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Stockfeld garden city

Stockfeld garden city – a groundbreaking project

Stockfeld garden city is one of the landmark architectural achievements of the first few decades of the 20th century and stands out through its architectural and environmental features.

In 1907, the Mayor of Strasbourg, Rudolph Schwander, undertook the Grande Percée, a large-scale urban development designed to make the city centre a healthier, better-looking place to live in. The project involved the demolition of a considerable number of homes and the subsequent need to find housing for the 460 or so displaced families. The city decided to create a garden suburb to take in the families and gave the job to the Société coopérative de logements populaires, which is still today the owner.

24 projects were put before the council, 3 of which were approved, including that of Edouard Schimpf, entitled “Howard” in homage to the English philanthropist, Ebenezer Howard, who was the first person to come up with the idea of a garden city back in 1898. The final design of the garden city was adopted in 1909, to be completed in 1912, but not by Schimpf, who had resigned in between time, but whose design formed almost all the basis for the new area.

A site of 12 ha, between the suburb of Neuhof and the forest, to the south-east of the city, was chosen for the site, which was connected to the city centre by a tram line.

Blocks and lines of houses with private gardens

Schimpf’s plan was geometrical and rational with fairly classical, fundamentally regional architecture and quadrangular squares lined with communal facilities and an orthogonal road system. The slightly romantic, picturesque aspect of the garden city is due to the twists and turns in the perimeter of the area. The houses are designed for single or several families organised in blocks, where they are aligned and grouped around a large central area, divided into private gardens. While these gardens are meant for growing vegetables, unlike the small front garden, they have also become places where people meet and chat and give rein to their imagination.

L’urbanisme à Strasbourg au XXe siècle - Actes des conférences dans le cadre des 100 ans de la cité-jardin du Stockfeld.

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  • Cité jardin du Stockfeld
  • Cité jardin du Stockfeld
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