Zeppelin village

Zeppelindorf workers' housing estate in Friedrichshafen, 2020

The Zeppelin village is a workers' settlement and closed district of Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance , which was built during the first zeppelin boom between 1914 and 1919.

history

Friedrichshafen from the perspective of a zeppelin, 1918

The city of Friedrichshafen still had around 4600 inhabitants at the turn of the century, to which a further 2500 workers were added with the establishment of all companies related to the up-and-coming aviation by 1910.

In 1914, Zeppelin-Wohlfahrt GmbH began building a settlement with 33 single-family houses and 79 semi-detached and terraced houses on the edge of the Zeppelin shipyard south of the village of Jettenhausen and north of Friedrichshafen.

Based on the concept of the Stuttgart architects Paul Bonatz and Friedrich Eugen Scholer , a settlement including a consumer establishment, a Zeppelin butcher's shop and an inn was created. One of the special features was the large garden belonging to each house, which was designed for self-sufficiency and keeping small animals.

The Zeppelin village was badly damaged during the Second World War . During the reconstruction, care was taken that the overall character of the settlement was largely preserved.

The workers' settlement, which has been a listed building since 1991, is still owned by the Zeppelin welfare organization and is still inhabited today. Except for two row houses, it has been preserved in its original state.

Todays use

Garden use

Since the 2000s it has been gradually completely renovated and modernized, but the design of the houses, their facades and gardens have been preserved in their original design. The use of the gardens as fruit and vegetable gardens and the keeping of small animals is desirable, but only very rarely.