Hippopotamus settlement
The Hippopotamus Estate (also called Hippopotamus Yard) is a residential area in the Berlin district of Alt-Hohenschönhausen built by the architects Paul Emmerich and Paul Mebes 1932–1934. It owes its name to two horse sculptures by the sculptor Hans Mettel , which stand in a water basin and are therefore referred to as hippos . The settlement comprises a complex of residential buildings located between Simon-Bolivar-Straße 12a, 13,13a, 42a – 42h. 43a – 43e (southwest), Goeckestrasse 11–23 (southeast), Strausberger Strasse (northeast) and Große-Leege-Strasse 68-82 (northwest).
history
Between 1931 and 1934 the Hippopotamus Estate was built according to plans by the architects Emmerich and Mebes on behalf of the Gemeinnützige Wohnungsbau AG Groß-Berlin ( Gewobag ). The residential complex is a regular and symmetrical building ensemble on an elongated rectangular floor plan. It consists of three parallel rows of living quarters in four-storey buildings with flat roofs, arranged parallel between Große-Leege-Straße and Goeckestraße. The architects originally planned 1,554 apartments, with some buildings to have five floors. In total, however, only 883 apartments were completed. In the GDR era, the settlement belonged to the KWV and was not well looked after.
On July 1, 1994, Gewobag received the building complex back. Between 1995 and 1997, the construction company had the apartments and outdoor facilities extensively renovated. The estate is included in the Berlin list of monuments as a garden monument.
Architecture and courtyard design
The houses correspond to the style of the time, which is attributed to the New Building . The facades are plastered . The two outer rows show a clearly recessed middle section, the length of which the inner row for a courtyard area is interrupted. The house fronts are designed flat and reserved, the staircases are recognizable from the outside through narrow windows. On the garden side, balconies are built in double axes. The front doors on the street side are combined with a small corridor window in an angle frame made of concrete. The central buildings in the courtyard area are arcade houses . In the central axis of Große-Leege-Straße (house number 75) the viewer recognizes such an arcade house with a strongly protruding glazed staircase.
In the central axis of Goeckestrasse (house number 16), a single-storey porch facing the street was added to the corresponding arcade house, in which, over the years, there were either Gewobag administrative structures or small companies, the windows are barred. In 2016, the construction company used the premises as a warehouse.
The two horse sculptures in the center of the courtyard area are made of limestone on a rectangular foundation. They are located on the long sides of an elongated water basin and are animated by a fountain between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays (the system is switched off between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. for noise protection reasons). There are also two digging places and some wooden benches. The yard area is planted with bushes, trees and meadows. The settlement is a listed building.
literature
- Anke Kuhbier; Klaus von Krosigk; Reiner Elwers: Berlin green: historical gardens and parks of the city / ed. from the Landesdenkmalamt Berlin . 1st edition. L-und-H-Verl., Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-928119-51-6 , pp. 192 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Hippopotamus settlement on berlinersiedlungen.wordpress.com
- ^ A b Institute for Monument Preservation (Ed.): The architectural and art monuments of the GDR. Capital Berlin-II . Henschelverlag, Berlin 1984, p. 157 ff .
- ↑ Information at the corner building on Simon-Bolivar-Straße to the Hippopotamus Colony. Viewed July 7, 2016.
- ↑ Garden monument area, front gardens and courtyards of the Flusspferdhof housing estate
- ^ Information from the caretaker of the settlement on July 7, 2016 to user: 44Pinguine .
- ↑ Flußpferdhof , Denkmalobjeket on www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de
Coordinates: 52 ° 32 ′ 19 ″ N , 13 ° 29 ′ 25 ″ E