Berlin Preface the Word “Suburban” Isn’T Usually a Compliment, but Not All Suburbs Are Created Equal

report 01 The house Stefanie Hering and her husband Suburbia Götz Esslinger built in Wannsee 02 Staff at the deli/café Mutter Fourage ON THE EDGE —Berlin Preface The word “suburban” isn’t usually a compliment, but not all suburbs are created equal. Wannsee, at the edge of Berlin, enjoys high quality of life and surprising diversity, due to both idyllic geography and centuries of accidentally advantageous geopolitics. writer Kimberly Bradley photographer Jonas Unger Suburbs evolve in different ways. Some, like Levittown on New York’s Long Island, are mass-produced experiments in affordable housing.O thers are random urban overspill, like outside any Chinese city. There are exclusive but boring gated 01 communities; low-income, densely populated housing projects on the periphery or simply the nondescript interstitial zones that the Pet Shop Boys once sang about in the 1980s song “Suburbia”. Most get a bad rap. But while a good suburb is hard to find, some do offer personality: a quality of life that may not be urban but is nonetheless special. Take Berlin’s Wannsee, the city’s southwesternmost district, straddling several lakes formed by the River Havel. Here, a community that grew over centuries became part of the city without losing its unique quali- ties. “When we were first thinking of moving here, we realised the minute you crossed the bridge, it felt like we were on holiday,” says Stefanie Hering, remem- bering the decision to leave Prenzlauer Berg in 2000. The feeling was enough to convince the porcelain designer and her husband, architect Götz Esslinger, to relocate their family and their business, Hering Berlin, to the district, even if it hadn’t necessarily been their original plan (an estate agent showed them a plot of land in Wannsee that suited them; 02 issue 55 — 107 report Suburbia Five best suburbs Oak Park, Chicago Few suburbs attract architecture buffs like Oak Park in Chicago’s west. Frank Lloyd Wright spent the first 20 years of his career here and completed 25 projects in the area. Tapiola, Helsinki After the Second World War a non-profit enter- prise called Asuntosäätiö (the Housing Foundation) bought 660 acres of forestland to develop into the perfect modernist garden city. 01 Wannsee village square 02 Resident Trixi Kirsch Hampstead Garden, London The rows of ivy covered houses, are 03 Hering Berlin’s porce- often cited as pinnacles of early 20th century domestic architecture. lain showroom Echo Park, LA Before the US film industry moved to Hollywood, it 04 The American Acad- used to call Echo Park home. It has become one of the stars in a emy’s own Smart car city that’s almost entirely suburban. 05 Rowing club logo 05 06 06 Waterski club HQ Ladugårdsgärdet, Stockholm A chic, leafy suburb built in the late 07 Strandbad Wannsee 1930s by a group of Swedish modernists. Functionalist apartments 08 Frank Butzmann, of are set around the green vistas of the central Tessinparken. Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee 09 Mutter Fourage 10 Verein Seglerhaus am Wannsee sailing club 01 their third business partner, Wiebke Lehmann, eventually moved to Wannsee as well). After arriving, there was no look- ing back. Work is easier with fewer dis- tractions and clients love coming to the showroom – the ground floor of a large house the couple built on a leafy street. “It was easy to meet people because of our children,” says Hering. “And all kinds of people live here.” Her comments run counter to Wannsee’s image, which is that of an exclusive monoculture with a difficult history (it was here that the National Social- ists came up with the “final solution” in 1942 in a lakeside villa that’s now a memorial). True, with its yacht clubs and manors, Wannsee is clearly wealthy. But what’s not immediately visible is a much broader mix of income levels, activi- 02 03 07 08 ties, even architectures. Found on leafy of Wannsee) was first mentioned in the streets near Wilhelmian-era houses or the year 1299. By the late 19th century it had flat-roofed 1930s modernist architecture grown to include two colonies of grand dotting the area are multi-family apart- villas developed by banker Wilhelm ment buildings or even old farmhouses. Conrad and Prussian Prince Friedrich Some villas are now public culture facili- Karl; the first railway connecting ties, like the Literarisches Colloquium (a Wannsee to Berlin and nearby Potsdam writers’ and translators’ residency) or the opened in 1874. In 1898, Stolpe and the Max Liebermann house (a villa that once colonies were officially named Wannsee, belonged to the Secession artist and is now like the two lakes, Kleiner Wannsee and a mini-museum and public