when winter fades and the first signs of spring arrive my heart craves for more extended walks around the city or nature again. which is what i did on a sunny afternoon on a sunday in late february. the first flowers were starting to bloom and the temperature was even high enough to enjoy some icecream later on. on that particular day i fled the overcrowded city center due to our annual carnival parade taking place. it was really nice because every other part of the city was less flooded and it made for a very calm and relaxed walk.
as you know, spring is my favourite season together with autumn and my heavy winter heart and foggy mind always start to lighten up by the time i'm spying the first spring blossoms and experiencing temperatures in double digits. it pulls me out of my flat with full force and i can't resist the call anymore.
my path lead me through dichterviertel ( quarter of the poets - where all streets are named after german poets and writers ) and would lead me to biebrich, a district in the south of wiesbaden. along the way you encounter a lot of old historic structure, but occassionally you're going to find a random midcentury building as well.
rusty garden gates.
a lot of art nouveau buildings can be spotted all around dichterviertel.
swirly spirals.
i bet this balcony is gorgeous in may & june when the roses start blooming.
the first winter aconites! when they start blooming ( together with snowdrops ) i know that spring is finally around the corner.
strange almost windowless building. really would like to know if the back is a wall of glass? otherwise, what kind of claustrophobic house would this be?
the hessian main state archive. this building is such a remarkable one, i totally love the industrial feeling it radiates. it was built in the early 80ies and was an exemplary functional archive building back then and it continues to be to this day.
around the corner i found an exotic glittery butterfly ;)
the front of the archive has these triangular window nooks which were perfect for a little selfie shot.
the windows from a different perspective.
back to historic facades.
what struck me about this building were the banana-coloured brick facade and the roof interspersed with windows.
crossing the train rails to enter the northern part of biebrich.
i made a short break at the richard-wagner-anlage, a small park on top of the adolfshöhe/mosbacher berg.
the henkell palace is another building that graces the adolfshöhe. henkell is a well known champagne producer, very old-established & upscale, as you can see via this representative building. it was build between 1907 and 1909 by paul bonatz. he was a representative for the stuttgart school, which was inspired by modern elements, but without forgetting the traditions of former architectural styles. his buildings went into a very simplified neo-romanesque direction.
i discovered a fluffy cat randomly sitting on a wall, watching the world around here <3 p="">
the district of biebrich was once a city itself, until it was incorporated into the city of wiesbaden in 1926. that's why biebrich has it's own little medieval & historic core and also feels like a city inside a city.
the medieval part of biebrich feels like a rural village.
random figurine. i just loved how he kinda hugs himself and it reminded me of myself, lol.
the galatea complex, which was erected in 1977. it's a very modern building amongst a sea of wilhelminian town houses.
blooming shrubbery against concrete.
another picture of the henkell palace. it's just a really nice building.
i rarely get the chance to take photos of dogs ( because dog owners tend to be very protective of them ), but this lovely canine coincidentally showed up near a garden fence and let me share a few strokes. the owner was not to be seen so i quickly took a few shots and then continued my way back home, but not without a thankful cuddle and a warm goodbye.
the biebrich water tower is another remarkable landmark, and it's surrounded by beautiful brickstone villas. it was constructed in 1897. in past times people could enter the observation deck on the roof for a little fee but nowadays there's no such offer anymore. the tower is subject of a lot of quarrels these days, it currently has no purpose, other than looking good, even though i'm pretty sure it would make a great venue for art installations. its original purpose of providing water for the city of biebrich isn't a current issue anymore.
the area around it is really decrepit. there was also a pumping engineer building, but it was dismantled. hopefully the city of wiesbaden will make its mind up about this structure, because it's just really unfortunate to not use such a beautifully exposed building for something cultural and let it wither away, more or less.
i mean, look at these details? i'm such a sucker for patterns.
the extended area around the water tower was also foundation soil for new residential structures in the 50ies & 60ies. those family homes are every modern architecture lover's dream, right? at least i can imagine myself living in one of them. they aren't too huge as well, which is just perfect for a small place lover like me ;)
some mosaic detail of a random balcony.
and blue sheep were lurking around as well.
acrylic glass stars.
ugh yeah, i spotted another cat, duh. this one looked really hounded, haha.
i end this post with two shots of a very distinct and easily recognizable but kind of underestimated building near my place: liliencarré. it's basically a mall, situated right next to the main train station. a hotel is also attached to the mall and they both form a very extraordinary ensemble. i will try to revisit the liliencarré for you again, to take a few better photos.
it was built in 2007. unfortunately the mall isn't very popular and not massively frequented, despite its location right next to the main station. it's currently under construction again and is getting reorganized into a family center, which will offer lots of restaurant options & less retailers, i really don't know if this will improve the vacancies inside the mall, but this is something the future will show, right? meanwhile one can admire the oval structure and curious details of this contemporary building.
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