Nordbad (Erfurt)
The Nordbad Erfurt is a historic bathing establishment from the 1920s and was then one of the largest and most modern outdoor pools in Germany. It lies north of the Wilhelminian-era belt of Erfurt in an arch of the Gera on the edge of the Nordpark .
architecture
The original architecture of the Nordbad was typical of the reform movement of the 1920s and was based on the ideas of Dutch Expressionism , the Stuttgart School and the Weimar Bauhaus . Towards the north park, it was a 114 m long, symmetrical building with sweeping, sloping roofs, horizontal cornices and rows of windows based on the principles of the Prairie Houses by the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright . The two-storey central building contained the checkout area and a restaurant on the ground floor, which was fully glazed on the bathroom side, and an apartment on the upper floor. On the park side, a flat-roofed pillar hall was in front of it. On the right and left were the changing rooms for women and men, which were lit by skylights based on the model of the house on the Horn in Weimar. At their ends, side wings for the shower rooms that bent at right angles were connected to the bathroom side and encompassed an upper terrace. The outer walls were plastered smooth and painted white, the roof overhangs were paneled horizontally with wood. The windows were divided into wooden bars with horizontal panes.
The approximately 100 m long and 55 m wide swimming pool was arranged axially to the entrance building and was a few meters lower, with the height difference being overcome by a 12-step grandstand system with 4 stairs. It was built from limestone stones.
Due to its uniqueness, the Nordbad building was designated as a cultural monument under the Thuringian Monument Protection Act and was one of the most important examples of new building in Erfurt.
history
Before the First World War, work began on building a "Kaiser Wilhelm Park" north of the Andreasvorstadt, which is mainly inhabited by working-class families, and the Johannisvorstadt to improve living conditions. The project was continued after 1919 as "Nordpark". In August 1921, the Unemployment Committee sent an urgent request to the City of Erfurt's magistrate to immediately start major construction projects to combat unemployment. It was agreed to build a spacious modern swimming pool with a 100 m long swimming pool and "sun and air bath" in the north park. The planning was in the hands of the city administration. The "Free Swimmers" and " Free Gymnastics " sports movements also contributed to the financing through the sale of building blocks.
The earthworks began in 1923, employing an average of 100 people and moving 60,000 m³ of earth to excavate the pit for the basin, build a flood protection dam against the Gera and backfill old gravel pits. On August 12, 1925, the inauguration and provisional opening of the north bath followed. By the end of the bathing season, 30,000 visitors had come and 370,000 in the following year.
In 1929 the entrance building with the changing rooms for around 3500 people and the grandstand for 3000 spectators was built. Planning and execution was carried out by the municipal building department under the direction of Johannes Klass by his employees, Magistratsoberbaurat Paul Stegemann and Baurat Höck.
As the second largest open-air swimming pool in Germany, the Nordbad soon gained importance that extended far beyond central Germany and, with numerous national and international events, contributed to developing Erfurt into a stronghold of swimming. The "SV Empor Erfurt" and the "BSG Turbine" trained there. In the Olympic year 1936 a swimming competition between Germany and Great Britain took place there. At the end of the 1940s, the future European champion Jutta Langenau prepared her international career in Nordbad.
In 1953, a special sports pool with a length of 50 m was separated from the large pool, as the 50 m pool became the international standard for swimming championships. A few years later a boiler house was built to heat the lap pool.
In 1997 the city of Erfurt transferred the Nordbad to the Erfurt municipal utilities , a 100% subsidiary of the city. The operation of the bath took over in 2003, as a subsidiary of the Stadtwerke Erfurt, the Thüringer Freizeit und Bäder GmbH (TFB). In 2006, Thüringer Freizeit und Bäder GmbH, with the former Mayor of Erfurt Manfred Ruge as managing director, closed the Nordbad due to extensive technical deficiencies in the water basins and confronted the public with plans for a final shutdown.
On May 10, 2007, a support association was founded, which was finally able to enforce a council resolution in March 2008 to maintain and renovate the pool at the current location through collections of signatures and several demonstrations.
However, as decided by the city council, the Stadtwerke applied for the listed entrance building to be torn down as part of the renovation for cost reasons and received a demolition permit from the city of Erfurt as the lower monument authority in summer 2008. This has led to protests on the part of the head of the monument authority Stefan Winghart , the Erfurt history association and the population. The cultural monument was demolished in November 2008.
On June 24, 2010, the completely new facility was reopened.
literature
- P. Böttger: Newer public baths . In: Journal for the construction industry . Vol. 75, Issue 4–6, Berlin 1925, p. 63.
- Thüringer Allgemeine Zeitung: The new public bath in Erfurt , Erfurt July 16, 1925.
- Helmut Peinhardt: The Erfurt bathing system in the 19th and 20th centuries . In: From the history of the city of Erfurt . Erfurt 1959, pp. 33-61.
- Martin Baumann: The north park in Erfurt . In: From the work of the Thuringian State Office for Monument Preservation . Workbook of the Thuringian State Office for Monument Preservation. New episode 13.1, Altenburg 2003, pp. 16-25.
- Martin Baumann: The Nordpark - a people's park in Erfurt . In: Messages of the association for the history and antiquity of Erfurt . Volume 69 (2008), pp. 140-159.
- Steffen Raßloff : One of the most beautiful baths in Germany . In: Thuringian General . Erfurt, June 24, 2010 (special page on the reopening)
- Vera Dähnert: North bathing entrance: Dispute over demolition . In: Thuringian General . Erfurt, April 15, 2008.
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 59 ′ 36.7 ″ N , 11 ° 1 ′ 12.1 ″ E