American Consulate General (Bremen)
The building of the former American Consulate General was erected in 1954 based on designs by the Chicago- based architecture firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) with the assistance of Otto Apel from Bremen at today's President-Kennedy-Platz 1 in the Mitte district of Bremen, making it the first significant building the so-called “ international style ” of post-war modernism in Bremen . It has been a listed building since 1994.
building
The very purist building consists of two elongated cubic structures that are at right angles to each other. The front facing the square is occupied by the main wing with three floors, with the ground floor - apart from the foyer - being open as the building stands on stilts. The single-storey side wing is on the side facing away from the road (towards the State Archives ) and extends under the main building. The entrance area and stairwell are located at the intersection of the two wings. The construction is based on a steel frame construction with a 6 × 6 meter grid of narrow, white painted double T-beams . The facade is clad with panels made of beige-colored travertine and is structured on the long sides by three continuous ribbon windows.
In a jury assessment by the Association of German Architects (BDA) from 1975, it was said of the building:
“The [...] consulate was an important point of reference for German post-war architecture. The steel-framed building impresses with its simple floor plan, sensible construction and clear form. "
After the American Consulate General moved out in the late 1980s, the building was used by various companies. In 2005 it was completely renovated for use by the BLG Logistics Group (formerly Bremer Lagerhaus Gesellschaft ). Despite some changes, such as the installation of sun protection blinds , the overall character of the building was retained.
With the construction of the Consulate General, the Marcusallee 2/4 residential complex for the Consulate General's staff was also built by the same group of architects (SOM). This group of buildings is also similar in architectural style to the buildings of the Consulate General. The building was used by the University Building Authority from 1966 and again for apartments after 1982.
History of the Bremen-American diplomatic relations
After the American War of Independence , Bremen was one of the first states in 1783 to recognize the United States of America as a state. In 1794, a US consulate was opened in Bremen at the instigation of George Washington . It was one of the first consulates on the European continent . In return, Bremen opened consulates in New York (1815), Baltimore (1821), Philadelphia (1827) and Boston (1827). Relationships were shaped on the one hand by trade and on the other by emigration to the USA via Bremen and Bremerhaven .
In 1847 the Ocean Steam Navigation Company established the first direct and regular steamship connection between the United States and continental Europe via Bremerhaven . In 1890, John D. Rockefeller and the Bremen merchants Franz Ernst Schütte , Carl Schütte and Wilhelm Anton Riedemann founded the German-American Petroleum AG , from which the Esso company was to develop. In 1913, emigration via the ports of Bremen reached its peak with 240,000 people a year. A total of 7.1 million people emigrated via Bremen and Bremerhaven into the 1930s . After the general consulate in Bremen was finally closed, the "Bremen United States Center" in the "World Trade Center Bremen" took over part of the consulate's tasks in 2003.
Today (2015) there is an American representation in Bremen through the Consular Agency Bremen ( Konsularagentur ), Flughafenallee 18, at Bremen Airport .
Today's use of the building
The BLG Logistics Group currently uses the building as its main administrative headquarters. For the conversion of the building, the facade and the interior architecture were refurbished under strict monument protection requirements. The foyer and staircase have been preserved in their original state. The architects + designers, Müller, Diederichs, Keil, GME group were honored for the renovation with recognition in the context of the Bremen Monument Preservation Prize 2010.
In 2009, BLG installed the sculpture Agamemnon by Waldemar Otto in the courtyard of its building in honor of the Bremen entrepreneur Egon H. Harms (1927–2006).
Individual evidence
- ^ Monument database of the LfD
- ^ Embassy of the United States in Berlin : Consular Agency Bremen . Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
Web links
- Bremen Center for Building Culture - Photos and plans of the building
- Overview of the Bremen-American relations
Coordinates: 53 ° 4 ′ 35.5 ″ N , 8 ° 48 ′ 56.5 ″ E