Otto Streicher (architect)

Colony Sihlfeldstrasse of the ABZ at Bullingerplatz

Otto Engelbert Streicher (born March 11, 1887 in Zurich ; † September 27, 1968 there ) was a Swiss architect and cinema owner.

Life

Otto Streicher, son of Katerina Streicher-Scheu and Engelbert Streicher, a carpenter from Baden-Württemberg , grew up as the second son of four children at Niederdorfstrasse 5 in Zurich . In 1901 the family who immigrated from Germany was naturalized. From 1904 to 1924 the parents ran the “Annaburg” guesthouse on the Uetliberg ; Otto Streicher spent part of his youth there.

After completing his training as a construction technician , Otto Streicher enrolled in the structural engineering department at the Technikum Winterthur and graduated in 1905 with a diploma as an architect. He then worked for the architects Pflegehard und Haefeli and during this time contributed to the design of the “Sunneschy” country house in Stäfa .

In the following years he devoted himself to cooperative housing construction and became the trusted architect of the “ Allgemeine Baugenossenschaft Zürich ” (ABZ). Between 1920 and 1930 he built 16 settlements with over 885 apartments. He also pursued a military career and was appointed officer in 1911. During the active service at the time of the Second World War, Otto Streicher was regimental commander with the rank of colonel .

In 1919 Otto Streicher married Emma Jori and had three children with her. After working for the ABZ, he devoted himself to private construction and investment projects and, in addition to his work as an architect, was also the owner of properties and operator of his own cinema theaters. He later founded the STEO Foundation , which made a contribution to the benefit of young cultural workers and scientists. Otto Streicher died on September 27, 1968 in Zurich.

Cooperative building

At the end of the 19th century, Zurich experienced a boom , which led to speculative development and resulted in overpriced apartments. As a result, large parts of the population lived sublet, often close to one another and often in precarious hygienic conditions. A movement emerged that called for social and political urban development forms and introduced the new architecture .

Against this background, cooperatives were founded in the socialist ruled Zurich that wanted to offer the working class decent apartments. In 1916, the “Allgemeine Baugenossenschaft Zürich” (ABZ), for which Otto Streicher worked as an architect for ten years, came into being. He designed new forms of living and building and contrasted them with the conventional building blocks. In the brochure Our fight against the housing shortage published by the ABZ , Otto Streicher wrote the essay Efforts with regard to building activity in 1918, describing the principles of cooperative building. Many of the block perimeter developments with inner courtyards in districts 3, 4 and 5 go back to Otto Streicher's work.

Building principles

Otto Streicher described simple and functional floor plans and a simple and solid construction as principles for cooperative building, on the one hand, and comfortable living, detached from luxury, conventional and durable building materials and "well-proportioned" forms on the other. In his essay, Efforts with regard to building activity , he described: "The external appearance should be traced back to the simplest, but this does not prevent individual jewelry from being attached to the facade."

In order to build as sparingly as possible, he propagated settlements that consist of the same type of house and whose focus is on public spaces - for example inner courtyards with playgrounds. In addition, every apartment should have access to a garden that could serve as both an ornamental and a kitchen garden. In his essay, Otto Streicher took the view that, in contrast to the tendencies of modernity, there is no generally valid form of living and construction, but rather that building must preserve individualism. He described four exemplary prototypes of cooperative residential buildings: the row single-family house, the double single-family house, the detached single - family house and the municipal apartment building .

Key works

1928/1929: Sihlfeld I / II residential colonies, Aussersihl, Zurich; ABZ

Otto Streicher's key work was created in 1928. With the Sihlfeld housing estate , he created affordable and humane living space, which at the same time preserved individualism. The closed five-storey courtyard development had to take into account a building in the middle. The southern end building formed the striking front to Bullingerplatz . The dominance of the street front was emphasized by the symmetrical structure of the facade and the use of public functions on the ground floor and made direct reference to the representative square. All bay windows along the streets were painted with abstract color patterns and figurative, mostly rural motifs by Wilhelm Hartung . The house entrances were also accentuated with a play of colored areas. For the ABZ , this building embodied the true expression of cooperative housing and urban development, it is now a listed building , which is however discussed in court.

1929: Sihlporte 3, District 1, Zurich

Zurich - Sihlporte, Streichers Bau on the right in the picture

This was the first commercial building that Otto Streicher realized as an architect and builder. Initially, he planned an eleven-storey tower that would have lifted the Sihlporte from the perspective of the mere peripheral development. However, the building authorities rejected the project. Instead - in the spirit of the emerging modernity - a simple reinforced concrete building with a facade structure emphasized in the horizontal direction was created.

The architecture with its dolomite marble facade also took on a bourgeois design language due to the posh location on the “Sihlporte” . Otto Streicher set up an apartment on the fifth floor, which he moved into with his family in Italy after spending a year and a half . In 2010 the listed former EPA warehouse was renovated by Tilla Theus und Partner AG, Zurich.

