Stadtbad Mitte (Berlin)

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Stadtbad Mitte
"James Simon"
The facade in 2010, just scaffolded

The facade in 2010, just scaffolded

Data
place Berlin center
architect Carlo Jelkmann, Rudolf Gleye , Heinrich Tessenow
Construction year 1927-1930
Floor space 3600 m²
Coordinates 52 ° 31 '46.4 "  N , 13 ° 23' 35.3"  E Coordinates: 52 ° 31 '46.4 "  N , 13 ° 23' 35.3"  E
particularities
in use

The Stadtbad Mitte "James Simon" , as Stadtbad Garden Street is known, a popular swimming baths in the Berlin district of Mitte ( district center ), which opened the 1930th The entrance to the listed building is at Gartenstraße  5 and is integrated into the row of houses in the residential buildings.

history

Exterior view of the Stadtbad Mitte in 1950

The Stadtbad Mitte was built in place of a bathing establishment built between 1880 and 1888 by the then “Berlin Association for Public Baths”. The funds for the construction were donated by the merchant James Henry Simon , as the Berlin plaque on the building reports. A “manager” was appointed as administrator or director (1890: F. Szameitat, 1910: K. Schultze). This facility was officially called “Volksbad Oranienburger Vorstadt” at the beginning of the 20th century. It was one of several city baths whose construction began at the end of the 19th century. The aim was to offer all Berliners bathing and washing facilities in the immediate vicinity, as very few apartments had bathtubs or shower facilities .

The project planning for the new municipal swimming pool was carried out in the style of New Building under the motto “Light, Air and Sun”. The plans for the building were provided by Carlo Jelkmann , who was assisted by the engineering architect Rudolf Gleye with technical details, and Heinrich Tessenow designed the interior. The ceremonial inauguration took place on May 14, 1930 in the presence of the Berlin Mayor Gustav Boess , some dignitaries and the architects.

On January 2, 1945, the pool was hit by two bombs which smashed a glass window and hit the bottom of the pool. The present manager (an engineer Karl Pechtel) was able to prevent major damage through immediate reaction, so that in June 1945 the tubs and showers could be reopened. By the end of 1945, an average of 5,000 visitors came to the facility every day.

In 1951 the Stadtbad Gartenstrasse was the venue for the GDR's first national swimming festival .

The city district administration and building supervision had the city baths closed in mid-1985 for structural reasons, but this was followed by extensive reconstruction and renovation. After the fall of the Wall , the Volksbad was able to reopen completely in 1993. In the first years of the 21st century, the facades were finally renewed and the technology brought up to date. In 2012, the building was named after its founder.

Building description

View of the swimming pool in 1951

The four-story building complex was built around four atriums . The facade is completely clad with clinker bricks; its nine-axis middle section is about half a storey higher and bears the inscription "Stadtbad Mitte" in capital letters at the top . The windows have stone framed and flat inserted into the facade. In the historic entrance hall, the walls and floor are covered with ocher ceramic tiles . The bronze sculpture of a young naked girl with a casually thrown towel welcomes the visitors, made according to a design by the sculptor Ernst Hermann Grämer and displayed here in 1939. One enters the interior through one of two glass portals through an air lock; Seven steps then lead up to the former checkout area and the adjoining facilities. The ceilings of the entrance hall are equipped with the reconstructed original ceiling lamps made of frosted glass and brass .

The western wing of the building has a trapezoidal floor plan and the service areas of the city pool were accommodated in it, i.e. bathing, showering, sports and relaxation rooms, places to stay for the staff, etc. The tubs and showers have now been removed and one has been set up in their place Sauna, a sports room and further changing rooms. There is also an outpatient rehabilitation center, medical baths and a Russian - Roman bath in this part of the building , the stained glass of which was made by Max Pechstein (1881–1955). In the stairwell there are other sculptures from August Kraus's workshop .

The eastern wing of the building is the swimming pool with the external dimensions of 60 × 25 meters. The focal point is a swimming pool with a length of 50 meters, a width of 15 meters and an installation depth of 12 meters. With this equipment, the Stadtbad was considered the most modern in Europe when it was opened. The swimming pool has a sloping floor and six starting blocks are integrated on the deep side . All four sides of the approximately 10 meter high hall are formed by ribbon windows extending over three floors (8 meters high, each row 3 meters wide), which allow plenty of daylight into the facility. The grid dimension of the windows is taken up by the ceiling made of glass blocks, which also allows light to enter from above. Fluorescent lamp strips were attached to the ceiling beams.

From the changing rooms on the ground floor, men and women walk separately through shower rooms and enter the swimming area in a covered corridor on the long side. If necessary, a non-swimmer area is separated by a chain. On the northern narrow side there is a fold-up one-meter diving board , there is also a three-meter diving platform for use. Square, small-format beige-gray-brown ceramic tiles cover the pool, the access stairs with brass handrails and the area around the pool. Continuous heated bench seats are arranged on one long side of the walkway.

The second floor offers further changing facilities and fitness rooms; large windows allow a view of the swimming pool.

In the immediate vicinity of the Stadtbad Mitte is today's Heinrich-Zille-Park , laid out as a municipal park (address at that time: Gartenstrasse 6-8).

literature

  • Institute for Monument Preservation (Ed.): The architectural and art monuments of the GDR. Capital Berlin-I . Henschelverlag, Berlin 1984, p. 306 ff .
  • Jelkmann: The new Stadtbad Berlin-Mitte . In: Zeitschrift für Bauwesen , Volume 80 (1930), pp. 157–170. Digitized in the holdings of the Central and State Library Berlin .

Web links

Commons : Stadtbad Mitte  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The architectural monuments , ... p. 306
  2. ↑ a b Gartenstrasse 5, 6-8 . In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1890, part 2, p. 140. “König, Betriebsmeister; 6–8: Städt. Park". Gartenstrasse 5 . In: Address book for Berlin and its suburbs , 1901, part 3, p. 195. “F. Szameitat, foreman ”.
  3. ↑ a b Gartenstrasse 5 . In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1910, part 3, p. 261.
  4. ↑ Pechtel, Karl, engineering . In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1943, Part 1, p. 2194.
  5. ↑ Summary of the DEFA eyewitness 1951: Point 6: National Swimming Festival in Berlin , accessed on December 8, 2018.
  6. ↑ a b Stadtbad Mitte . In: District lexicon of the Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein
  7. ↑ Bau-Newsletter , 8/2012 der Berliner Bäder