Gartenstadt Hellerau, a progressive planned community

North of the city of Dresden near the tiny village of Klotzsche the first official garden city in Germany was built from 1909 onwards. In actual fact the first real Garden City was built by the Krupp Housing Department, but this was a company initiative and not a project backed by the German Garden City Association. The location on the Heller brook fell under the jurisdiction of the villages of Klotzsche and Rähnitz. The fields on the sloping terrain were bought by businessman Karl Schmidt. The garden city (actually rather a garden village) Hellerau was developed together the Dresdner Werkstätten für Handwerkskunst, set up by Schmidt. This factory later became the collectively run Deutscher Werkstätten.

The idea(l) was to create a planned community that could grow organically from the initiatives of the community. Community building was an important impetus to creating this rather isolated satellite. Many of the early garden villages in Germany are closely associated with progressive thinking and the social reform movement (Lebensreform). The factory and workshops are located at the bottom of the slope along a pre-existing road linking Dresden and Moritzburg.

The garden village of Hellerau was built next to the furniture factory of the Deutscher Werkstätten (1). The cultural hub of the Festspielhaus (2) is located to the north. On the west side the cemetery (3) is located. The functional central focus is the Market Square (M) with shops around is and on the corner the Gaststätte (G). Other amenities are a kids playgrounds (k), a public park (p) and football pitches (f) next to the well pool.

The layout of the garden village of Hellerau follows the underlying landscape with a series of curvilinear streets going up the slope. A pool was created at a natural well. The centre of the garden village is a market laid out on Sitte-esque principles of artistic urban design. There are three distinct spatial sections. Several well-known architects worked on the buildings in Hellerau, including Richard Riemerschmid, Heinrich Tessenow, Hermann Muthesius, Kurt Frick, George Metzendorf, Wilhelm Kreis and Bruno Paul. The buildings were designed in a German vernacular style, with cream rendered walls or wood planking, red tile roofs and window shutters. Buildings are generally one storey, normally with an attic with bedrooms. Around the market and near the old village of Klotzsche buildings are higher, up to 3 storeys. The factory is -in part- also higher, the same goes for the former water tower.

The garden village was designed as an organic unit with a clear centre around the market. Spatially and stylistically this garden village can be divided into three sections: the central section (a) with a mix of apartments, terraced housing and (semi)detached houses; the western section (b) with (semi)detached cottages, partly constructed in wood; and a northern section (c) with terraced housing. Especially section a shows Unwinesque design devices (in yellow and red).

Hellerau was built as a unit of living, working, culture and education, and attracted many cultural visionaries from all over Europe. Among them were many architects and teatchers and creative types including Émile-Jaques Dalcroze (composer) and Mary Wigman (choreographer). Annual festivals were organised here. For this a large festival hall was built on the edge of Hellerau (the Festspielhalle Hellerau). Hellerau was a centre for creativity, experiment and expressive dance until 1933 when regime change meant an end to the progressive community here.