Old City Bath (Heilbronn)

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Old municipal swimming pool on Wollhausplatz in Heilbronn, design by architect Ernst Peters from Berlin, executed by city architect Gustav Wenzel (1839–1923) from the Heilbronn municipal building authority

The Alte Stadtbad in Heilbronn , built in 1891, was one of the large public secular buildings on what was then Heilbronner Allee . Together with the old synagogue , the old city theater and the Harmonie festival hall , the historic building in the style of historicism formed the promenade of the avenue.

history

The decision to build the public swimming pool at Wollhausplatz was made on May 27, 1889. Construction began on May 19, 1891, and the inauguration took place on October 22, 1892. The construction costs at that time amounted to 280,000 marks , of which 100,000 marks were covered by a foundation of the Heilbronn businessman Ernst Achtung . The building was designed by the Berlin architect Peters, according to whose plans the Heilbronn City Building Department carried out the construction.

The building also had a mikveh . The bath described as an Israelite ritual bath was next to the tub baths on the first floor.

In 1900/1901 the pool was expanded and a swimming pool was added for the female guests. There were also steam baths, sweat rooms and bathtubs there. On September 6, 1934, Jewish citizens were not allowed to enter the Stadtbad because it had developed into a synagogue branch . On December 4, 1944, the building burned down during an air raid on Heilbronn .

After the Second World War, the building was rebuilt in a simplified way in the Heimat style . The entrance portal was stripped of its pompous tympanum and replaced by simple square sandstone columns. Well-known artists from Heilbronn have enriched the interior of the Stadtbad. The swimming pool was given a water-spouting lion head. The gargoyle was a blacksmith's work created by the master flasher and plumber Wilhelm Klagholz . Klagholz also made the two rams, the cock and the city eagle from copper for the reconstruction of the Heilbronn town hall .

The swimming pool was reopened on December 21, 1950, the tub and shower baths on October 9, 1951, and the hot air and steam baths on February 13, 1952. The swimming pool was 20 meters by 8 meters, the tubs had an area of 28 square meters, the shower baths were housed on 14 square meters. There were 52 changing rooms for adults and 100 changing boxes for teenagers. In the steam bath there were another 23 changing rooms and the same number of day beds.

In 1953, a ceramic fountain was created in the entrance hall by the sculptor Hermann Wilhelm Brellochs (1899–1979) from Stuttgart according to plans by the ceramicist Maria Fitzen-Wohnsiedler . The fountain consisted of a pillar on which a dolphin reared up. The front body of the dolphin leaned on the column, similar to a Persian capital or Achaemenid capital, and pushed its back body upwards, the fins curling up so that the dolphin slightly suggested the shape of the figure eight. The column itself was divided by two water bowls, the top bowl being directly below the water-spouting dolphin. The lowest bowl was on the floor, right at the foot of the column. Like the other works by Fitzen-Wohnsiedler, the whole work was decorated with ceramics. The fountain later ended up in the garden of the Silcherschule.

The old gargoyle of the old city bath, from which the water flowed into the large basin in earlier times, was a stone with a snapdragon. This stone gargoyle was recovered when it was demolished / rebuilt and has been near the playground in Pfühlpark since the 1950s.

In 1971, Wollhausplatz was discussed as a future department store location for the Wollhauszentrum in addition to the Stadtbad location. In December 1971, the building committee of the local council decided the demolition, which was carried out on February 19, 1972.

A new municipal swimming pool was built on the bulwark tower over a four-year construction period for a total of 16 million DM according to plans by the architects P. Oehlschläger from Stuttgart and E. Beutinger . What is remarkable about the new bath is the bath water in the multi-purpose swimming pool, which consists of mineral water from the Schaeuffelen fountain, which is enriched with rock salt brine.

description

The following poem could be read on the wall of the men's swimming pool:

Nothing carries the city's fame so far
as order, diligence and cleanliness.

Health and joyful courage are
beyond fame and money and good.

The strength of the water wonderfully makes
the limbs young, the spirits clear. Do

n't bring any worries in.
Should the bathroom be useful to you.

If you swim at the right time,
learn that you are prepared for a storm.

Life is
often very happy in this world even without clothes or money .

The children's bathroom never forgets
whoever measures their body well.

photos

  • Layout.

  • Location of the mikveh (so-called “Israelite ritual bath”).

  • The entrance area of ​​the old Heilbronner Stadtbad (1892)

  • The city bath around 1902

  • Today's Stadtbad at the new location at the Bollwerksturm

Web links

Commons : Altes Stadtbad am Wollhausplatz (Heilbronn)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Helmut Schmolz, Hubert Weckbach: Heilbronn with Böckingen, Neckargartach, Sontheim. The old city in words and pictures . Volume 2. (= publications of the archive of the city of Heilbronn , Volume 15.) Anton H. Konrad Verlag, Weißenhorn 1967, p. 30. (No. 42 Stadtbad, entrance, 1892 )
  2. ↑ Heilbronner Insights 2009 - Jewish Life in Heilbronn at stadtarchiv-heilbronn.de
  3. ↑ Helmut Schmolz, Hubert Weckbach: Heilbronn - history and life of a city . 2nd Edition. Anton H. Konrad Verlag, Weißenhorn 1973, page 169. (No. 580 Demolition of the old city bath on Wollhausplatz, February 19, 1972 )
  4. ↑ Uwe Jacobi: That was the 20th century in Heilbronn . 1st edition. Wartberg-Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2001, ISBN 3-86134-703-2 . P. 38.
  5. ↑ Every day his rooster crows from the town hall . In: Heilbronner Voice of April 2, 2002
  6. ^ The municipal baths in Heilbronn . In: Heilbronn - Heimat und Hausstand , 1970
  7. ↑ Signature: A034-834 on heuss.stadtarchiv-heilbronn.de
  8. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from August 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) stadtbad
  9. ↑ Stadtbad
  10. ^ Kilian Krauth: Stadtbad Heilbronn: victims of the zeitgeist of the 70s . In: Heilbronn voice . February 25, 2012 ( from Stimme.de [accessed on February 26, 2012]).
  11. ↑ Helmut Schmolz, Hubert Weckbach: Heilbronn - history and life of a city . 2nd Edition. Anton H. Konrad Verlag, Weißenhorn 1973, p. 174. (No. 587–588 Neues Stadtbad, 1972 )
  12. ^ Stadtarchiv Heilbronn , inventory i A034 - Building files of the city of Heilbronn

Coordinates: 49 ° 8 ′ 21 ″  N , 9 ° 13 ′ 12 ″  E