Oberpostdirektion Dresden (building)

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The Oberpostdirektion around 1890, on the left the no longer existing wing on Annenstrasse, on the right the wing to Am See
The building wing Am See, 2013
Facade detail with reference to an entrance to an air raid shelter

The building of the Oberpostdirektion Dresden with address Postplatz 2 in Dresden was built from 1876 in several construction stages on behalf of the Imperial Post Office on a plot of land on Annenstrasse between Marienstrasse and Am See . With its striking street front and the two corner buildings, together with the neighboring telegraph office , it shaped the image of the Postplatz from 1906 . It was badly damaged and partly destroyed by the air raids on Dresden in 1945. The wings on Annenstrasse and Marienstraße were torn down down to the basement level in 1952, while the wing on Strasse Am See was simply restored and made usable.

history

In connection with the reorganization of the postal system after the establishment of the Empire in 1871 and the growing demands on postal traffic, the Imperial Post Office decided to build a spacious service and administration building on a plot of land on Annenstrasse / Marienstraße, which, in addition to the Oberpostdirektion, also the Oberpostkasse and a Customs department should take up. In 1887, the Post acquired the properties at Annenstrasse 3 and 5 and Marienstrasse 27 to 29 for 1,685,000  marks . The planning and project planning work extended over several years and was carried out in cooperation with three renowned architects of the time: the Berlin government and building councilor Professor Carl Schwatlo , the royal Saxon agricultural master Adolph Canzler and the royal Saxon regional master builder Carl Christian Zopff (1835– 1922).

Originally, Carl Schwatlo and Adolph Canzler planned a two-story building with a simple facade. After the postal and telegraph administration had been merged and the planned establishment of a joint construction department for the two Saxon higher post offices in Dresden and Leipzig, the decision was made to fundamentally revise the design and the builder Carl Zopff was chosen as the architect. Difficulties arose during construction due to the subsoil (originally there was a lake or parts of the city moat), which made it necessary to reinforce the foundations.

Between 1876 and 1881 the monumental main building Annenstraße / Am See was built with three floors and two side wings. The facade design was based on similar public buildings of the time in the style of the Italian Renaissance. The construction costs amounted to 1.1 million marks.

After the old post house of the Saxon post office in the immediate vicinity was no longer sufficient despite several renovations, a new house was added to the building of the Oberpostdirektion from 1901 to 1906, which after its completion took up the post office Dresden 1. The facade design was based on the already existing part of the building, with the corner at Postplatz (Marienstraße / Annenstraße) being architecturally emphasized by a striking building crowned by a dome. For this extension, other older buildings, including the well-known “Goldener Ring” inn, had to give way. In 1927/28 another new building was built in the inner courtyard between the two buildings, which housed the telegraph office.

As a result of the 8th annual exhibition of German work in Dresden "Travel and Hiking" , the cultural history museum Sächsische Poststube was created from 1929 onwards . It was located in the Oberpostdirektion and was relocated to Schieritz Castle due to the war. A part of the collection was lost due to looting or was destroyed.

At the beginning of 1945 the post office building was badly damaged and partially destroyed. Of the main building and the side wings on Annenstrasse and Marienstraße, only the foundations and parts of the base with the stairway entrances are preserved, while the rear wing still extends to the first floor. The rear buildings in the inner courtyard were also preserved. At the intersection of Postplatz and Marienstraße, a work of art by Heidemarie Dreßel has been a reminder of the events of the popular uprising in the GDR that took place at the post office on June 17, 1953. The memorial plaque attached to the base of the main building in 1993 has been kept in the lapidarium of the state capital of Dresden ever since.

Between 2016 and 2019, a residential and commercial building with 246 rental apartments and four commercial units was built on the site. The preserved wing of the building on the lake was included and part of the old building was reconstructed. The historic building was supplemented by two new buildings on the right and left. The total investment was around 60 million euros.

description

Building sketch of the view from Annenstrasse, 1878
Ground floor plan of the Oberpostdirections building

The building of the Oberpostdirektion was a three-story two-wing building in the style of eclecticism . The central building at the corner of Marienstraße / Annenstraße was designed as a corner risalit that housed the main entrance of the building. The entire central building showed columns in a colossal order with a Palladi motif . In particular because of “the exedra motif , this building is obliged to Semper ”.

The corner building was flanked on two sides by the side wings facing Marienstraße and Straße Am See. These were each framed by two uniaxial side projections. The ground floor zone showed rustication while the upper floors had grooves . The arched windows were decorated with ornamental shapes in the style of the High Renaissance. The reserves showed orders of pilasters . The spandrels of the arched windows were decorated with a Palladian motif, panes and reclining figures.

“Nowhere has anything gone beyond what is necessary or appropriate; In particular, with regard to the furnishing of the company apartments, any expenditure that exceeds the customary locality has been kept away [...] If it is correct that the architecture most faithfully reflects the public conditions and conditions and in particular the cultural advances of a time, then this building will also be, which now forms a new ornament of the royal Saxon residence city so preferred by art and nature, recognition cannot be denied that it is at the height of its time and that it is in the current cultural epoch, which particularly characterizes the great development of the transport system corresponds in every respect. "

- Announcement from the Imperial Post Office on the opening of the new Oberpostdirektion

literature

  • Volker Helas : Architecture in Dresden 1800–1900. Verlag der Kunst Dresden, Dresden 1991, ISBN 3-364-00261-4 , pp. 84, 170 (Oberpostdirektion, Annenstrasse / Am See 1878 von Zopff) and p. 200 (Zopff, Carl.Buildings: → Oberpostdirektion Annenstrasse (1878 ), destroyed; extension from 1903).
  • Paul Eichhorn: The post office on Postplatz in Dresden: for the 100th anniversary. Post Office Directorate, 1933.
  • Friedrich Kummer (Hrsg.): Dresden and the Elbe area. around 1905–1910, p. 112. ( Digitized in the Google book search)
  • German Society for Postal and Telecommunication History: The archive. Issues 1–4, 2006, p. 67 ff.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ MDR : Traces of February 13, 1945 in Dresden ( Memento of the original from February 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mdr.de
  2. ^ Matthias Lerm : Farewell to the old Dresden - Loss of historical building fabric after 1945. Forum Verlag, Leipzig 1993.
  3. ↑ Rudi Warnatsch: The Postplatz between yesterday and today. In: Sächsischer Bote. August 2005.
  4. ↑ http://www.kmkbuecholdt.de/historisches/haben/architekten_zif.htm
  5. ↑ Reinhard Göttner: Much jewelry and pomp - royal and Saxon post offices built in the center of Dresden. In: Saxon newspaper. September 7, 2006.
  6. ^ CG Gruppe AG: Residence at Postplatz. Retrieved May 24, 2019 .
  7. ↑ The last eyesore on Postplatz disappears , saechsische.de, August 31, 2014; accessed on August 31, 2014
  8. ↑ Bettina Klemm: Living in the Oberpostdirektion . In: Saxon newspaper . February 13, 2015 ( saechsische.de [accessed April 13, 2020]).
  9. ↑ a b cf. Volker Helas: Architecture in Dresden 1800–1900 . Verlag der Kunst Dresden, Dresden 1991, ISBN 3-364-00261-4 , p. 170. (Oberpostdirektion, Annenstraße / Am See 1878 by Zopff)
  10. ↑ Volker Helas: Architecture in Dresden 1800–1900 . Verlag der Kunst Dresden, Dresden 1991, p. 58.

Web links

Commons : Oberpostdirektion Dresden  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 2 ′ 59 "  N , 13 ° 43 ′ 52"  E