protection and restoration of a summer-house. Heynstrasse 8, Berlin-Pankow, 2000
destroyed summer-house in 1998
experts of the documentation
Contents
1. introduction
2. the garden court -- historical development
3. the condition in 1998
4. description of the measures
5. literature
1. Introduction
The dwelling house, built in 1893 by the manufacturer Fritz Heyn forms an
ensemble with its following garden court, this according to the reports published
in 1993 to the monument quality, "manifest the living relationships and
the representation need of a solid middle-class factory-owner family"
of that time (see: Werner, 1994, p.114).
The report also points to the meanings of the garden court next to the apartment
of the family Heyn, which is still its original state. This is described as
an "extremely rare example of the garden design for dwelling houses at
the ending 19th century" (ibid.). In the meantime the property and building
were classified as a historical monument.
A central component of the court plant represents the existing summer house
which certainly is in its effortful design also as a testimony of the workmanship
of great importance.
The documentation on hand is a stock-taking of the strongly damaged wood building.
The photographic documentation and the record of in detail measured plans
served the monument nursing safeguarding and formed the basis for the reconstruction
true to the original.
2. the garden court -- historical development
Pankow is at the end of the 19th century still a small, largely rurally marked
suburb of Berlin. The wickerwork chair manufacturer Fritz Heyn (1849-1928)
as a successful businessman and a member of the aldermen enjoys a high social
reputation. The Heynstrasse was let out in 1891 and later was named to him.
He buildt in 1893 according to the plans of the architect Ernst Fröhlich
a representative block of rented apartments, into the Belétage retracts
the family Heyn itself (today Panke museum).The building consists of a four-storey
front-facing house with a three-storied side wing. The larger portion of the
property remains undeveloped and is subdivided into three successive areas:
The frontyard, the economy court and the private garden court. This was used
by the family Heyn and also designed. It corresponds to the historicist design
ideal of that time in its geometric, representative form. As a "living
space in the open" it is a place of numerous family events. Groth, a
carpenter, the son-in-law of Fritz Heyn, set up a summer house with the plant
of the court at the same time. The richly ornamented wood construction takes
a central role for the garden from the beginning and became a popular meeting
place. The numerous family photos with the motive of the summer house give
an idea of the value which it had for its solid middle-class owners.
Except for smaller changes the garden court remains unchanged in its basic
structure during the following years. A storehouse is set up to 1978/79 on
the southern property on the neighborhood. The base of the hall is approx.
60 cm above the garden level. For this reason the summer house at its back
was filled up by approximately half a meter of soil which will contribute
for a faster fall of the wood building in the following period.
Altogether the necessity of the rehabilitation to the original shape of the
complete plant is recognizable today, obviously.
A detailed description is found in the diploma work "garden court Heynstraße
8" written in 1994 by A. Werner.
Despite an intensive source enquiry of the author, no references to the cooperation
of a landscape architect or the emergence year were, however, found with the
plant.
3. the condition in 1998
A photo documentation made by H. Mundt in order of the Landesdenkmalamt,
shows the building in January 1999. The pictorial material was completed by
photographs of Büro Zimmermann.
In 1999 the summer house was altogether in a desolate condition. Numerous
construction elements, partly load-bearing, were affected by rottenness, the
damages were repaired only unsatisfactorily. Primarily the rear was damaged
considerably, what among others on the mentioned deposit of soil had to be
led back by the building of the neighboring hall. Due to the rainfall this
rasons caused the complete construction had rearly sunk by approx. 40 cm.
The complete construction was founded about the load-bearing posts on a circulating
wood joist framework.This was along the outer edge by a bedrock, about 20
cm deep, which served the protection from lateral humidity. The joists nevertheless
were in a rotten condition and completly destroyed in parts.The long-term
stability of the summer house was no longer secure. Except for the relatively
intact wing assembly, the roof also was in a bad condition.The roof was covered
by an ivy vegetation and it was primarily missing for more care measures.
A window frame of the neighboring hall in the past falling down had presumably
knocked a hole in the roof. The harming place was repaired provisionally.
The stooks covered on historical photos were no longer existant. During the
inventory measures merely a strongly weathered piece of wood could be safeguarded.
Since the roof did not effectively protect the rain, the wooden floor of the
summer house also was strongly rotted and broken into pieces. Hallway boards
and sub-construction in large parts were in a condition of an advanced decomposition.
The broken parts were safeguarded provisionally. The window glazed formerly
on the western side was destroyed except for a few rungs.
The sides and the front of the summer house were nevertheless altogether in
a comparatively good condition. The saw works on the window falls and roof
consoles were still available. Just occasional colour traces were got by an
interim paint of the summer house. It had to be, however, suspected in the
comparison with the historical photos, that the building didn't have any color
touch originally (see also Werner 1994, p. 80).
4. description of the measures
Since no original plans or drawings of the summer house are available until
today's time, an exact record of detailed measures of the building was made
in the context of the inventory.
The plans contain cuts and details in their original form in the scales from
1:25 to 1:1..
Some no longer available components could be reconstructed by the comparison
with historic photographs. Changes carried out afterwards remained, however,
unconsidered.
For the reconstruction of the building an improvement in the constructive
connection was worked out at the foundation. A double wood joist framework
is founded to maintain a circulating strip foundation. To do a sufficient
ventilating of the hallway floor, the sommer house was increased by 12 centimeters
and the interior increased with a threshold. The base stripe covered with
a circulating sheet-zinc serves as guard.
On the basis of the prepared plans a detail faithfully reconstruction of the
building could be carried out. The works were done by the carpenter K. Donner,
Berlin.
At first the summer house was taken to pieces and safeguarded into its single
numbered components. Depending on the founded preservation condition the original
components then could be reused or newly built if necessary.
5. literature
WERNER, Anke: Gartenhof Heynstrasse 8 Gartendenkmalpflegerisches Wiederherstellungskonzept
für den Gartenhof des Hauses Heynstraße 8 in Berlin Pankow, Berlin
1994
THÜMMLER, Lars-Holger: Berlin-Pankow wie es früher war, Berlin
1996
Restoration of the summer-house and the spring, summer 2002
copyright © 1997-2003 Florian Zimmermann