Volksbrausebad Ferdinandstrasse

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The former “Volksbrausebad Ferdinandstrasse” seen from the southeast (2014).

The Volksbrausebad Ferdinandstraße , also Volksbrausebad Wilhelmitorwall, later Volksbad in Ferdinandstraße in Braunschweig was opened on August 16, 1890 as the first public bath of its kind in the city. The public bathing establishment operated until 1969 and is now a residential building.

history

The immediate vicinity of the former “Volksbrausebad Ferdinandstrasse”: The dark building in the background is Ferdinandstrasse 9, one of the former Jewish houses in Braunschweig . In the foreground the Ferdinand Bridge .

prehistory

As late as the end of the 19th century, there were repeated pandemics in Germany involving various, sometimes fatal, infectious diseases , such as cholera , also in the city and the Duchy of Braunschweig . Various measures have been taken to improve general hygiene and thus public health in the conurbations and large cities that have grown and become more densely populated by the industrial revolution . Since bathrooms - even among the bourgeoisie - were largely still unknown and in any case unaffordable for the working class , one measure was to provide the working population with inexpensive facilities for hygiene and personal hygiene as well as relaxation. Such facilities were usually located in the vicinity of the industrial workplaces, which in turn were in the vicinity of the living quarters of the workers and their families.

Public baths in Braunschweig

Side views
Floor plans

As early as 1889, the city's first “school shower bath” was opened in the Maschstrasse Citizens' School , followed in 1892 by a second in the Sophienstrasse school . At the suggestion of Brunswick City Councilor Bruno Lange, the Brunswick “Association for the Welfare of the Working Class” built the first “public shower bath” in the city according to the plans of the Brunswick architect Constantin Uhde and the specifications of the physician Oskar Lassar in pavilion style . The interior fittings came from Blochmann & Schulten. The construction costs of 27,622.97 marks for the building were borne by the duchy and the city. The land was provided free of charge, it is located on the southwest Okerumflut , at the southeast corner of Ferdinand bridge that connects the road with Ferdinand the corner Cammannstraße / Sophie road. The operator of the people's shower bath was the "Association for the Welfare of the Working Class".

The square building has an edge length of 13 m and one side has a basement facing the Oker. The two separate departments for men and women, each with a separate entrance, were located on the ground floor . In the entrance area were the cash register, waiting area and toilets. In the men's section there were 15 shower cubicles (2.5 × 1.5 m each with a slatted floor) and two bathtubs available; for women there were six showers, one tub and several seat tubs. The building had a roof covered with slate in the center of which there was a lantern with blinds on each side for ventilation of the bathroom. In the basement on the Oker all technical devices were housed that were needed for the operation of the bath: A boiler for the warm water and the building heating, a "fire air heater", which among other things for the quick drying apparatus for the laundry, especially the one provided Bath towels, was used as well as a hot iron .

The bathing establishment was an immediate economic success, so that after the first year of operation it was planned to have a second boiler installed for the increased number of visitors on Saturdays and Sundays. On the other days of the week this should be used as a reserve boiler. At this point in time, the second public bath (in Kaiserstraße) was also in the planning phase.

At the opening, the prices, including a bath towel and a small bar of soap, were 30 pfennigs for a bath, 20 for a seat and 10 for a shower. The usage figures were for 1892: 45,443 baths, for 1893: 39,975 and for 1894: 40,178. During and after the First World War , towels and soap could not be given out due to a lack of raw materials. Both were only possible again from October 19, 1925. A Mark deposit was required for the towels .

Former public baths in Ritterstraße 26a (in the background the back of the Gaußschule , which used the building temporarily). Like the school, the bathroom was also built according to plans by city planner Max Osterloh .

