Friedrich-Ebert-Siedlung (Wedding)

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Corner of Afrikan Strasse / Swakopmunder Strasse

The Friedrich-Ebert-Siedlung is a housing estate in the Berlin district of Wedding ( Mitte district ). It is delimited by Swakopmunder Strasse, Windhuker Strasse, Petersallee, Nachtigalplatz and Müllerstrasse , crossed by Afrikanischer, Togo, Mohasi, Damara and Usambarastrasse and is therefore in the so-called " African Quarter ".

A building block on the corner of Afrikanische Strasse and Müllerstrasse does not belong to the settlement. There is a memorial stone in honor of Friedrich Ebert at the corner of Swakopmunder and Afrikanische Straße . The settlement is a listed building as a whole and borders the Rehberge park . The settlement includes around 1,400 apartments with standardized floor plans. Two-room apartments with a chamber, kitchen, bathroom and loggia predominate .

Building history

Memorial stone for Friedrich Ebert

prehistory

Before the construction of the settlement, the area west of the northern Müllerstrasse consisted primarily of a sandy, bare dune landscape, the Rehberge and the Root Mountains, the main features of which can still be seen in the Rehberge Park. Buildings belonging to the site were sparse. The first verifiable construction was a farmhouse from 1825. In 1855 the then land owner Moritz Karo, merchant and later Austrian consul in Baden-Baden, submitted a building application for the construction of a stable and residential building, a barn, a wash house and four massive fertilizer pits, which should be accessed via a private road from Müllerstrasse. The street drawing in the streets bordering Müllerstrasse came from the Hobrecht Plan of 1862, which determined the course of Müllerstrasse and Togostrasse (then: Strasse 26 ). The construction plan from 1893 provided for a further subdivision, which laid down the streets and building lines of Afrikaner Strasse, Swakopmunder Strasse and Windhuker Strasse as well as Nachtigalplatz. The area was opened up for public transport in 1909 with the construction of the tram lines in Müllerstrasse and Seestrasse.

In particular, several wild arboric colonies had settled here, in which residents had built huts and set up small gardens. The residents, who mostly lived on the edge of the subsistence level, had created a roof over their heads. Most of these settlements were small and unorganized, but in particular the 'Zur Happy Rehberge' colony was larger and well organized internally. These colonies were demolished for the construction of the settlement. The residents were offered places in the new allotment garden colony 'Togo'. These, however, were strictly regulated and provided with official specifications from the design of the arbor to the height of the fence. In addition, the initial one-off payment and monthly rent were at levels that made it impossible for most of the residents of the arboreal colonies to move to the allotment gardens.

First plans

Original plans to build on the area in the African Quarter were brought about by a property development company, the Terraingesellschaft Müllerstrasse , which acquired the corresponding land in 1905. A first plan to divide the land into small plots and sell it to individual builders failed because there was hardly any demand for them. Until 1912 only three parcels had been built on. The attempt to build it yourself failed because of the scarcity of money in the terrestrial society. The Terrain-Gesellschaft made further attempts to build on the site in 1925 and 1927. However, it was unable to implement the plans as it went bankrupt before the planned construction . The state's foreclosure auction took place on March 20, 1928 at the Wedding District Court . The Prussian State Bank became the new owner . On July 31, the land between Müllerstrasse and the planned Rehberge park became the property of the Eintracht savings and construction association (later: Eintracht Wohnungsbau-Aktiengesellschaft ), who bought it for 1.2 million Reichsmarks (adjusted for purchasing power in today's currency: around 4, 29 million euros) from the Prussian State Bank.

Construction of the settlement

The settlement was built in the years 1929–1939 under the overall planning of the architects Paul Mebes and Paul Emmerich , who had already planned several large estates in Berlin. They were supposed to design a housing estate with high density and a school building in it. There were no plans to keep the existing arbor colonies or other gardens. Mebes and Emmerich pursued the concept of the relaxed city, which should bring light, sun and air into the houses. They rely on the linear construction method, in which the houses do not close directly to the street as in the perimeter block development , but are embedded in the green in rows at right angles to it. In addition to gaining light and air for individual apartments, this should also support the democratization of building, since there is no longer any difference between the front and rear buildings, between the street side and the rear.

Holzmann AG , which carried out the work, erected the first barracks in November 1928. The official start of construction took place on January 4, 1929 with the first excavation work. The first foundations were poured in April 1929. The official laying of the foundation stone took place during a celebration on July 5, 1929, in the presence of Louise Ebert , Friedrich Ebert's widow , among others .

In 1929/1930, Mebes and Emmerich built sections I and II between Togo and Müllerstrasse in the northern and eastern parts of the area. In 1930/1931 Bruno Taut implemented the Mebes / Emmerich concept in Section III in the area between Togostraße and Volkspark Rehberge.

