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nd
half of the 19
th
century 37
Its members included such reputed masters as: Carl
Brößling, Herrmann Donat, Louis Ehrlich, Otto Fiebig-
er, Louis Hentschel, Friedrich Illner, Berthold Lange
and Carl Schmidt, the sculptor Albert Rachner and such
building entrepreneurs as Albert Nickel, Alois Seppelt,
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south of its borders, the limited partnership “Matthiasfelder
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1869, postulated in its founding prospectus the beginning of
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which was considered terra incognita by a lot of inhabit-
ants of the city [compare: 14, p. 1]. The area of that suburb
– as described in the founding prospectus – was ignored de-
spite the fact that it provided fresh air, good drinking water,
and the best land for construction sites. The newly opened
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tance to the city center provided additional advantage of
that part of the city. According to the originators of the proj-
ect the city hall was only 15 minutes away.
The founding capital of the partnership was supposed
to be raised from the sale of 500 shares with the value
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was the buyout of the shares for money admitted but the
shares also could be paid back by supplying materials or
performing construction work. The capital of 50,000 tha-
lers raised in this way was to be used for the purchase of
area of about 98 acres. It was planned to design a square
of the area of about 9.8 acres in the center, which in the
future would be used as a shopping center. The remain-
ing area around the square was to be divided by a grid
of new streets with residential houses [14, p. 1]. In the
opinion of the project originators the sale of plots for
construction sites or independent buildings should gen-
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which at that time was possible by trading in land – was
favorable for establishing building companies. There is
no doubt that the prestige of two companies established
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Silesian Real Estate Trade Society (6FKOHVLVFKH ,PPR-
bilen Actien Gesellschaft) (Oct. 31, 1871) which evolved
from the “Union for Elimination of the Lack of Apart-
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operating in 1871
13
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(Breslauer Baubank) (est. Aug. 23, 1872). Both institu-
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tate Trade Society’s supervisory board included the mu-
nicipal judge David Friedländer, the merchant C.H.L.
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13
The Union operated already in 1871, however, its members did
not agree on the nature of its operations. Some of them wanted the
Union to operate as a joint-stock company and it can be assumed that
Schottländer was their leader; the other group, on the other hand, opted
for establishing a cooperative. It should be assumed, however, there
must have been other reasons for the split as the members of that union
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der, Siegmund Sachs, Julius Schotländer and August
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Bank – apart from Emil Dickhut, director of Breslau-
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berger), Edmundd Oppenheim (Heymann Oppenheim),
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advisor, attorney, and notary, as well as royal building
advisor – Carl Lüdecke.
There is no doubt that the operations of both of those
institutions were similar. First of all they tried to acquire the
building areas located near newly laid out streets. Next, the
areas were divided into plots and sold to the burghers. How-
ever, not all plots were assigned for sale. The companies
usually developed the plots in the most attractive locations
of the city on their own by building groups of townhouses
with highly representative architecture.
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companies was determined by the founding capital as it
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with a huge economic boom which took place in the 1870s
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(1870–1871), the growth of the internal market as a result
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tion of domestic industry by protective customs tariffs,
monetary reforms effected in 1871 and 1873 as well as the
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1877 which were three times greater than over the next six
years testify to fact that it was a period which was espe-
cially favorable for the growth of building
14
. It was typical
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mainly on construction of residential houses as high prof-
its were expected from renting apartments, commercial
space, and shops.
In this context it is impossible to ignore one more –
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the explosion of building in the 1870s witnessed competi-
tion in the broad meaning of that word. Investors were
interested mainly in the whole clusters of plots and not
individual ones. A house located in the city center was
a kind of advertising opportunity for its owner. The palace
façades, representative staircases, conveniently laid-out
interiors, stucco decorations of the salons – all this was the
reason why they were called tenement palaces. It should
be assumed that the highly representative architecture of
14
In 1872–1877, the Building Police granted on average 370 build-
ing permits annually, whereas over two years preceding that period – in
1870 and 1871 – 183 building permits annually, and in 1878–1885 –
about 151 building permits annually. Those building permits regarded
both new projects and extension of already existing buildings, compare:
Honigmann [9, p. 258].