'cantilever' by sven prothmann.
for a few years now i have made it my plan to visit architectural memorials that are usually not open to the public but are opened on the german memorial day in september every year. in 2019 i decided to have a look at the casino building ( actually a staff canteen ) of the german statistics bureau which is situated in wiesbaden. i thought we were able to take a look inside, but it turned out that the tour that took place was just an artist's talk and a very brief presentation of the building. i was a bit disappointed, because frankly, if you include a newly renovated mid-century building in your program and mark the activity of the day with 'tour of the building', then you could've maybe opened the doors to it, too? i mean, i could've also visited it on week days, as it is open to the public as well, but that would not tell me anything about the details inside a building and the history as a guided tour would, am i right? anyway, after that 'tour' i did not want to waste my time any longer and opted for a walk through the nearby neighborhood, which boasts some new constructions as well, recently finished. i took a few pictures before returning home and calling it a day.
(it's funny though, even though i always think i can't be surprised anymore, it turns out that i will find something that peaks my interest or changes my view on it or let's me try to capture it with a new approach. so, despite not opting for wiesbaden city walks that often anymore, on the occasions i do, i will most likely find something new and exciting, even if it was already existing on all the many walks before 😅)
the aforementioned cantilever sculpture that depicts a replica of an added terrace to the casino building ( didn't take a picture of it, because it was uninteresting to me 😅 ). it's really just a concrete block on which you can sit on, and the sculpture pretty much captures well the boringness of that terrace ( that much you have to give the artist ^^; ). the artist was there for a talk, but other than explaining in many words what we all could already see was a replica of that terrace, it didn't bring any new insights. i took this photo purely because i like the flowers in front of the concrete 😂 ( cause concrete and plants is dope, for sure )
the frontal glass facade of the casino. in the back you can see the federal statistics bureau. the casino was built somewhen between 1953 and 1956, together with the main building of the census bureau. the architect was paul schaeffer-heyrothsberge. my personal favourite detail of the outer shell of the building was the ornamental mosaic moulding. give me some mosaics and i am a very happy bee.
the casino was renovated in 2018 and now is energetically modernized and also up to date with modern fire protection requirements. the interiors of the building were kept mostly original ( there's some more mosaics inside, and pretty stone floors, plus some really amazing mid-century design elements like chandeliers and lamps ), but it also got a contemporary lifting in terms of kitchen equipment. like i said, i would've liked to take some pictures inside the building, but well... here you can have a glimpse into it, thanks to the internet.
zoomed in.
zoomed out.
a different perspective.
the main building, with its characteristic variously blue-coloured facade ( aluminium- & glass-clad ). you can't see it well here, but the building also has a flying roof on top, which you can probably access when you work here ( i am a little envious of that, i am sure they have the best views! ).
a look back towards the casino.
in front of the destatis ( short for deutsches statistisches bundesamt ) stands a wonderful shell limestone horse, created in 1956 by fritz von graevenitz. in the back, the 'black tower' aka zircon tower.
i don't really get why they chose a horse to greet visitors and workers of a statistical bureau, though 😅 for the workers, an indication to 'work like a horse'? for everyone else it might be just a symbol of power and passion and appetite for freedom...
i LOVE the dressed stone floors in front of the main entrance! so colourful!
don't you love a good mirror situation?
one last glance up the destatis building.
i made my way to a newer construction, an ensemble that brings together a business development bank ( wibank ), a hotel ( best western city hotel ) & a supplementary pension fund for the painting industry ( malerkasse ). this ensemble called office quarter verso was constructed between 2014 and 2019 by SHP architects.
it's a rather sterile looking quarter, though they did try to implement garden landscaping for a little bit for loosening up the rigidity. lovers of contemporary architecture would probably choose words such as airy and transparent... but i am a bit ambivalent about this. many contemporary buildings kinda miss unique features, like they often use cookie-cutter forms and elements that don't really stand out. they look very much alike and somehow generic. you know, there's no OOMPH moment when you see them at first glance. only when you dig deeper you can sometimes find a detail that might change your perspective on these. often they are also really devoid of colour, and lack a certain kind of organic approach, they never really feel like they actually fit into the original fabric of a place. a little bit empty without a soul. on the other hand, somehow the clear lines and the minimalism can carry its own charm, even though for me personally it's mainly on a superficial level. no clutter, no chaos, right? i mostly prefer soulful chaos to emotionless streamlined tidyness, though.
