Stilt house (Stelzenhaus) (1938)

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#Industrial and technical building #Leipzig #1938

Architects

Hermann Böttcher

Developers

Grohmann & Frosch

Address and directions

Weißenfelser Str. 65
04229 Leipzig, Germany

Public transport: Elster Passage

Access: Public building, free entry during working hours

Today's use: offices, flats, public spaces

A unique industrial building.

Description

101 reinforced concrete pillars support the building on the slope, leading to house's nickname stilt house. This kind of construction is unique in the interwar architecture. The construction of the 1 x 1 metre pillars corresponds to the regulations of the so-called air-raid protection as part of the preparations for war at the time. Each pillar was supposed to carry 1000 kilograms of rubble. The former storage rooms, which are used for different purposes today, rest on the pillars.

Description

101 reinforced concrete pillars support the building on the slope, leading to house's nickname stilt house. This kind of construction is unique in the interwar architecture. The construction of the 1 x 1 metre pillars corresponds to the regulations of the so-called air-raid protection as part of the preparations for war at the time. Each pillar was supposed to carry 1000 kilograms of rubble. The former storage rooms, which are used for different purposes today, rest on the pillars.

History

Wilhelm Frosch and Rudolph Grohmann opened the first smaller production halls for a corrugated sheet rolling mill and a galvanising plant directly on the canal called Karl-Heine-Kanal in 1889.The plans for the building were ready in 1937. Although a widening of the canal for shipping was still being considered and thus there would have been no space left for this building, the mayor of Leipzig decided in 1938 that the factory could be built because it served the war production. In addition to various products for the military, fuselage plates were produced for submarine and aircraft construction. After 1945 until 1990, the building was used by the neighbouring company VEB Bodenbearbeitungsgerätewerk. In the following years the building abandonded and was extensively restored from 2001 to 2003.

History

Wilhelm Frosch and Rudolph Grohmann opened the first smaller production halls for a corrugated sheet rolling mill and a galvanising plant directly on the canal called Karl-Heine-Kanal in 1889.The plans for the building were ready in 1937. Although a widening of the canal for shipping was still being considered and thus there would have been no space left for this building, the mayor of Leipzig decided in 1938 that the factory could be built because it served the war production. In addition to various products for the military, fuselage plates were produced for submarine and aircraft construction. After 1945 until 1990, the building was used by the neighbouring company VEB Bodenbearbeitungsgerätewerk. In the following years the building abandonded and was extensively restored from 2001 to 2003.

Sources

Construction types
reinforced concrete
Facades
clinker brick
Windows
casement fixed
Roof
flat
Details
pillar
Position
periphere/neighbourhood
Storeys
3

Impressions

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