Consider for a moment that you are a well-paid official in 1926. The Beamten-Wohnungs-Verein zu Berlin offered residences for people just like you. Today we explore the Wohnanlage Germaniastraße 7-9. It is also known as Werbergstraße 1-9 and Götzstraße 23-27. This housing complex was erected between 1926 and 1928.
Paul Mebes and Paul Emmerich designed the Wohnanlage Germaniastraße. They were experienced in settlement construction. The Actiengesellschaft für Bauausführungen was the construction company. The Beamten-Wohnungs-Verein zu Berlin e.GmbH acted as the building owner.
The architects arranged two four-story housing blocks. These blocks surround a street courtyard, designed as an alley. This opens onto Werbergstraße. Each block encloses an inner courtyard. The housing complex connects well with the neighboring Luise-Henriette-School. The street courtyard aligns with the school’s rear classroom wing. A building wing with a passageway mediates between the southern housing block. It also connects to the head building of the classroom wing.
The Wohnanlage Germaniastraße mirrors the school’s features. It shares the same eaves height and building material. Red brick and white sash windows define the complex’s appearance. Wall sections between windows feature protruding brick layers. This is also visible on the house edges. Mebes and Emmerich designed varied loggia blocks and bay windows. On Werbergstraße, you can spot bay windows. They alternate plastered surfaces and horizontally striped brick layers.
The Wohnanlage Germaniastraße catered to well-paid officials. This explains the high proportion of three and four-room apartments. Larger apartments are in the Werbergstraße units. They are also on both sides of the street courtyard. Smaller two-room apartments are on Götz- and Germaniastraße.
Mebes and Emmerich created an architecturally and urbanistically successful example. It shows modern settlement construction in an urban context. This stands beside the Luise-Henriette-School. The Deutsche Bauzeitung mentioned the Beamten-Wohnungs-Verein zu Berlin in 1926.