the three buildings that make up VERSO are named after three partner cities of wiesbaden: san sebastian, berlin ( actually the district friedrichshain-kreuzberg ) and montreux. the one on the left is the san sebastian building in which the wibank resides, the one on the left is where the best western hotel is situated in ( dedicated to montreux ).
and this one is named berlin, the malerkasse sits here. all three buildings are l-shaped, and they group around the courtyard, which is accessable for every citizen of wiesbaden.
young trees in a gravel bed. it would've been nice if they also installed some benches underneath them, in case one wanted to sit down and rest for a bit. contemporary landscaping slips my mind as well, i can't follow the thinking behind it. too rigid, no room to grow, not natural at all. but it makes for interesting photo motives 😅
was this supposed to resemble a grassy landscape? can i sit down on that platform? does it have any purpose?
i did quite like the chairs here! probably also were only used during weekdays, though.
and the entrance to the best western hotel. this part of the complex i liked the best, it felt like there actually was a staying and living quality to the place.
on a different day in september i made my way to frankfurt to go to a food festival with a friend and some acquaintances ( it took place on an outdoor swimming pool's properties - the brentanobad ). i had to go get some money from the bank first, so i made my way through the brentanopark to get there. i was surprised to stumble upon a sweet little idyll - and a mid-century gem!
the river nidda is running through the brentanopark, being regulated by a stream dam. the park itself was first planned and realized as a garden in 1770, but in 1808 the frankfurt business man georg brentano bought the propertly and upgraded the area according to his wishes and ideals. brentano was a well-liked and well-visited patron of frankfurt and many famous writers and other personalities were guests inside the manor that stood inside the park ( like johann wolfgang von goethe, the grimm brothers or adele schopenhauer - a sister of the philosopher arthur schopenhauer ).
while the brentano family mainly resided in a cottage on the property that is now destroyed, they did also acquire a refuge right next to the river, the petrihaus ( petri house ), which was formerly a baker's home called johannes petri. it looks really cute on that spot by the river, doesn't it? the house was build in 1720 and is a half-timbered construction originally, but the new owner reconstructed it in a way that resembled a romantic pseudo-swiss chalet. in the back a little on the left side there's also a giant gingko tree that is over 260 years old and counts as the oldest gingko tree in germany.
a beautiful circular flower bed with roses is also part of the brentanopark, where sphinxes watch visitors and passersby in stoic manners.
and directly next to it, this gorgeous example of 'neues frankurt' architecture was raising my interest immediately upon sight. this pavilion was created as part of a school garden where students could learn all about gardening. it was erected in 1931 by the architect eugen kaufmann, a jewish architect that later emigrated to the UK.
i loved how the plants entwined some of the columns and basically enframed the entrance situation. the building is used by the historical society of the rödelheim district.
the circumferential upper level boasted some cute windows that neatly connected to each other - almost creating a seamless window strip. i bet that was pretty unheard of in the 1930ies!
since there were some cute flowers so close nearby i quickly snapped a few pictures of them. the new england aster proclaimed the coming of fall!
another kind of aster, probably the new york one.
a faded remnant of what was probably a coneflower before.
