kaspar-kögler-platz on adolfsallee.
to write about wiesbaden is something i have done extensively, especially after living here for 10 years. sometimes i don't even know what to write anymore, except the same stuff i have written before, only in a slightly variating way. that's why for this post i will let the images speak mostly, and pass on many introductory words.
i will only say one little thing: by now i have reached the state of living in a city long enough to know most of the important places and not be faced by them much anymore, therefore only going on city quests to find either the hidden, the newly built or the random gems. every once in a while i develop an obsession with a place that i haven't been visiting for very long or that is feeding a current one, or i try to find new perspectives on the old classics. but other than that, it gets increasingly harder for me to find motivation to go on city walks in my home town, as i feel like i have seen it all. until i realize, when i actually decide to make one, that even the places that i sometimes am taking for granted, still work their charm on me, especially when the spaces i am seeing every day, suddenly reveal to me a new or formerly overlooked detail or appear in a new light.
without much further ado, let's go and discover some neighborhoods!
this little pavilion and the fountain in front of it is a very beloved beer garden in the spring and summer months. operated by the nearby sherry & port restaurant, the caspar garten bistro has been established and integrated quite well in the last couple of years into the adolfsallee, which is a plane tree bordered boulevard not far away from where i live. i have never been to the bistro yet, though, even though i have often pondered over finally taking the leap and sitting down to a glass of wine. one day!
discovered a little friend along the way!
the blackbird is one of my absolute favourite birds, its singing in the dawn of the morning is truly beautiful and they're also very cute! i often encounter them rummaging through brushwoods or hightailing it over the sidewalks. their chattering when you disturb them or when they feel disturbed is also very prominent, i always feel the need to apologize when they complain vociferously! i could never say no to these black fellas, with their orange beaks and orange-rimmed eyes.
the main entrance towards a new building in town - the fresenius university for applied sciences. it was opened in 2019 ( the architects are graf&graf ). the building itself is nothing much to rave about, but i really like the golden panels that frame the oval entrance module.
the university's canteen is also open for 'outsiders', as they want to create a place for people from the whole city to mingle on the campus.
the tiled grounds in the courtyard of the university appealed to me, too 😍
the old landmarked court building from 1897 is supposed to also be part of the campus, but when i visited, they were still in the middle of reconstruction. i am not sure yet what is planned for it, though i read something about student dorms and a creative industries location. it's supposed to be ready for use in 2022, so now! well, maybe i'll check it out at some point again.
the whole complex was indeed still heavily under construction, by now it should look more refined.
it was time to move on...
... and start strolling through the dichterviertel. this street and the houses in it were built around a school complex ( elementary school hebbelschule & junior high school dichterviertel ), all probably around 1900. the whole complex always keeps reminding me of french architecture, especially with the window shutters and its tight and uniform building structure. i also like the square block character, it feels like a cute little community, centered around the schools.
i felt like all the buildings around the schools were in some way connected, they had kind of a similar style. maybe it was intented to be like a very early campus, with appartments for teachers, directors etc. i haven't found out any good details on the architecture of raabestraße, klopstockstraße & hebbelstraße, though i certainly feel like they all are well over 100 years old and look like they should be sort of landmarked.
a glance over the walls onto the building behind the previously shown gate house ( ? ). i kinda liked the balcony situation with the arches.
randomly found a field of winter aconites! they often start blooming in february, along with snowdrops and crocuses.
when the conditions are right, the cornelian cherry can start blooming even in february ( normally it does that around march and april ). especially in our region, advantaged by the river rhine, the climate is mild enough for early spring development. this cherry is quite versatile, its fruit are edible ( they're quite sour, you really need to make sure to pick them when they are overripe, as the acidity is less apparent ). it's a very good fruit for creating jams, you can also candy them and apparently they make an excellent liquor. the wood itself is used as well, and is a hard and dense one, that is quite heavy and often used for tool handles.
i encountered some sort abandoned kindergarten or after-school near the waldstraßenviertel, a quarter that belongs to the biebrich district already, though it feels like part of the district südost. there are a lot of sports playing grounds in close vicinity, so i guess it once had to do with that as well. a short research only revealed that it was some sort of after-school care club, maybe belonging to the nearby diesterwegschule, but i can't confirm it completely.
it was called villa kunterbunt when it was still used.
don't places that are supposed to be for kids essentially, have the most creepy atmosphere when they are abandoned, or is that just me?
i also feel like they should maybe repurpose this place for a sport club or something, but i don't know if they have plans already. haven't been there in quite a while obviously 😅
the other side, which was looking much friendlier in my opinion.
an image shot through the surrounding fence. creepy or not, sometimes i would really like to try breaking into these kind of areas and explore them more thoroughly. abandoned places have such a special thrill to them.
plant growth starting to eat up a separate building. can you see the pink blossoms? another early flowering bush ( though i couldn't identify it from this distance ).
fairly functional-looking playground. i think the place wasn't abandoned too long before my visit, so it all still looked quite okay.
this kindergarten ( built between 2015 and 2017 by kissler & effgen ) of the catholic st. kilian's community is pretty flashy!
quite an eye-catcher, right?
not far away from the kindergarten, basically one adress later is the church that is the funding provider for it: st. kilian's. this church was erected in 1937 by martin weber, taking inspiration in ottonian hall churches and executing it with a modern twist.
it is a rather unornamental church from the outside, except for the entrance gates and the long glass windows.