1930: Kanzleistrasse residential colony, Aussersihl, Zurich; ABZ

With this block perimeter building, Otto Streicher created a counter-proposal to the previously common commercial courtyards. The residential colony consisted of five row houses and two green inner courtyards, which are available for playgrounds and idyllic gardens. The corner houses were left out in favor of better ventilation of the individual apartments - urban planning interventions that responded to the hygienic building forms and questioned the conventional speculative building block . The facade design was also characteristic: a simple interplay of continuous cornices and various openings.

1935: Former “Modelia” store and “Kino Rex”, District 1, Zurich

This contemporary building blended in with the architecture of Bahnhofstrasse due to its simplicity and rigor and at the same time corresponded to the creative spirit of the time. Even during its construction, the town house received numerous praise for the innovative use of materials and new technologies. For example, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung wrote : The Rex-Bau is the work of a generously thinking architect who is open to everything new and who has enriched the city with a building that meets modern requirements. The Rex Theater is undoubtedly the most beautiful and best-equipped of its kind in Switzerland ”.

The commercial building with the "Rex" cinema was built in just five months . As with the “Sihlporte”, Otto Streicher opted for a dolomite marble facade with a similarly simple structure: a block on pilasters with a separate ground floor area, which is occupied by a generous showcase . With a curve towards Beatengasse, the building turned off and enclosed the block.

The main entrance was staged with a variety of lights. From here the visitor passed the ticket booth into a foyer clad in maple wood and via a marble staircase to the theater and cinema hall. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung described the interior as follows: “It is not the atmosphere of the cinema, but the elegance of the auditorium of a theater that fills the Rex. And the state-of-the-art stage also shows that it doesn't just want to be a cinema. The stage house is more than twice the height of the stage section and contains a complete cord floor with 20 pulls for decorations and lighting, an iron curtain, a main curtain, a veil curtain and a circular horizon. A new type of variable screen [...] can be adjusted to any size by push-button operation. A special lift transports the artistic staff comfortably and quickly from the brilliantly furnished cloakroom to the stage. [...] The large orchestra room can be automatically retracted and can be brought up to the height of the auditorium or the stage as desired [...]. »

On October 6, 1935, the Cinema-Varieté-Theater Kino Rex opened with a gala at which the famous Viennese ladies' orchestra of Alma Rosé also performed. Otto Streicher ran the cinema himself for years. It closed its doors on April 15, 1976; the entire construction was transferred to the fashion house " Modelia ", whose clothing store used the office building until 2007.

Investing, Charitable and Cultural Promotion Activities and Foundations

During the economic depression and the crisis and war years, Otto Streicher acquired several properties on Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse - including the Rex, ABC and Scala cinemas, which he himself also ran successfully. In 1947 he also acquired the Hotel Schweizerhof Zurich on Bahnhofplatz in Zurich. The investment risks taken should prove to be a real hit; the increase in the value of his properties enabled Otto Streicher to make generous donations in the field of cultural funding .

In 1964 he founded the STEO Foundation with start-up capital that was increased by a considerable amount in 1971 by his widow Emma Streicher-Jori. The purpose of the foundation states: “The foundation serves to support, promote and reward ambitious talents residing in the canton or those who are entitled to their homeland in the fields of literature, art and science who cannot complete their training without financial help or who only carry out their work under difficult circumstances can », it says in the foundation charter of March 21, 1964. And further:« Artists, writers and scientists in need may also be supported. Awards in the form of financial donations may also be given to writers, artists and scientists who are not in distress. " In line with its guiding principles, the STEO Foundation supports a large number of people and helped implement around 1900 projects by 2015. The support contributions often went to as yet unknown, young people in training, such as Bice Curiger , Hans Josephsohn , Christoph Marthaler , Fredi M. Murer , Hans Ulrich Obrist or Irene Schweizer .

In 1966 Otto Streicher also founded the Fidelio Fund Foundation with the old gentlemen's association of the “Turnverein Technikum Winterthur” - with the following objective: “The purpose of the foundation is to provide support to students of the ZHAW who are financially tight, poor or in need through no fault of their own ”. After Otto Streicher death, Emma Streicher-Jori donated a large sum to her home community Airolo in 1976 and made it possible to build a public swimming pool. Subsequently, the couple was awarded honorary citizenship of the municipality of Airolo.

Works (selection)

