Old Braunschweig train station
The management building of the Braunschweigische Landessparkasse , designed by the architect Hannes Westermann , is now known as the old Braunschweigischer Bahnhof . It contains the north facade of the late Classicist reception building of the old Braunschweig train station, which existed until 1960, by the architect Carl Theodor Ottmer, which was preserved after the destruction during the Second World War .
The station building of the old station had a predecessor, also built by Ottmer. This building, built in 1838, was demolished in 1843 due to the strong increase in traffic and replaced by the second Ottmer building, which was used until the Second World War. Its remnants, together with the entire old station, were made available for other uses when the new Braunschweig station, built in another location in 1960, was put into operation.
history
The old station was built on a peninsula, the Küsters Insel , south of the old town. Küsters island was surrounded by the Oker, the Western Umflutgraben and the Neustadtmühlengraben. In 1870, the Westliche Umflutgraben was channeled and diverted south of the station, so that the station was no longer surrounded by water on all sides.
First Ottmer building
The first train station in Braunschweig was designed by the Braunschweig court building officer Carl Theodor Ottmer in Gothic style for the Duke Braunschweigische Staatseisenbahn and built in 1838. It was put into operation on December 1, 1838 , together with the Braunschweig – Bad Harzburg line - the first German state railway ever.
As can be seen from city maps, the facility was designed as a through station , although the Braunschweig station represented the end of the railway line. However, a continuation of the tracks would not have been possible even then, as there were several Oker arms and the Braunschweig old town at the end. The front building characteristic for this did not yet exist, the track ended at a turntable, through which the cars and locomotives could be directed into the individual car sheds.
The building itself, kept in neo-Gothic style, has essentially only survived through a single view - in several variants - and showed an open, arched entrance hall with a raised central building.
The building, erected in 1838, only existed for a few years and was removed in 1843 due to the increased volume of traffic.
Second Ottmer building
The first building was replaced by a new building in 1845, which also came from Ottmer. In contrast to the first station building, this new building was designed as a terminal station and was kept in the classical style .
In addition to a hall, into which several tracks led, there was a head building oriented towards the city, the facade of which with its triumphal arch motif is based on the Eosander portal of the Berlin City Palace . However, the front building did not function as a rail hall, but contained the restoration area and waiting rooms.
The tracks were accessed from the sides of the hall building, with a distinction being made between the departure and arrival sides. The downhill side on the south flank had a monopteros half integrated into the loggia in front of the hall , which was modeled on the Aachen Elisenbrunnen .
Ottmer combined very different models in his design for the second Braunschweig train station. This clearly sets his station design apart from the head station designs of his contemporaries.
This new building also soon proved to be no longer able to cope with the increasing volume of traffic of the beginning industrial age , so that the track hall had to be expanded several times. The station building itself was hardly changed. At the end of the 19th century, the number of tracks in the station hall was increased.
Ultimately, the station hall no longer met the requirements either, and the platforms were relocated outside. The station concourse became a waiting room.
During the Second World War , the station was badly damaged several times by the numerous air raids on Braunschweig (especially in 1944 ), so that operations were significantly affected.
In 1960, a Braunschweig train station built in another location was put into operation. The ruins of the front building of the old train station were acquired by the Braunschweigische Staatsbank (today Braunschweigische Landessparkasse ). With the preservation of the north facade, a new building was built by the architect Hannes Westermann, which has served the bank as a management building since 1966.
New train station (Braunschweig Hauptbahnhof)
Already in 1870 there were plans to move the train station in Braunschweig to today's Berliner Platz. Because of the war, however, the plan was late in implementation. The old terminal station no longer met the requirements, especially in freight and mail traffic. The shape of the head and the associated time-consuming changing of the locomotives were no longer in keeping with the times.
Therefore, a new through station was created in the southeast of the city . The new Braunschweig main station was inaugurated on October 1st, 1960. The "old station" had thus had its day and ceased operations.
swell
- ^ Central Station Braunschweig 1960; 1960
- ↑ see urban expansion plan of the city of Braunschweig, designed by C. Tappe, city architect, 1870
literature
- Gerd Biegel / Angela Klein (eds.): Carl Theodor Ottmer. 1800 - 1843. Brunswick court architect - European architect. Exhibition catalog of the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the death of Carl Theodor Ottmer, Braunschweig 2000; in this:
- Claudia Anette Gronen: Carl Theodor Ottmer's classical reception building from 1843 as the second station of the Braunschweigische Staatseisenbahn (p. 189–205)
- Claudia Anette Gronen: The first Braunschweig main train station by Carl Theodor Ottmer. A major work of European train station architecture. Schlütersche, Hannover 2002, ISBN 3-87706-672-0 .
- Mathias Haenchen: The first station building of the Braunschweig train station and its position in Ottmer's “Gothic” work (p. 179–187)
Web links
- Information about the old state train station
- View of the train station in the 19th century at Kulturerbe.niedersachsen.de
Coordinates: 52 ° 15 ′ 33 ″ N , 10 ° 31 ′ 8 ″ E