speaking of the gates, here is a detail shot. i liked the relief approach. the latin words are: justorum animae in manu dei sunt, et non tanget illos tormentum mortis. it translates to: the souls of the just are in the hands of god, and the torment of death shall not touch them. the other half of the gate is showing two monks ( maybe saints? ) celebrating the giving of the holy orders.
another gate showed a bishop ( maybe st. kilian? ) giving blessings ( i think - i am not very familiar with catholic rites 😂 ). and another dictum can be seen, it's the other half of the offertory justorum animae: visi sunt oculis insipientium mori, illi autem sunt in pace. - in the sight of the unwise they seemed to die, but they are in peace.
a statue of mother mary is standing in front of the church.
she was placed on top of an outside altar.
streamlined church, who dis? curiously, the minimalist approach does have a certain kind of charm. i always find church buildings from that era ( new objectivity of the 1930ies ) quite peculiar, like they are a fusion of old meets new, an inbetween state of traditional conception and visionary trend-setting.
do you also think that the cutest winter blossom are those of snowdrops? they are so delicate-looking, like oval pearls.
cobblestone path in a beautiful light.
returned to the sports park to find oversized diamonds ;)
i always loved climbing devices like these as a kid, they are so much fun!
my next destination was the quarter adolfshöhe, which is situated at the edge of the district biebrich and the dichterviertel in the südost district. that quarter was developed around 1870 and has a high amount of historicized villas and mansions, but also some new objectivity and mid-century modern buildings. this house had a strong new objectivity vibe...
... while this gorgeous beauty dates back to the early 20th century, probably around 1900 and 1910. it had an art nouveau touch.
i loved the entrance with the skylights!
another villa from around 1900, unfortunately you can find no further details about the exact construction date and architect, though i found something about the year 1905 and a mention of the architect carl störmann, who seems to have developed the whole colony. the style of many villas in these streets is sometimes also called landhausstil ( cottage house style ) - a variation of art nouveau that's more focussed on appearing rustic and cozy.
children's head as a decorational element. often these heads are real depictions of someone belonging to the house-owner's family, so maybe this was a son of the clan.
i just really loved the gorgeous winter sun light that day 😍
another view at the house, which is probably almost invisible when the trees have summer foliage. i loved the wall with the many roofs surrounding the property, too.
train tracks of the aartalbahn, a currently inoperative railway line that begins in wiesbaden and ends in diez ( a small city in rhineland-palatinate ).
winter aconites should not be missed in the potpourri of early spring blooms!
as are these curious-looking strangelings - erica carnea, also called winter heath. adore their little bell blossoms 😍
i really wish there was more info on these villas, but i guess sometimes you just got to enjoy them for what they are, without any history to back them up - beautiful architecture.
as the whole colony is full of art nouveau buildings, it is only natural to have a church that fits the same bill: the lutherkirche - a protestant church built after the wiesbaden program ( from 1908 to 1911 after designs by friedrich pützer ). it's quite an interesting building with remarkable dimensions, most notable is the 50 meter high church tower and the widespread roof. it is also a steel construction, which was an innovative way to built back then. i can't tell you much about the interiors as i haven't been inside, but i hear it's absolutely mesmerizing ( and this image speaks volumes ).
one of two entrances. it's pretty hard to photograph this church, as it has quite strange proportions with its ellipsoid layout. from the outside the whole thing also seems kind of inconspicuous, almost leaning toward an early modern approach.
window details.
the main entrance carries the first signs of the abundance that continues on the inside. it was designed like a byzantine porticus by the italian sculptor augusto varnesi. the vault has a mosaic that is supposed to be a starry sky and the tympanon above the portal shows a jeweled cross ( crux gemmata ),
inside the tympanon two quotes were used for the mosaic work. since the church is a protestant one and the reformer martin luther is one the main figureheads for the protestant side of christianity, the quotes used are originating from one of the most well-known songs luther wrote, 'a mighty fortress is our god', which is the first quote on the left side. on the right, the second quote from the song is 'the word above all earthly powers ( ... ) abideth'.
attached ( and sort of incorporated ) to the actual church building are also two rectories that were erected together with the church.
the church from its eastern flank. the rectories are situated left and right directly attached to the church.
a random detail that i found on a building that i assume was also part of the church ensemble. i think there were more bird depictions on the whole house, but i only took a photo of this one. so beautiful!
not far away from the lutherkirche you'll find the modern annex of the hessian ministry of economics, ernergy, transport & housing, which sits in a building called landeshaus, formerly an administrative center for the provincial union of hesse-nassau ( built from 1903 to 1907 ). the annex was erected in the years 1990/91, which surprised me, it looks way more contemporary and recent. the architects for this by now rather timeless ensemble were 'bangert, jansen, scholz, schulte', a former architect collective from berlin. it consists of two elements, a semi-circle office building ( enveloping the historic oval plenary hall, see above ) and a cube-like structure that houses a canteen and a kitchen ( see below ).
the semi-circle and cube structure are divided by the landeshaus. the pyramid in the garden is actually a ventilation under which the ministry's car park is situated. it's said to cite the nearby roof structure of the lutherkirche.
love the abundance of geometrical lines and forms!
my favourite structure of the whole ensemble is definitely the semi-circle one, it came across as if it was designed like a colosseum.
one last glance at the annexes... and then i went home, as the landeshaus is merely a stone's throw away from where i live.
Comments