Description
Inspired by the Copenhagen example, the Einküchenhaus-Gesellschaft der Berliner Vororte (Berlin Suburbs Central-Kitchen House Company) planned five Central-Kitchen Houses in Berlin as part of a large-scale program. Two were completed by Herman Muthesius in Lichterfelde-West in 1909. The two buildings had a total of 21 two- to four room apartments and were connected by an underground corridor, as the buildings shared a single central kitchen. A food cart on rails could be rolled back and forth along the corridor, making it possible to deliver meals directly to apartments on the ground floor and the two stories above via a dumbwaiter in each building. Unlike the Service House in Copenhagen, the apartments did not have a private sideboard, and the food elevator led only to the hallway. Also, in contrast to the Service House, the central kitchen of the Lichterfelde-West Central- Kitchen Houses was positioned on the ground floor and connected by an interior staircase to storage rooms in the basement. There was still no collective dining room, although the rooftop terrace, which was served by the dumbwaiter, could be used for shared meals.[1] Muthesius also used the basement and attic stories to create collective Service House 91 areas such as a gymnasium, mothproof cloakroom, darkroom, and bicycle room. Extensive services, such as cleaning, laundry, or ironing, were available.[2] In addition to centralized housekeeping, collective childcare was integrated into the Berlin Central-Kitchen Houses, with a kindergarten in each building that was led by progressive educators.[3]
In the view of the Einküchenhaus-Gesellschaft, intimacy within the family unit would be strengthened by the centralization of housework and education.[4] In terms of organization, the initiators deliberately did not choose to establish a cooperative, as they felt that the cooperative management structure could not compete with more rigorous economic models. A company, on the other hand, would be capable of addressing the mechanization and centralization of housekeeping.[5] The Einküchenhaus-Gesellschaft der Berliner Vororte was a subsidiary of a second company, which was responsible for promoting a new culture of home to reform the housing, household, and education systems and to connect with businesses in other cities . Both companies were driven by the socio-economic aim of using Central-Kitchen Houses to solve the problem of housing for the working classes.[6] The demand for apartments in the five Berlin Central-Kitchen Houses was high, with all u nits rented even before completion. Despite this, the Einküchenhaus-Gesellschaft had to be liquidated after only a few months of operation, due to financial difficulties, organizational resistance, and an unsuitable composition of residents — not enough young families with working mothers. The two Lichterfelde-West Central-Kitchen Houses were transferred to another company, which continued to operate the buildings as Central-Kitchen Houses until 1915.[7] According to various sources, the buildings were later demolished.
Selected project data
Model view
Living room in a private apartment
Central kitchen on the ground floor
Footnotes
See also Terlinden, von Oertzen (2006): Die Wohnungsfrage ist Frauensache! Frauenbewegung und Wohnreform 1870–1933, p. 152. 2
Federn: “Die Einküchenhäuser in Berlin.” In Frauenbestrebungen (08 |1909), p. 63.
Uhlig (1981): Kollektivmodell Einküchenhaus, Wohnreform und Architekturdebatte zwischen Frauenbewegung und Funktionalismus, p. 31.
Archithese (14|1975): “Grosshaushalte,” p. 5.
Uhlig (1981): Kollektivmodell Einküchenhaus, Wohnreform und Architekturdebatte zwischen Frauenbewegung und Funktionalismus, p. 26.
Terlinden, von Oertzen (2006): Die Wohnungsfrage ist Frauensache! Frauenbewegung und Wohnreform 1870–1933, p. 152.
Ibid., p. 154 f.
Originally published in: Susanne Schmid, Dietmar Eberle, Margrit Hugentobler (eds.), A History of Collective Living. Forms of Shared Housing, Birkhäuser, 2019. Translation by Word Up!, LLC, edited for Building Types Online.