Description
The first Central-Kitchen House was built in Copenhagen. By designing what he termed a Service House, former school principal Otto Fick created a cultural housing alternative with a total of 26 three to five-room apartments.[1] In order to preserve each family’s privacy, the units were fully separate. However, instead of kitchens the apartments had only sideboards, each containing a small gas cooker and a dumbwaiter that led directly to the central kitchen. In addition to a living room, each apartment also included a dining room and one to three bedrooms. Various sources mention criticism that the floor plans of the Service House were not up to the standards of the time. Nevertheless, the technical facilities were far superior to anything else available. For instance, the Central- Kitchen House in Copenhagen was equipped with central heating, hot water, a connection to the central vacuum system, a garbage disposal, and an in-house telephone system, which had a direct line to the central kitchen in the souterrain. Laundry and dry-cleaning services could be requested as needed. The Central-Kitchen House was praised for its communal philosophy, which in this case referred to the centralization of the household, thus fully removing any concerns about cleaning, ventilation, lighting, heating, and all activities associated with food preparation, such as shopping, cooking, serving, washing dishes, and so on.[2] A total of seven employees provided these services.[3]
It is striking that the first Central-Kitchen House had no collective rooms besides the central kitchen, which was actually used only by employees, not shared by residents. There was no communal dining room. Collective childcare was also not available at the Service House.[4] The concept of sharing was therefore represented purely in the centralization and collectivization of housework, not cohabitation of any kind. This was also reflected in how the building was operated — not cooperatively, as Lily Braun had initially envisioned, but purely as a business.[5] Fick was a businessman and ran the Central-Kitchen House like a company, sharing profits with the residents and staff. Run this way, the Central-Kitchen Houses could not last long. A Danish banking crisis forced Fick to sell the building to the city, which was also part owner, when he was no longer able to pay off the loans.[6] According to various sources, the house continued to exist for some time, with kitchens being constructed in the apartments early on and the central kitc hen laid to rest, later to be used as a common room.[7] The Central-Kitchen House was fully converted to individual living in 1942.
Selected project data
Street facade
View of central kitchen with dumbwaiter
Footnotes
Archithese (14 | 1975): “Grosshaushalte,” p. 4.
As stated by Rosika Schwimmer. In Die Umschau (52|1907). See also Uhlig (1981): Kollektivmodell Einküchenhaus, Wohnreform und Architekturdebatte zwischen Frauenbewegung und Funktionalismus, p. 10.
Uhlig (1981): Kollektivmodell Einküchenhaus, Wohnreform und Architekturdebatte zwischen Frauenbewegung und Funktionalismus, p. 11.
Zurich Museum of Design (ed.) (1986): Das andere Neue Wohnen, Neue Wohn( bau)formen, p. 28.
Terlinden, von Oertzen (2006): Die Wohnungsfrage ist Frauensache! Frauenbewegung und Wohnreform 1870–1933, p. 140.
Schwimmer (1909): Neue Heimkultur, Zentralhaushaltung, Einküchenhaus, p. 14.
Archithese (14 | 1975): “Grosshaushalte,” p. 5.
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.