Munich: Neuramersdorf Estate

1928 – 1930

Architects: Oscar Delisle, Bernhard Ingwersen, Richard Berndl

Anzinger Straße, Rosenheimer Straße, Wollanistraße, Karl-Preis-Platz, Munich

The Neuramersdorf housing estate was built between 1928 and 1930 according to plans by archi­tects Oscar Delisle, Berhard Ingwersen and Richard Berndl.

It was the largest of a total of five large housing estates built in Munich in the 1920s.

The building program, initiated by Karl Preis, was aimed at alleviating the housing shortage in Munich.

After the end of World War I, the general situation not only in Munich but in all major cities in Germany was deter­mined by economic depression, housing shortage and a great need for socially just housing.

In 1917, the city of Munich estab­lished a department for housing construction and housing to effici­ently counteract the housing shortage.

From the currency reform in 1924 and until the Great Depression, there was a signi­ficant increase in construction projects. State and municipal loans were made to building coope­ra­tives to construct large neigh­bor­hoods to alleviate the housing shortage.

From 1918 to 1927, the city of Munich built a total of about 14,000 apart­ments, including two single people’s homes and an old people’s home.

The planning of the five large housing estates of the municipal housing company GEWOFAG was preceded in each case by an archi­tec­tural compe­tition, the invitation to tender for which called for the greatest possible economic efficiency, type construction, archi­tec­tural uniformity (plastered brick construction, box-type windows, sloping roof) and standar­dized floor plans.

Originally, the plans called for 3500 apart­ments, but the onset of the Great Depression put paid to these plans. By 1930, about 1400 apart­ments had been completed.

Neuramersdorf is divided into two subareas that meet at the inter­section of Anzingerstrasse and Melusinenstrasse / Aschheimerstrasse.

A four-story perimeter develo­pment shields the north-south oriented rows from the main traffic arteries.

Inside the block struc­tures, traffic-calmed streets and residential courtyards are formed by the arran­gement of the individual rows. The floor plans of the apart­ments were created according to a total of four types.

At Karl-Preis-Platz stands the life-size bronze sculpture „Der Blockwalzer“ by Fritz Koelle from 1930.

The work of art has only been back on the former Melusinenplatz (now Karl-Preis-Platz) since 1976, having been removed by the National Socialists in 1933 as a deterrent example of so-called „Bolshevik art“.