Gartenstadt Falkenberg is a Unesco World Heritage Site together with a number of other districts which you will find on this site: Siemenstadt, Weisse Stadt, Hufeisensiedlung Britz, Schiller Park … These districts have in common their modernity, with architectural projects that range from the beginning of the century to the post-World War II period.

Behind these different real estate programmes, most often commissioned by the municipality, there was a strong social will to offer decent housing conditions to the city’s working class families.

To offer them something other than the Mietskaserne that characterise the city: buildings composed of numerous buildings around courtyards that become darker and more unhealthy the further away you get from the building on the street. At the height of the housing crisis, entire families were crammed into one room, often without running water.

Falkenberg is the oldest of these sites, its construction began shortly before the First World War and its architect was Bruno Taut, an architect who was to be found on many interwar projects in Berlin.

The concept of garden cities appeared in England in the last years of the 19th century. To my knowledge, Gartenfeld is the only one still standing in Berlin.

This housing estate consists of small blocks of flats and small terraced houses. Colours are used extensively on the facades and doors.

The initial project was very ambitious, but the war came along and the final project comprises “only” 128 dwellings.

The site was renovated on the occasion of its World Heritage listing after years of neglect.

This area is a bit far from the center of Berlin but worth a visit https://goo.gl/maps/km5eLGmF9C1rAtQR9.

You can find here the other classified districts of Berlin that I mentioned at the beginning of this post:

Siemenstadt : https://wherever-it-is.com/2021/07/02/siemensstadt-industrial-culture-and-utopia/

Weissestadt : https://wherever-it-is.com/2021/04/16/the-white-city-of-berlin/

Hufeisensiedlung Britz: https://wherever-it-is.com/2021/09/22/architectura-modernity-berlin-britz/

Schillerpark: https://wherever-it-is.com/2022/03/19/berlin-schillerpark-a-unesco-site/