Gartenstadt Nürnberg
Nuremberg, Germany
An early German garden city. Like all German garden cities it is not, as Ebenezer Howard intended, an independant, self-contained settlement.
| Garden City Type: | Mixed (housing association / municipality / other) |
| Country: | Germany |
| City: | Nuremberg |
| Years of construction: |
1908 Start construction
|
| Initiator/client: | Gartenstadt Nürnberg eG |
| Architect or related: |
Richard Riemerschmid The first 46 houses at Gartenstadt were built with participation of Munich architect Richard Riemerschmid, who was instrumental in building the very first German garden city: Hellerau. From 1912, the construction management was predominantly in the hands of the Nuremberg architect Hans Lehr. Lehr – together with his partner |
| Heritage status: | Yes |
| Explanation: | Gartenstadt is under monument and ensemble protection. |
| General condition of Garden City: | Good condition |
General description
900 interested citizens, looking for houses in Nuremberg, came to a meeting in 1908 to establish the building cooperative Gartenstadt Nürnberg eG. Of these, 155 decided to become members at 200 Marks each. The idea was to built a new housing estate on inexpensive land in the south of the city of Nuremberg based on the principles of the garden city, which then was taking root in Germany as well.
By 1911, 76 apartments were completed. In 1939, at the beginning of the Second World War, there were almost 1400 residential units. The houses destroyed in the Second World War (more than 70% of the estates in the garden city were either destroyed or damaged) were later restored. This was partly done in a simplified version of the original style, which also continues into the district of Falkenheim.
Today, Gartenstadt comprises about 880 detached houses and 1600 flats in apartment blocks. The area owned by the co-operative has been expanded time and again, most recently in the 1960s with the acquisition of further plots in the Langwasser district, about four kilometres away.
Architecture / Urban planning
Gartenstadt lies roughly in the area between Ludwig-Donau-Main-Kanal (now partially filled-in), Minervastraße and Finkenbrunn. The settlement has curving streets, archways, as well as U-shaped housing blocks around courtyards. The detached houses usually have a small house garden.
Sources
- Website URL
Wikipedia [in German]
- Website URL
Unsere Gartenstadt eins und heute [in German]
