Leipzig: Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse

1922 – 1925

Architect: Otto Droge

Willmar-Schwabe-Straße 1, Leipzig, Germany

The Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse (General Local Health Insurance Fund) administration building was constructed between 1922 and 1925 based on designs by Otto Droge.

Background

The Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse für die Stadt Leipzig was founded in January 1887 as an association of various health insurance companies.

By 1921, the association had over 200,000 members and nearly 500 employees.

Competition

To centralize the administration of the health insurance fund, the board of directors announced a competition in November 1920 to design a new building.

Eight architects and architectural firms were invited, including Rudolf Schilling, Hans Voigt, and Oskar Schade; Johannes and Walter Schuhknecht; Emil Franz Hänsel and Richard Thiele; Georg Wünschmann with Richard Tschader and Arno Carlo; and Otto Droge.

In March 1921, the jury, consisting of Hugo Koch and Carl James Bühring, recommended constructing a new building and extending existing buildings.

Otto Droge’s designs won first prize.

Construction began in the summer of 1922 and was completed in the fall of 1925.

Building

The building’s wall surfaces are structured by differently sized, clearly defined, sand-colored plaster surfaces that contrast with cornices, pilasters, and Rochlitz porphyry tuff

Decorative rosettes, wrought iron, stucco moldings, and the flower-like fountain base are Art Deco elements.

In 1920, a competition was held to design a new office building for the Leipzig General Local Health Insurance Fund. The architect Otto Droge won the competition.

Due to the layout of the site, the 117-meter-long building was erected along Jahnallee.

Facade

Facade:

The main façade of the building is on Willmar-Schwabe-Straße, named after the co-founder of the health insurance company.

The enclosing wall, which has stone spheres for support and wrought-iron crossbeams, is also made of Rochlitz porphyry tuff.

The main floor features an almost seventy-meter-long counter hall.

Fountain

There is a porch in front of the entrance. Behind the wrought iron lattice gates is a courtyard with a fountain.

The fountain’s original sculpture, Recovery, by the artist Felix Pfeifer, was melted down during World War II and has been replaced by a copy.

Postwar

From 1952 until the early 1990s, the German Academy of Physical Culture boarding school was housed here.

Since 1991, the rooms have housed the administration of the newly founded AOK Leipzig once again. The entire building was renovated in accordance with the preservation order until 1997.