after i returned back to my friends we indulged in lots of mouthwatering delicacies and i practically rolled home that evening, full of way too much food 😂 i can't even remember anymore what we had all in all, but i remember it being at least 5 courses 😅
one last picture of that day is one of the big swimming pool inside the brentanobad, which seems to be one of the biggest pools in the state of hessia as well, with a water expanse of 11.000 square meters! it was kinda surreal to be at an outdoor lido no one swam in ( most lidos in germany close their gates in the middle of september - so it's nothing that's unusual ). to be able to access the lidos after that seasonal closing time, though, that is very unusual. it was one of the last warm days of the year, i remember we all daydreamed about jumping into the waters, but the pool was closed off with barrier tapes and that usually should hold people back from trying to jump in 😉
lots of asters in combination with textured concrete 😍
the next pictures take us back to wiesbaden again, they were made on another city walk, this time done without any purpose in mind. i just figured i hadn't done a city walk in a long time, and that was reason enough to reacquaint with my city again. just moving and taking in various details in the streets i was passing, rediscovering historical architecture, old and new and stuff like that.
cute little citroen 2CV ( or deux cheveaux in french ) that wasn't in pristine condition anymore, but still exuded quite a bit of charm. in germany we call these cars 'enten' - ducks 🦆 and they are seriously that type of car i always madly fall in love with and would very much like to own myself. the volkswagen beetle is another such candidate, though i actually prefer the frenchie ;)
wiesbaden has quite a few entrances like these, combining a mixture of classic and art nouveau elements. this entrance belonged to a house from 1901, built by one architect called franz markloff.
and another decor above an entrance, a sweet lion on a different house from 1901 ( architect: jacob martin ).
a much more modern approach shows this building which is part of a perimeter block. new objectivity elements are clearly visible but also expressionist details like the relief art seen on the corners. i couldn't find any more tidbits about this building but my guess is, that it was built somewhen in the late 1920ies to late 1930ies as a tenement building ( which it is still today ). i could be totally wrong though, and mabye this sweetheart is a child of the 1950ies. it is not too absurd actually, since the reliefs are very close to the sculpturing style of the 1950ies.
here are some better shots of the corner reliefs. i love these way too much! hello kittens ❤
and some birdies 🐦
and even doves and babies are part of the show!
another corner of the building.
the tenement house is very closely situated to this neo-romanesque church, the dreifaltigkeitskirche ( trinity church ). it was built from 1910 to 1912 by ludwig becker, a church builder par excellence ( he built, restored and worked on over 300 churches worldwide ).
next i arrived at a contemporary addition to the wiesbaden cityscape, the mörike karree ( 2015 - 2018, plan b architects ). it's a residential area inside the dichterviertel, the poet's quarter, where all the streets are named after german poets and writers. the mörike karree is also named after one of those writers, eduard mörike, he wrote some seriously beautiful poems about nature and the seasons, but also a lot of romantic novellas and songs. the buildings of the complex are all equipped with the newest and latest standards of our modern times, and surely, renting or buying one of the flats is probably not very cheap! in the grand scheme of things, the architecture is nothing too outrageously special, but there are some elements i do like about it.
like the access balconies, which reminded me of bauhaus buildings like the laubenganghäuser in dessau. of course they had a modern twist - the blue coloured glass portholes.
they are actually my favourite detail!
the colour coordination was also interesting, it, too, reminded me of the teachings of the bauhaus chromatics. orange and blue for example, are a very good combination according to paul klee's colour theory.
the view from one of the sides. i actually like that profile! also, the upper fixtures create a kind of transparent upper level, and indeed, some roof balconies on top!
you can see the church spires of the dreifaltigkeitskirche from here as well.
rounded and peaked.
installed on the property were these glass steles, which had a few lines of two of mörike's most well-known poems, 'er ist's' ( it is spring ) and 'septembermorgen' ( september morning ) written on them.
here's the whole poem of september morning, which is actually my favourite, because it describes the season of my heart so well:
in morning mist the world rests,
woods and fields go on dreaming:
soon you will see, when the veil falls,
the blue heaven in all its splendor,
and a world in bold autumn colours
streaming forth in molten gold.
im nebel ruhet noch die welt,
noch träumen wald und wiesen:
bald siehst du, wenn der schleier fällt,
den blauen himmel unverstellt,
herbstkräftig die gedämpfte welt
in warmen golde fließen.
i loved that the architects and planners involved the work of the poet which the whole project was named after. it's nice to connect architecture and poetry this way, i think.
