Cologne: Disch Haus

1928 – 1930

Architects: Bruno Paul, Franz Weber

Brückenstraße 19, Cologne, Germany

The listed Disch House in Cologne, Germany, was built between 1928 and 1930 to plans by archi­tects Bruno Paul and Franz Werner.

Building

The curved façade of the listed six-storey office and commercial building Disch-Haus, built with a steel skeleton construction, is defined by horizontal window bands alter­nating with travertine panels.

The horizontal bars of the steel windows further emphasise the horizontal lines.

The right-hand stair tower with its recessed window slots and attached flagpoles is the only vertical element.

The ground floor is conti­nuously glazed with storey-high shop windows.

Competition

Numerous Cologne archi­tects, including Theodor Merrill, Clemens Klotz, Wilhelm Riphahn and Caspar Maria Grod, took part in a compe­tition announced in 1928 for an office and commercial building with about 10,000 square metres of floor space on an almost trian­gular plot.

Bruno Paul and Franz Weber, who had planned the Sinn department stores in Gelsenkirchen and Essen at the same time, were awarded the contract.

According to Bruno Paul, the rounded corner shape as an infinite curvature was to give the building an unmist­akable character.

Interior

He attached parti­cular importance to the presti­gious staircase in the interior as well as the advan­ta­geous incidence of southern light, the good venti­lation of the interior rooms and the possi­bility of a variable room layout.

The recessed attic and the curved façade evoke associa­tions with naval archi­tecture and Erich Mendelsohn’s contem­po­ra­neous designs for the Schocken department stores in Stuttgart and Chemnitz.

The spiral staircase inside picks up on the elegant curve of the exterior façade.

The top floor fell victim to an air raid during the Second World War, so that today the original roof termi­nation above the staggered floor is missing.

Renovation and Restoration

After various owners and uses, the building was converted and renovated in 2008 by KSP Engel und Zimmermann Architects.