Glass Palace (Emden)
The glass palaces are an early 1970s erected building complex in Emden district Barenburg . The two houses, each with eleven floors, were the largest residential buildings in East Friesland when they were built. One of the two houses was demolished in 2013, the other renovated. The building that has been preserved is still the tallest residential building in East Frisia to this day (2020).
Description and history
At the beginning of the 1970s, the Emden town planners expected a strong increase in population, which led to strong residential construction activity, especially in the Barenburg district. In 1973 and 1974 , the housing association Neue Heimat had a building complex built on Klein-von-Diepold-Strasse. The residential complex consisted of two identical residential buildings with 160 apartments and was soon known under the name of "Glass Palaces" due to the way it was built. The two elongated houses were parallel to each other and were built according to Dutch models using lightweight construction. Each of the buildings was about 40 meters high and 120 meters long. The inner development was via two stairwells and two outer arcades. The size and architecture of the residential complex differed from all residential complexes built in East Friesland to date.
The residential complex was initially considered a showpiece for social housing, but was later seen as a building sin from the 1970s and became a social hotspot in the course of its existence . Already in the mid-1980s, consideration was given to dismantling the residential buildings to five floors. In November 1999 Barenburg was included in the Social City funding program in order to improve the living environment with various measures.
In 2003 a Berlin real estate fund acquired the western building in need of renovation with a vacancy rate of up to 80%, whereupon the situation deteriorated significantly again in the following years. In 2008, the gas supply to the property was suspended for more than a month due to high outstanding amounts, and the management company withdrew from its contract. After years of negotiations, the city of Emden took over the western block of flats from the real estate company in 2013 for a symbolic euro and had it torn down. The cost of the demolition work was initially estimated at around 1.5 million euros, but later only estimated at around 600,000 euros.
The area on which the western apartment block stood was redesigned into a park-like facility and the eastern apartment block was renovated and redesigned in 2017/18 for around 1.2 million euros.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Emder “Glaspalast” breaks - a symbol of social problems at neuepresse.de , January 15, 2013
- ↑ Gabriele Boschbach: High, higher, highest , In: Ostfriesen-Zeitung, August 4, 2020, p. 7.
- ↑ Demolition of the highest house in East Friesland has begun , In: Submissions-Anzeiger , No. 115
- ↑ Case studies , In: Transdisciplinary security strategies for the police, housing companies and municipalities , Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office
- ↑ Security in the living environment - Documentation of the inspections and observations , In: Transdisciplinary security strategies for the police, housing companies and municipalities , Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office, p. 46.
- ↑ Case study “ Socially Integrative City”: Emden-Barenburg at staedtebaufoerderung.info
- ↑ Scrap real estate: What to do with buildings that nobody needs anymore? , DSK | BIG BAU group of companies
- ↑ Glaspalast owners fear bankruptcy , In: Emder Zeitung , 4th August 2008
- ↑ Heiko Müller: Glaspalast administrator throws in the towel , In: General-Anzeiger , August 30, 2008
- ↑ Small question from MP Manfred Sohn with answer, received on March 28, 2012, Lower Saxony State Parliament - 16th electoral period, Drucksache 16/4785.
- ↑ a b Demolition of a residential complex at Klein-von-Diepold-Straße 9/15/17 in Emden-Barenburg
- ↑ Dirk Hellmers: "Glaspalast" gets a new face , In: Ostfriesen-Zeitung , December 5, 2017