near the railway bend in the southeastern corner. The gridlines run almost perfectly north-south and east-west.

The seven blocks between the Nordbahnhofstraße and the Krollstraße were built in an eclectic style during the 1890s. The apartment buildings were treated as mansion blocks with very ornate brick architecture. Each building stood separate from the others with an ornate gate in between to give residents access to the communal garden. The buildings built in the early 1910s have a distinctly different architecture. These buildings are rendered and the blocks are longer with fewer openings. Sometimes the openings took the shape of wide passages. As a result of heavy bombardments during WW2 a large part of the original buildings were destroyed. New apartment buildings were erected on the old building lines. These postwar buildings are much less detailed and have fewer openings resulting in long and rather boring street facades. In places the colour of the replacement buildings contrasts sharply with the original buildings.

 

The so-called railway workers village is an urban neighbourhood. In the original design dullness is prevented by punctuating the facades with gates and later passages towards the central courtyards. Of the eastern 20th century section (within the red outline) only a small portion still stands in its original form; much was rebuilt (indicated by the hatching).The original part concentrates around the bathhouse (B). Little public green space is provided, except for a small playground by the bathhouse, the public gardens in the Mittnachtstraße (M) and the now built over allotment gardens (A) along the railway.

Summer treat

Nothing sings more of summer than a bowl of yoghurt with an assortment of berries from the garden for desert.

Tuindorp Vooruit redeveloped: retrospective architecture

On the Parkweg a row of terraces has been knocked down to make way for the Parkhof-development. It consists of a long row of terraced housing culminating in an elevated section that is set back. In this section two passages to the houses behind are positioned in the corners. The development dates from 2001.

The dwelling above the passage is called a gate house (left). The architects have given special care to the corners of the long facade. With the setback the whole is still very urban in character, but the visual impact is reduced. Apart from the higher dwellings in the setback the terraced houses are low with dormers to make the loft space habitable.

A whole block of the old garden village has been filled with this massive apartment complex. By varying the roofline, the roof shapes and the facades the architects have tried to mitigate the visual impact of this very urban block.

The redeveloped Vooruit is dominated by retrospective architecture in short rows of terraced housing. Special attention has been paid to the roofs, the eaves, the use of dormers and bays.

In sharp contrast to the original buildings on the site, the new housing is more urban in character making for seemingly continues facades. The streetscape is kept rather green with the treatment of the space between the buildings as front gardens and other greenery.

The buildings on the northern edge of the redeveloped garden village follow a curved building line. They are modern in architecture and lie opposite a small industrial estate along the railway. The central ensemble of the redeveloped Vooruit has a foot path running through it, connecting several public gardens via a series of passages.

Around the public garden to the southwest the old semidetached houses have been replaces with new semis in a similar style, but almost twice as large. The once large gardens have been greatly reduced. The same goes for the public garden central to this ensemble.

To the northwest of the redeveloped garden village Vooruit a postwar housing estate called de Zanding (literally; the sand pit) is also being redeveloped. The architects have also opted for 1920s retro architecture. This time referencing expressionist Amsterdam School type buildings in yellow brick. The use of vertical tiles is characteristic for this development.

The short terraces of the 1950s housing estate have been replaced by long rows of terraced housing. The facades are broken by architectural elements (i.e. vertical roofing tiles, two tone walls and varying gable hight).