Ceramic house

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Ceramic house, around 1912
Gable field with the mosaic "Mining and metallurgy" (design: Heinrich Phieler)
Facade frieze made of ceramic (design: Karl Lorch)
current building (2013)

The ceramic house was an office and commercial building in Essen , on the property at Flachsmarkt 2 ( Kettwiger Strasse 64 since 1996 ) in the city ​​center . The building was built between 1910 and 1912 and later reused and completely changed several times. The eponymous facade jewelry from ceramics - reliefs was 1934/1935 almost completely removed during renovations. The house, which was badly damaged in the Second World War , was rebuilt in a simplified manner.

Two original ceramic reliefs were preserved under the plaster that was applied later; after their rediscovery on September 8, 1994, they were placed under monument protection.

history

The ceramic house was built in 1910–1912 as an office and commercial building with exhibition rooms by the company Keramische Centrale für Rheinland und Westfalen AG based on a design by the Essen architect Alfons Stinnesbeck . The “Ceramic Central” was under the artistic direction of Otto Schulze , the then director of the Elberfeld School of Crafts and Applied Arts . It was a company in the building and art ceramics industry with a ceramics factory that produced chimneys, stoves and fountains, art and luxury ceramics, architecture and garden ceramics. The entire facade was decorated with colored glazed ceramic reliefs. Some of the office space was rented to the city of Essen, including the offices of the municipal building administration.

Bankruptcy proceedings were opened as early as 1913 via the Keramische Centrale für Rheinland und Westfalen AG . During the First World War , the ceramics house was, among other things, the municipal reference point for food and clothing.

In 1920 the first seat of the post office opened in Essen in the ceramic house. At the beginning of March 1929, the Konsumverein Wohlfahrt (later Gewa or Konsum-Genossenschaft ) acquired the building, which opened the Wohlfahrt department store in it on October 26, 1929 .

After the ceramic house in 1934 as part of the DC circuit of the German consumer cooperatives as a house of work or Gauwirtschaftsgebäude to the German Labor Front had fallen (DAF), was removed the entire ceramic jewelry in 1935 in the rehabilitation and restoration. In addition, after the demolition of older neighboring buildings, the house was expanded to include the entire building block (Flachsmarkt / Fontänengasse / Königstrasse / Chausseestrasse). The show facade was 1936/1937 a four-story bay window with sculptures. Window frames, bay windows and sculptures were made of Mayen basalt lava . Workers' heads and handicraft signs on the bay window were created based on models by a Munich sculptor. In the atrium a hall of honor was built for the victims of the labor , adorned with decorations of the movement , flags of the workers' sacrifice and tools of the miners . The building was almost destroyed in the Second World War . After the war, the facade was given a new, light-colored plaster with dark window frames. On July 29, 1952, the war damage repairs were completed. From December 1, 1948 to 1960, the house served as the administration building of the employment office . The furniture store Westmöbel was located there from 1961 to 1993 .

Only two ceramic wall reliefs remained from the original building decoration, which were discovered as the last trace of the ceramic house during renovation work in 1994 between the ground floor and the first floor.

Architecture and equipment

Eduard Berdel explains that the building is an example of “ modern endeavors to fully evaluate ceramics for architectural purposes” - “What is modern and enduring to be created here [...] Modern weatherproof shards, modern weatherproof glazes are plentiful [...] This is not the case a modern task in the best sense of the word? ". Nevertheless, regional building materials and methods of construction (“like in the old days!”) And regional architects were stuck to, as is typical for the purpose and characteristic of homeland security architecture . Berdel names various Elberfeld and Essen artists and craftsmen - from the Elberfeld School of Applied Arts : the Elberfeld sculptor Carl Mersch, the Elberfeld painter Heinrich Phieler, the Elberfeld painter Walter Kampmann , the Essen painter Karl Lorch, the Elberfeld arts and crafts Johann Windrath, Rudolf Dahmann and Willy Rudioff . The facade was adorned with a large mosaic of mining and metallurgy (design by painter Heinrich Phieler). Colored, glazed, figural reliefs and medallions on the facade illustrate the idea of ​​using regional building materials and to revive and spread the brick building. The regional building material ceramics and brick construction gained "a real central importance also for the general ceramic arts and crafts in the mentioned provinces."

In his essay Die "Keramische Centrale" in Essen, Eduard Berdel described the building in which ceramics were used in combination with glass mosaic as architectural decoration ("Use of modern ceramics [...] combined with glass mosaic"). All four façades and the interiors of several floors were decorated.

In the building there was a large atrium in glass mosaic with a fountain (design by GA Becker in Treptow , execution by Puhl & Wagner in Berlin). The facade was adorned with ceramic, brown, flamed stoneware fillings and cornices, tiles and sandstone putti on the 2nd and 3rd floors (design by painter Walter Kampmann, model by Karl Mersch). Other architectural decorations were large, generous, matt-tinted friezes (Karl Lorch).

reception

In the publication Essen. Ready to work! Happy to rest! , which was published by the tourist office in 1913, the building was mentioned as a sight .