• Participation in the development plan competition for Greater Zurich, draft with reward , 1915–1918
• Birchstrasse residential colony, Oerlikon , ABZ, Zurich, 1920, (replaced in 1972)
• Albisrieden residential colony, Albisrieden, ABZ, Zurich, 1920, (today Siemens AG)
• Wiedikon residential colony, Wiedikon , ABZ, Zurich, 1921, (replaced in 1975)
• Forchstrasse / Russenweg residential colony, Riesbach, ABZ, Zurich, 1922
• Balberstrasse residential colony, Wollishofen , ABZ, Zurich, 1923, (replaced 2013–2015)
• Residential colony Schaffhauserstrasse, Unterstrass , ABZ, Zurich, 1923
• Leutholdstrasse residential colony, Wipkingen , ABZ, Zurich, 1924
• Bremgartenstrasse residential colony, Sihlfeld, ABZ, Zurich, 1924/25
• Adliswil residential colony, Adliswil, ABZ, Zurich, 1925
• Zweierstrasse residential colony, Sihlfeld , ABZ, Zurich, 1926
• Hochstrasse residential colony, Hottingen , ABZ, Zurich, 1926
• Sihlporte (former EPA office building ), Zurich, 1926
• Headquarters of the Salvation Army , Ankerstrasse 31, Zurich, 1927
• Residential colony Ottostrasse, Aussersihl, ABZ, Zurich, 1927
• Residential colony Mühlebachstrasse, Riesbach, ABZ, Zurich, 1928
• Sihlfeld I / II residential colonies, Aussersihl, ABZ, Zurich, 1928/1929
• Neugasse residential colony, industry, ABZ, Zurich, 1929
• Kanzleistrasse residential colony, Aussersihl , ABZ, Zurich, 1930
• Office building and cinema Rex, Bahnhofstrasse 92, Zurich, Otto Streicher, 1935
• (Former) cinema ABC, Bahnhofstrasse 20, Zurich, Otto Streicher, 1956/1957
• Residential construction in Rüschlikon , former Villa Rothaus area, Rüschlikon

literature

• (sn): The episode of the systematic construction of small houses. In: Werk , 5 1929: pp. 140–145.
• 50 years of the STEO Foundation. STEO Foundation. June 18, 2015. online
• Katrin Ambühl: Renovation of the Sihlporte building true to the original. In: Baublatt , June 8, 2012. pp. 14-17.
• Hans-Peter Bärtschi: Industrialization, railway battles and urban development - the development of the Zurich industrial and working-class district of Aussersihl. A comparative contribution to the history of architecture and technology. Birkhäuser, Basel 1983.
• Various: INSA: Inventory of Newer Swiss Architecture, 1850–1920. Society for Swiss Art History, Zurich 1992.
• Christoph Durban, Michael Koch, Daniel Kunz, Maresa Schumacher, Mathias Somandin: More than just living: Non-profit housing construction in Zurich 1907–2007 - buildings and settlements. gta Verlag, Zurich 2007.
• Bruno Fritsche et al .: Building culture in Zurich - buildings worthy of protection and good architecture of recent years. Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich 2002–2013.
• Werner Huber: Bahnhofstrasse Zurich: History - Buildings - Shops. Hochparterre, Zurich 2015.
• Ulrich Isler, Interview by Lorenza Donati: SR President Fidelio Fund. (June 5, 2015).
• Jenny Keller Emotional flagship. NZZ, February 2012: 18.
• Michael Koch, Matthias Somandin, Christian Süsstrunk: Municipal and cooperative housing construction in Zurich: an inventory of the residential buildings subsidized by the city 1907–1989. Tax Office and Building Office II of the City of Zurich, Zurich 1990.
• NZZ: New office building and cinema Rex. NZZ, October 1935: 3.
• Silvia Pestalozzi, interview by Lorenza Donati. (June 22, 2015).
• Cédric Russo: Off for Steo Foundation. NZZ, January 2015: 17.
• Martin Schlappner: Otto Streicher 80 years old. NZZ, March 1967: 33.
• Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce (Ed.): Fidelio Fund, Winterthur. Winterthur, December 6, 1966.
• HR Sprüngli, Rüschlikon municipal council: Home directory of the Rüschlikon municipality. Rüschlikon 1984.
• Otto Streicher: Efforts with regard to building activity. In: Dora Staudinger, Otto Streicher: Our fight against the housing shortage. Allgemeine Baugenossenschaft Zürich, ABZ, Zürich 1918, 13–30.
• The apartment building. II, ABZ colony on Schaffhauserstrasse. In: Swiss magazine for housing , June 1926; Pp. 77-79.

Web links

• www.steo-stiftung.ch
• Adi Kälin: The Zurich architect Otto Streicher. A stranger who shaped the cityscape. Neue Zürcher Zeitung , April 6, 2017.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Otto Streicher: Efforts with regard to the building activity. In: Dora Staudinger, Otto Streicher: Our fight against the housing shortage. Allgemeine Baugenossenschaft Zürich, ABZ, Zürich 1918, pp. 13–30.
2. ↑ Irène Troxler: Two witnesses of the red Zurich should give way. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , May 11, 2017.
3. ↑ Martin Schlappner: Otto Streicher 80 years old. In: NZZ , March 1967: 33.
4. ^ Katrin Ambühl: Renovation of the Sihlporte building, true to the original. In: Baublatt , June 8, 2012, pp. 14-17.
5. ↑ Irène Troxler: Two witnesses of the red Zurich should give way. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , May 11, 2017.
6. ↑ NZZ. New Rex office building and cinema. NZZ, October 1935: 3.
7. ↑ NZZ. New Rex office building and cinema. NZZ, October 1935: 3.
8. ↑ 50 years of the STEO Foundation. STEO Foundation. June 18, 2015. About the STEO Foundation - 50 years of promoting literature, art and science in the Canton of Zurich. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
9. ^ Cédric Russo: Out for Steo Foundation. NZZ, January 2015: 17.
10. ↑ Schweizerisches Handelsamtblatt (publisher): Fidelio Fund, Winterthur. Winterthur, December 6, 1966.