The official keystone of the settlement building was the erection of the memorial stone for Friedrich Ebert on September 25, 1932. The memorial stone from 1931 was made by Fritz Encke . The simple stone was adorned with a bronze plaque with a picture of Ebert's head and the words “Friedrich Ebert.” Other existing construction plans were postponed for the time being due to the global economic crisis and the associated shortage of money, including for the building and savings association.

A third section of the estate was created a few years later in 1937–1939 by the non-profit settlement and housing company , especially on the left and right of Petersallee. True to the guidelines of National Socialist building , the architects used more traditional forms of construction. The houses are provided with pitched roofs instead of flat roofs, and they have also returned from the linear construction to a perimeter block development. The originally planned school building was not built to save money. The arbor colony 'Zurrohlichen Rehberge' also remained, but as a permanent garden colony 'Togo' it was placed under state supervision and also bound by strict guidelines for the design and management of the gardens.

Since 1939

A Eintracht housing company was merged in 1996 with the parent company GAGFAH . After that, the estate belonged directly to GAGFAH before it was taken over by Zentral Boden Immobilien AG (ZBI) in April 2010 .

The total of around 1400 apartments were mostly built in buildings perpendicular to the direction of the street (parallel row construction), which resulted in the creation of green spaces with bush and tree plantings between the buildings. The main distinguishing features of the sub-areas are the loggias belonging to the apartments (Mebes & Emmerich), balconies (Taut) or the lack of them (Harting / Werner). Apart from the green spaces directly in the settlement, the park gives the residents numerous opportunities for recreation in the immediate vicinity.

In World War II, several rows of houses were severely damaged, but repaired in the 1950s. During the Nazi era , the settlement was renamed Eintracht , but was given its original name back in 1949.

While the residents were dominated by long-time tenants until the 1980s, the settlement has enjoyed the interest of young families since the 1990s, but has to cope with increased relocation activities.

Architectural style

The Friedrich-Ebert-Siedlung was built in the New Objectivity style . Facades without ornaments , flat roofs and cubic structural shapes characterize the area. Most of the houses are built in rows. The planners relied on the repetition of the same elements - on the one hand to save building costs and keep the rent cheap - on the other hand to emphasize the principle of equality and collectivism.

literature

  • Jörg Müller: The Friedrich-Ebert-Siedlung in Berlin-Wedding. On the construction and planning history of a residential area in the twenties . In: Workbooks of the Institute for Urban and Regional Planning Technical University Berlin , Issue 52. Berlin 1995. ISSN  0341-1125 .
  • Birgit Willmann: The open spaces of the Friedrich-Ebert-Siedlung in Berlin: retrospective and perspectives . In: Die Gartenkunst , 21, 2/2009, pp. 311–322.

Web links

Commons : Friedrich-Ebert-Siedlung  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Landesdenkmalamt Berlin (Ed.): Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany. Monuments in Berlin. District middle districts Wedding and Gesundbrunnen . Imhof Verlag 2004, ISBN 3-937251-26-X , pp. 240-241.
  2. ↑ Jörg Müller: The Friedrich-Ebert-Siedlung in Berlin-Wedding. On the construction and planning history of a residential area in the twenties . In: Workbooks of the Institute for Urban and Regional Planning Technical University Berlin . No. 52 , 1995, ISSN  0341-1125 , pp. 2 .
  3. ↑ Jörg Müller: The Friedrich-Ebert-Siedlung in Berlin-Wedding. On the construction and planning history of a residential area in the twenties . In: Workbooks of the Institute for Urban and Regional Planning Technical University Berlin . No. 52 , 1995, ISSN  0341-1125 , pp. 3-4 .
  4. ^ A b Jörg Müller: The Friedrich-Ebert-Siedlung in Berlin-Wedding. On the construction and planning history of a residential area in the twenties . In: Workbooks of the Institute for Urban and Regional Planning Technical University Berlin . No. 52 , 1995, ISSN  0341-1125 , pp. 5 .
  5. ↑ a b c d e Mark Hobbs: 'Farmers on notice': the threat faced by Weimar Berlin's garden colonies in the face of the city's Neues Bauen housing program . In: Urban History . tape 39 , no. 02 , May 1, 2012, ISSN  1469-8706 , p. 263–284 , doi : 10.1017 / S0963926812000053 ( cambridge.org [accessed March 22, 2016]).
  6. ↑ Jörg Müller: The Friedrich-Ebert-Siedlung in Berlin-Wedding. On the construction and planning history of a residential area in the twenties . In: Workbooks of the Institute for Urban and Regional Planning Technical University Berlin . No. 52 , 1995, ISSN  0341-1125 , pp. 12-15 .
  7. ↑ a b c d Jörg Müller: The Friedrich-Ebert-Siedlung in Berlin-Wedding. On the construction and planning history of a residential area in the twenties . In: Workbooks of the Institute for Urban and Regional Planning Technical University Berlin . No. 52 , 1995, ISSN  0341-1125 , pp. 49-58 .

Coordinates: 52 ° 33 ′ 29.7 "  N , 13 ° 19 ′ 59.4"  E