The most desired houses of Basel: How the speculator Mr Baumgartner shaped this city
Wilhelm Emil Baumgartner was an outstandingly strenuous businessman. And a speculator straight out of a picture book: He built houses in Basel like crazy. Today, the flats, up to 90 years old, are among the most desired ones in the city. A business success story which also significantly shaped the development of this city.
Those looking for a flat know: Basel is bursting at the seams. Flats are rare and as soon as a block becomes free to build on it has to be „developed“ in the builders‘ vernacular. An entire industrial area in Klybeck will be developed in the next decades, flats, and offices will be built at the Wolf cargo train station, and the vast Dreispitz area gives hope for a completely new residential area at the edge of the city. „Life and work“ is the new path, workplaces and people should be considered in equal terms, participation is required.
This all however would have not be of any interest at all for Wilhelm Emil Baumgartner and Hans Hindermann. What they achieved in the twelve years between 1926 and 1938 was just as a big dimension in urban planning: They built 306 blocks of flats in Basel, containing 1300 flats. Called „Baumgartnerhäuser“, they still enjoy great popularity even in 2017.
A speculator in all senses of the word
Wilhelm Emil Baumgartner (1893-1946) was an old-school property speculator. He bought plots and built on them in order to sell off the properties to raise solid revenue. „For about 20 years this method seemed to work out: to risk, to invest, to build, and to sell,“ wrote author Dorothee Huber in her book entitled „Die Baumgartnerhäuser Basel 1926-1938“. It was published in 2001 in cooperation with the exhibition „About the quality of mediocrity. The Baumgarner Houses in Basel“ which waspresented in the Architekturmuseum.
St. Johann, Gotthelf, Landhof, Margarethen, and Gellert
Together with the architects Hans Hindermann and Paul Hosch, the houses - which for Baslers are easily identifiable as Baumgartnerhäuser – were built. The very first of these houses at Elsässerstrasse were built for the mother of Wilhelm Emil Baumgartner. Soon they were followed by other houses in St. Johann at Elsässer-, Vogesen-, Fatio-, and Mülhauserstrasse all the way to Schützenmatte. Later properties in Wettsteinallee, and Peter Rot-Strasse near Landhof were added. And they ended up building the popular houses near Pruntrutermatte in Gundeli.
2-4 bedroom-flats on three to five storeys
Especially crucial was that Mr Baumgartner and his partners built cheaply because they standardised the buildings along only six different types (type A to F) with different floor plans and therefore all houses were constructed in pretty much the same way. The fronts are earmarked by representative façades in neo-baroque style. The back of the houses is more functional and have spacious terraces. The first flats were equipped with heating stoves, later replaced by storage or central heating systems.
The high windows with the low balustrades and the wrought iron railings are also characteristic. The houses also were earmarked by olive and beige façades at the front. Since the last revision of the zoning plan in 2014, all Baumgartnerhäuser are within protected areas. The owners are recommended to clean the façades and not to paint them. And if they do, the colours olive and beige have to be applied. The historical character must be maintained.
Residential complex at the foot of the Margarethen hill
The residential complex in Gundeli which was built from 1929 to 1931 is the biggest Baumgartner area containing 85 buildings. The construction site was one of the biggest at the time in Basel. It is said that Mr Baumgartner himself wanted to move into the corner-house at Hans-Huber-Strasse 23, but in the end he decided on another flat.
The Baumgartner houses were what is called ‚area planning‘ these days and which can only be carried out under strict rules and with a lot of conceptual work. While the entrepreneurial Mr Baumgartner created entire residential areas within twelve years, these days this amount of time is needed from the first development plans to the first sod cutting. Although Wilhelm Emil Baumgartner had it much easier with his construction business: In the 1920s Basel was far from being as populated as in the 21st century.