The facility at Ferdinandstrasse 6 immediately enjoyed great popularity and was widely used. This prompted Helene Vieweg , b. Brockhaus (1835–1909), widow of the Brunswick publisher Heinrich Vieweg , for a donation of 30,000 marks for the construction of a second public bath, which was opened in 1894/95 at Kaiserstraße 37 (in Neustadt ). In 1903, the third and last “Volksbad” in Braunschweig was opened at Ritterstrasse 26a (in the Magniviertel ). Until the beginning of the First World War, the opening times in 1914 for all three public baths were daily from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. In the period after the First World War, the number of visitors to the baths increased so much, especially on Saturdays and Sundays, that bathing times were extended by an hour in the evenings from April 1925. Due to this large number of visitors, it was not possible to clean the bathrooms properly in the remaining time. For this reason they were now closed on Monday mornings; In addition, on May 1, 1924, an auxiliary bath master was hired to relieve the staff.

The public baths in Ferdinandstrasse and Ritterstrasse were both closed in 1969. The bathroom on Kaiserstrasse no longer existed since it was destroyed in World War II . The total number of visitors to all three baths was 185,671 in 1925/26. For 1959, the numbers for the two remaining baths amounted to 64,460 visitors.

The former Volksbrausebad Ferdinandstrasse is now a residential building.

literature

  • Rudolf Blasius (Ed.): Braunschweig in the year MDCCCXCVII. Festschrift for the participants in the LXIX meeting of German natural scientists and doctors. Meyer, Braunschweig 1897, ( digitized ).
  • Curt Randel: The people's shower bath "am Wilhelmithor" in Braunschweig. In: Health engineer , R. Oldenbourg Verlag, No. 5, March 15, 1892, col. 137-143.
  • Margot Ruhlender: Baths. In: Luitgard Camerer , Manfred Garzmann , Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf (eds.): Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon . Joh. Heinr. Meyer Verlag, Braunschweig 1992, ISBN 3-926701-14-5 , p. 27 .
  • Margot Ruhlender, Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf (eds.): Büketubben: History of bathing culture in Braunschweig from 1671-1993. Joh. Heinr. Meyer, Braunschweig 1994, ISBN 3-926701-23-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c J. Landauer: People's shower baths. In: Rudolf Blasius (Ed.): Braunschweig in the year MDCCCXCVII. Festschrift for the participants in the LXIX meeting of German natural scientists and doctors. , P. 370.
  2. ↑ a b Margot Ruhlender: bathrooms. In: Luitgard Camerer, Manfred RW Garzmann, Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf, Norman-Mathias Pingel (eds.): Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon . , P. 27.
  3. ↑ a b Curt Randel: The people shower bath "am Wilhelmithor" in Braunschweig. , Col. 143.
  4. ^ Curt Randel: The people shower bath "at the Wilhelmithor" in Braunschweig. , Col. 140.
  5. ↑ J. Landauer: People's shower baths. In: Rudolf Blasius (Ed.): Braunschweig in the year MDCCCXCVII. Festschrift for the participants in the LXIX meeting of German natural scientists and doctors. , P. 371.
  6. ^ City of Braunschweig, Städtisches Statistisches Amt (Ed.): The city of Braunschweig in the period from April 1, 1921 to March 31, 1926. Administrative report on behalf of the City Council , Braunschweig 1929, p. 193.
  7. ↑ Margot Ruhlender, Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf (ed.): Büketubben: history of bathing culture in Brunswick from 1671 to 1993. , P. 126.
  8. ^ Jürgen Hodemacher : Braunschweigs Streets - their names and their stories, Volume 1: Innenstadt , Cremlingen 1995, ISBN 3-92706-011-9 , p. 277.
  9. ^ Albert Sattler: Small guide through Braunschweig. , 4th edition, Braunschweig 1914, p. 12.
  10. ^ City of Braunschweig, Städtisches Statistisches Amt (Ed.): The city of Braunschweig in the period from April 1, 1921 to March 31, 1926. Administrative report on behalf of the City Council , Braunschweig 1929, p. 194.
  11. ^ City of Braunschweig, Office for Statistics (ed.): Administrative report of the city of Braunschweig 1959 , Braunschweig 1959, p. 121.

Web links

Coordinates: 52 ° 15 ′ 30 ″  N , 10 ° 30 ′ 46.4 ″  E