one of the many concrete entries. loved the engraved numbers and the huge ass green hydrangeas.
i made a small detour to the europaviertel, which is a former barracks area that dates back to wilhelminian times ( used until the americans gave the area back to the city in 1993 ). many barracks there are now residential buildings, such as this one from the 1930ies. i mainly loved the light-flooded street because the plane trees cast such nice shadows on the facade.
the europaviertel is not exactly my favourite quarter in the city ( it kinda feels cold and without soul... ), so i returned quickly to the dichterviertel and passed by these tenements inside klopstockstraße ( named after friedrich gottlieb klopstock, another writer and poet ). i think i can date them back to the late 1920ies, early 1930ies, too, since i know that the city instituted big urbanistic programs during that time after the construction boom of the early 1900s stagnated for a while. i was reminded of the aforemention perimeter block when i looked at this building more closely, even though there were no accentuated window sills or buttresses. BUT there were a lot of reliefs again, all decorating the windows on the ground level. the more i look at the details on the building ( brickstones, expressionist reliefs ), the more i believe that they were a product of the expressionist movement - a very shortspanned architectural movement - probably inspired by brickstone expressionism. that was a very special architecture style, often displayed in northern germany, and i guess it was so big after all, that it radiated to the rest of germany as well eventually.
i think this relief actually tells the tale of the mäuseturm in bingen - a legend that involves hatto, an archbishop of mainz, being eaten alive by mice as vengeance for being cruel and oppressing towards his minions ( burning them in a barn after offering them food during a famine - which must've sounded eerie and inspired the archbishop to say: hear the mice squeak! ).when he returned to his castle he was attacked by mice, he fled to a tower in the middle of the rhine river, but this did not save him from the swimming mice that followed him and killed him.
i bet all the other reliefs also told of legends and fairytales, maybe i should go back sometimes and try to decipher all of them!
gosh, i loved the entrances! and i think you can clearly see the brickstone expressionist influence now.
unfortunately i don't have a single clue about what this relief is supposed to report, the only thing i could think of was the legend of hubertus, who went out to slay a stag with golden antlers, but instead had a spiritual conversion when the holy cross appeared between the antlers. since the animal depicted here is a deer, though, i doubt that the image is actually about st. hubertus, even though the cross inside the gable of the house might indicate it. there's another approach to this image, it is said that hunters that hunt white deer will be either unlucky for a few years or will die within a year. i couldn't find any evidence or proofs, not to mention actual retellings of a legend that would support this, so this, too led me to no conclusion. i am pretty sure the oak leaf has some significance, too, though i yet again couldn't find anything in combination with the deer and the hunter. a real puzzle piece, this relief! maybe the lightning going through the tree is another clue?
the brickstones created a lovely three-dimensional atmosphere and the shadowplay highlighted the effect even more!
random fig tree leaf illuminated by the september sun!
a different kind of brickstone architecture, interspersed with gorgeous art nouveau patterns and elements.
found this building from 1905 in the westend district, a district that is full of gorgeous art nouveau townhouses.
close up of the ornamental ironwork and the coloured tiles ❤ the details on this building are absolutely gorgeous!
around the corner this gem called blücherschule makes you rub your eyes a few minutes. is it really a school? shouldn't this splendid piece of architecture be a palace? the in 1897 erected district school was designed and built by felix genzmer, wiesbaden's most important architect in the wilhelminian era. he was responsible for a lot of the municipal buildings in town, creating a consistent and coherent cityscape. many critics of the time said upon the sight of the building that it was too splendiferous for an elementary school. but an elementary school it stayed over the centuries, even to this day. i envy everyone who grew up in this city and went to this school, because clearly, what a place to go to school to!
i especially love the mind-blowingly colourful tiled rooftops! incredibly gorgeous 😍
finishing another installment of wiesbaden insights ( plus the frankfurt tidbit - this city still remains to be properly explored - a task that will probably stay one for a lifetime 😂 ) and now lookig forward to return to a special vacation at the mecklenburg lake district!
stay curious ❤
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