Garden city of Münchenstein

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The garden city of Münchenstein is part of the municipality of Münchenstein in the Swiss canton of Basel-Landschaft . It is located a few kilometers south of Basel and, when construction began in 1912 and the residential buildings moved into in 1913, it was the first cooperative garden city settlement in Switzerland .

history

Plan of the garden city of Münchenstein from 1912 by architect Emil Dettwiler
Garden city of Münchenstein

The founding of the Gartenstadt-Bau-Genossenschaft Basel and the surrounding area on June 15, 1912 is a pioneering Swiss act, as there were hardly any comparable undertakings in Switzerland until then. In the constituent meeting, 41 members join the cooperative, and almost 200 will follow in just three years. The Münchenstein Cooperative Garden City, called “Gartenstadt Neu-Mönchenstein”, is an important landmark in modern urban planning in Switzerland, even if only part of the ambitious project could be implemented at the time.

The Basel architect Emil Dettwiler tackled the first drafts and plans in the summer of 1912. Dettwiler was also Vice President of the cooperative and thus has extensive influence on all planning. He can be described as the most important initiator and spiritual father of the project. The original settlement project has building land of around 112,000 square meters on the plateau between Ruchfeld and Reinach and thus east of the Bruderholz hill. In the publications of the cooperative there is talk of 500 families to be settled, which would have meant around 2500 to 3000 people at that time. In 1912, architect Dettwiler designed not only the individual buildings, but also the entire layout of the garden city with newly designed streets on the previously undeveloped site. Up to 300 residential buildings, streets and a market square are to be built here. On September 4, 1912, the first sod was broken for the construction of a large avenue. Three months later, the first building application for ten row houses was submitted and the first group of houses was built from January 1913. The row houses in the garden city are architecturally designed individually: Each of the five actually built groups of single and multi-family row houses shows different roof shapes, floor plan solutions and facade details.

After Dettwiler resigned from the board of directors of the cooperative and his retirement as a planner of the garden city in the years around 1914/15, A. Zoller took over the detailed planning first, followed by Emil Kramer, both architects from Basel. Their designs are somewhat calmer in terms of the building volume and more subtle in terms of decor, but they do not lack the varied details that Dettwiler previously added to his buildings. By 1920, a total of 36 buildings had been built in the northern section of the area and along Blumenstrasse. In addition to a spacious kitchen-cum-living room and a bathroom, each of the houses in the countryside comprised four to five rooms and one or two attics. Small white ornamental gardens face the street, and a larger fruit and vegetable garden is attached to the rear. The streets themselves are curved, which gives the settlement its picturesque character and draws attention.

From 1920 the presidium of the cooperative complained about loss-making business through unsubsidized building of its own and the "shooting up of cheap single-family houses in urban areas". Apparently, the standard of construction in Münchenstein was so high that the budgeted construction prices were significantly exceeded. With a main project that was only just beginning, the endeavor Gartenstadt-Bau-Genossenschaft Basel and surroundings ended in an economic disaster in 1923.

Monument preservation

Some of the houses in the garden city have been preserved in their original structure. The 36 buildings belonging to the settlement are part of the cantonal building inventory; In addition, the municipality of Münchenstein has issued strict building regulations that are intended to preserve the overall appearance that has evolved over time.

literature

  • Emil Dettwiler: The garden city of Neu-Mönchenstein. A contribution to solving the housing issue in Basel with special consideration of medium-sized apartments. Basel 1912.
  • Program of the Gartenstadt-Bau-Genossenschaft Basel and surroundings. Basel 1912.
  • Annual reports of the Gartenstadt-Bau-Genossenschaft Basel and surroundings. Basel 1913 to 1923.
  • Tilo Richter: Light, air and calm in the country. The Gartenstadt-Bau-Genossenschaft Basel and the surrounding area was founded 100 years ago. , in: Basler Zeitung of March 27, 2012, pp. 31–33.
  • Raphael Sollberger: Gartenstadt settlement, Münchenstein BL. Reform architecture based on European models. Building history and appreciation. Cantonal Monument Preservation Basel-Landschaft, April 2, 2012. [unpublished typescript]

Coordinates: 47 ° 31 ′ 10 "  N , 7 ° 36 ′ 16"  E ; CH1903:  612,499  /  263201