Leseprobe

92 Building Culture and Social Life should cover no more than a third of this length.1 The architects justified their proposal to cover ‘the entire frontage’ by citing ‘architectural considera- tions and [the aim of] bringing some variety to the overall streetscape.’2 Regarding the design of the building’s external facades, the architects wrote on Mrs Gerstle’s behalf that ‘all architectural compo- nents, the veranda porch, and the base are to be constructed in sandstone, with mineral plaster used for the remaining external building surfaces.’3 Listed by its brand name Lithin on the fire insur- ance company’s land register, the ‘mineral plaster’ used on the external facades constituted an exter- nal render with a coarse-grained mineral finish. According to this register, the external facade and roof covering also included Rabitz , a building ma- terial typical of this period, consisting of plaster mortar raised on a wire mesh supporting structure. The iron used for the stairs, fences, and doors also appear on the register, as does the tiled roof cover- ing. For the latter feature, the architect’s projection of the western facade specifies a crown-tile roof made from red plane tiles. Also listed is the trellis that the architects planned to attach to the villa’s eastern side and garden facade, encompassing the full height of the ground floor. A photograph of the house taken in around 1930 shows the western fa- cade overgrown with ivy. This is consistent with a plan drawn frommemory in 2011 by Mrs Rosemary Heldebrant (originally Rosemarie Salzburg, born 1922), the daughter of Grete and Dr Friedrich Salz- burg. Her drawing suggests that both sides of the villa were ivy-covered at the time of her childhood and adolescence, with wisteria abundant on the building’s rear facade. Mrs Heldebrant later described how the villa’s out- door area had been a popular spot with both the Salzburg and Gerstle children. The youngsters played with spinning tops on the driveway and had their own playground in the rear portion of the garden, where they had the pick of two swings, a climbing pole, and a set of parallel bars. A gen- eration earlier in the 1890s, the villa belonging to Grete Salzburg’s parents in Augsburg had similar- ly boasted a garden with a portion set aside as a play and gymnastics area. It contained a horizon- tal bar, height-adjustable parallel bars, a swing, trapeze, climbing poles, and springboard. The garden of the villa at Mozartstrasse 3 in Dresden, which belonged to Dr Friedrich Salzburg’s brother Building file for the villa and plot of land at Tiergarten- strasse 50, bound file. Sketch of the grounds of the plot at Tiergartenstrasse 50, as they would have been around 1930, drawn from memory in June 2011 by the daughter (born 1922) of Grete and Dr Friedrich Salzburg.