garden). Grosser Wannsee, it flanked (“see” is An old barn and feed centre has been “lake” in German). When greater Berlin converted into a deli/café/gallery called incorporated as a city in 1920, the district Mutter Fourage. And each Friday the old became Berlin’s southwesternmost area. village centre, with its church and cob- Little would residents then know bled square, hosts a farmers’ market. For what the 20th century in Germany would the 9,437 people living here, the social, bring but Wannsee’s current charm is historical, and architectural layers add up partially the result of ending up in Ber- to an unexpectedly varied community. lin’s back corner after the Second World The village of Stolpe (now the centre War (in which many of the original villas 04 09 10 108 — issue 55 issue 55 — 109 report Defending the suburb Suburbia were damaged). During the Cold War public facility in the early 1990s but was when the city was carved into occupa- especially important in the decades in Suburbs often get a bad press from urban thinkers. The tion zones, Wannsee was at the end of which West Berliners were stuck inland. arguments are simple: dense the American sector – West Berlin didn’t Across the lake is the Verein Seglerhaus neighbourhoods in the core of the get further west than this. This isolation am Wannsee, a sailing club founded city require fewer services than saved the district from the suburban in 1867 with a stately yet welcoming sparsely populated places on the sprawl, industrial creep and overdevel- clubhouse dating to 1910. The club is fringes. Suburbs force the fools who choose to live in them to opment often found at the edges of other exclusive but functions as a nonprofit or- 01 American Academy be car-dependent. The fact that European cities. “What was once the ganisation and runs a strong youth sailing fellow Richard Deming the people who tend to live in Berlin Wall’s no-man’s land is directly programme. “We’ve always sent a team (left) and staff suburbs are, well, a bit suburban, behind our garden,” says Trixi Kirsch, to the Olympics,” says club managing di- 02 Cheese and cakes at also fails to endear them. But who has lived in a house that lay literally rector Frank Butzmann, who sailed in the Mutter Fourage the fact is we can’t all live in the 03 American Academy Marais or Nolita and at least the on the border to former East Germany 1996 Games in Atlanta; this year the club fellow Leland de la suburbs are denser than rural for 38 years. Visually, she says, not much is sending two teams to London. Durantaye idylls. We need to make the ones has changed. The only major shift is the Dining on the clubhouse terrace and 04 Stefanie Hering’s that work prosper and encour- faint sound of traffic on the Autobahn watching the windsurfers beyond the age a culture of local stores and backyard connecting Berlin and Potsdam nearby, bobbing masts of docked boats, it’s easy 05 American Academy in delivery services. Zoning laws Berlin should also be used to encour- which is far more heavily travelled these to see Wannsee’s appeal, even if it isn’t 06 Enjoying an evening on age small businesses to set up days. Some areas will also be affected trendy. The population is older than in the beach in the suburbs, stopping them by the new Berlin-Brandenburg airport central Berlin (Esslinger claims the dis- 01 being dormitory places. We also when it finally opens. trict is missing a good local nightclub or need to understand why suburbs continue to be built: some people The district’s most impressive asset bar) and, as Kirsch mentions, “You don’t like being close to the city but is the lake that has inspired poets, reju- have much spontaneity here.” But plenty also desire space and greenery. venated weary city dwellers and even of young families live in the district Urban pontificators need to get spawned Olympians. Strandbad Wannsee and commute to the city centre, which over their prejudices. is Europe’s largest inland beach – 1.2km takes about 30 minutes on the train. Still of fine white sand. It was developed as a others work here and live in the city, like Isolation saved Wannsee from the sprawl and over- development often found at the edges of other cities 02 03 04 05 06 110 — issue 55 issue 55 — 111 report Suburbia 01 02 03 01 Zehlendorf housing project 02 Cynthia Barcomi Friedman’s Zehlen- dorf house, built in the early 1960s 03 Barcomi Friedman, cookbook author and delicatessen owner 04 Barcomi Friedman’s kitchen 05 Bruno Taut Bauhaus building employees of the area’s several hospitals, or R Jay Magill, 40, editor at the Ameri- can Academy in Berlin, a lakeside residency programme for American scholars and writers whose lectures and readings have made it a cultural fixture since its launch in 1998.

Load more