“Ceramic house. Essen Ruhr Flachsmarkt under the artistic direction of the arts and crafts school director Otto Schulze, Elberfeld. First generously and artistically managed company of its kind in the building and ceramic art industry in Germany. The Keramikhaus, the ceramic center's own business and exhibition building, is a top attraction. It offers the most outstanding products from the first leading manufacturers at home and abroad. Fireplaces, stoves and fountains, art and luxury ceramics, architectural and garden ceramics. "

- Tourist office: Essen. Ready to work! Happy to rest! [Ceramic Central for Rhineland and Westphalia AG]

The ceramic house is also the subject of more recent architecture guides, such as by Holger Krüssmann:

“It was named after the rich ceramic jewelry […] During the First World War, it housed the municipal ticket office for food and clothing. 1929 Takeover by the 'Konsumverein Wohlfahrt', later 'Gewa'. In 1934 the facade was removed for the conversion to the NS-Gauwirtschaftsgebäude; the house was almost destroyed in the war. 1948-60 seat of the employment office, until 1993 furniture store Westmöbel. At the same time, the architect Stinnesbeck built the striking residential complex at Ruhrallee 10 in the Molkeviertel. "

literature

  • Eduard Berdel: The “Ceramic Central” in Essen. In: Interior decoration, the entire art of living in pictures and words , year 1913, pp. 273–282. ( Digitized version of Heidelberg University Library)
  • Alexander Koch (Hrsg.): The "ceramic house" of the ceramic center for Rhineland and Westphalia AG Essen-Ruhr. Verlagsanstalt Alexander Koch, Darmstadt 1913. (Special print from the magazine Interior Decoration, all of the art of living in words and pictures )
  • Tourist association for the city and district of Essen eV (Hrsg.): Essen. Ready to work! Happy to rest! Dedicated to visitors to the city by the tourist association for the city and district of Essen. HL Geck, Essen 1913.
  • Holger Krüssmann: Architecture in Essen 1900–1960. Klartext-Verlag, Essen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8375-0246-6 . (edited by Berger Bergmann and Peter Brdenk)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Monument index card of the Lower Monument Authority Essen (PDF, 926 kB)
  2. ^ List of members of the German Werkbund (DWB) 1912
  3. ^ Tonindustrie-Zeitung and Keramische Rundschau , 37th year 1913, p. 1766.
  4. ↑ Postbank high-rise in Essen's list of monuments ; accessed on July 21, 2017
  5. ↑ a b Krüssmann: Architecture in Essen 1900-1960 , p. 86, No. 29 [ceramic house, architect: Alfons Stinnesbeck, built in 1912, location: center, Kettwiger Straße 64]
  6. ↑ a b “It is no coincidence that modern efforts to fully evaluate ceramics for architectural purposes have found a focus right in the middle of the liveliest industrial area. The difficulties that the climate and unclean air cause the building material there may have contributed to the efforts to create something modern and lasting [...] Modern weatherproof shards, modern weatherproof glazes are plentiful [...] They should be happy and fresh processed by the artist - as in the old days! [...] Isn't this a modern task in the best sense of the word? - “(Source: Eduard Berdel: Die“ Keramische Centrale ”in Essen . In: Interior decoration: my home, my pride; all of the art of living in pictures and words , 1913, pp. 273–282. Online )
  7. ^ A b Eduard Berdel: The "Ceramic Central" in Essen . In: Interior decoration: my home, my pride; the entire art of living in pictures and words , 1913, pp. 273–282. ( online )
  8. ↑ "Since the experience and efforts of the artistic advisory board Otto Schulze succeeded in using the first ceramic works at home and partly abroad to implement his ideas [...] But for the industrial area and the difficult and rich tasks that the architects have here are placed, the efforts of the Centrale and the splendid example [...] are of the greatest importance for the future. And since she sells ceramics from home and abroad [...] in the beautiful interiors of her ceramic house, she has also gained a real central role for the general ceramic arts and crafts in the aforementioned provinces. Its modern cultural activity should the industry rich West call a hearty good luck "(Source: Eduard Berdel. The" Ceramic Centrale "in Essen . In: interior decoration, the entire apartment art in image and word , born 1913, pp 273-282. Digitalisat the Heidelberg University Library)
  9. ↑ "How warm and" crispy "these brown, flamed fillings and cornices greet us, how calm and happy the view of the generous, matt-tinted friezes rests!" (Source: Eduard Berdel: Die "Keramische Centrale" in Essen . In: Interior decoration, the entire art of living in pictures and words , born in 1913, pp. 273–282. Digital copy from Heidelberg University Library)
  10. ^ Tourist association for the city and district of Essen eV (ed.): Essen. Ready to work! Happy to rest! Dedicated to visitors to the city by the tourist association for the city and district of Essen. HL Geck, Essen 1913, p. 13.

Coordinates: 51 ° 27 ′ 27.7 "  N , 7 ° 0 ′ 47"  E