In 1930, Bauhaus student Friedrich Karl Engemann built a detached house for his own use at Fischereiweg 24 (then Fischereiweg 13). The house is part of a group of houses that Engemann designed during his time at the Bauhaus between 1930 and 1933.
This ensemble, immediately adjacent to the Bauhaus Building, incorporates the houses at Fischereiweg 20, 22, 24, and 26 (11, 12, 13, and 14 at the time), as well as the house at Stephansweg 1. According to city plans from the mid-1920s, the area around Fischereiweg was to be developed to create affordable housing for the middle classes.
With his buildings on Fischereiweg, Engemann adhered to a moderately modernist formal language. This is reflected in his choice of the most common building form at the time: the multi-storey residential building with a hipped roof.
His own residential house also incorporated traditional and modern elements in equal measure. The sloping hipped roof, roof overhang, and dormers are in keeping with tradition. At the same time, the white plastering of the building with the horizontal dark plaster surface around the corners and the windows was a typical structuring element in modernist architecture.
The Engemann House is set back from the road, with its narrow side facing towards it. There used to be a fence around the property. The two-storey building with a basement contained two apartments, and there were partitions in the attic.
The other detached and semi-detached houses at Fischereiweg 20, 22, and 26 and Stephansweg 1 also had features of moderate modernism, such as pitched roofs with dormers and windows arranged in bands.
The interior of the Engemann House had a functional, clear organisation of the space. Wooden fixtures in the hallway, kitchen, and bedroom were designed by the architect himself. Their design, with flush drawers and doors, were similar to models from the Bauhaus carpentry workshop. All basic functions, such as spaces for sleeping, eating, and working were located on the ground floor. The largest room in the Engemann residence was the workroom of the head of the household, which had a large double glass door leading into the dining room. Together, these two rooms made up half of the entire ground floor.
Friedrich Engemann lived on the ground floor of the house with his wife Alma Else until he was called up for military service in 1939. The house was badly damaged during the war, with only one room remaining habitable.
The house at Fischereiweg 24 was used by the Engemann family until 1955. Today, the building houses a doctor’s practice and an apartment. The exterior of the house was radically changed when conversions were carried out in 2003. The other houses on Fischereiweg, which have also been converted, are still residential houses.
