On Strączkowa Street in Wrocław, there is a housing estate known as Osiedle na Błoniu. This complex of unique houses was built in the early 1920s according to a design by German architect and urban planner Ernst May. Today, more than 100 years after it was commissioned, the estate still impresses with its unusual solutions and original house designs, even though time has not been kind to it.
Osiedle na Błoniu in Wrocław
The Osiedle na Błoniu housing estate (German: Siedlung Oltaschin) was built on land donated to the municipality by Baron von Richthofen-Boguslavitz, which enabled the implementation of a low-cost social housing programme developed in Silesia after the First World War. The investment was financed from public funds, with the participation of employers and future residents. The work was carried out by Wrocław construction companies under the patronage of the Schlesische Heimstätte organisation. The project, developed in 1921, was implemented under the supervision of its author, Ernst May, and was put into use before 1924.
The concept of a small housing complex
The project was developed at a time when Ernst May was working on the issue of low-cost housing and small residential complexes. He was inspired by the idea of a garden city and traditional village layouts, adapting them to the needs of social housing. In Wrocław’s Ołtaszyn district, he proposed a coherent, intimate layout with a central common space in the form of a square, with rational use of plots and cost reduction. An important element of May’s design were gardens and utility facilities, which contributed to the partial self-sufficiency of the residents.
The housing estate in Błonie, Wrocław – layout and architecture
The housing estate in Błonie has the shape of an elongated rectangle with an axis marked by Strączkowa Street and a central square, known today as Kozi Park Square. The complex consists of 16 semi-detached houses and four detached houses, arranged rhythmically along the street and around the square. The two-storey hollow brick buildings are covered with high, undulating hipped roofs covered with red tiles, which have become the hallmark of the estate. They were given an individual character by the emblems painted above the entrances by the Berlin painter Lotte Hartmann, in the Art Deco style.
Changes and state of preservation
After 1945, and especially after the incorporation of Ołtaszyn into the borders of Wrocław, a process of gradual transformation of the rural character of the area began. In the 1960s, larger plots were divided into smaller ones and built up with new houses. Such interference with the original, historic complex had a negative impact on its integrity and idyllic atmosphere. Over the course of more than 100 years since the completion of the investment, the houses themselves have also undergone changes. Some have disappeared, while others have been rebuilt in such a way that it is difficult to see Ernst May’s former finesse in them. Its greatest enemies are modifications to the structures, changes in the size of windows and the installation of roof windows. Despite these modernisations, the basic urban layout of the estate has remained clear and allows one to imagine the former idea. In 2022, the residents of the Osiedle na Błoniu estate celebrated its centenary.
Source:miejscawewroclawiu.pl, odkrywamyprzedwojennydolnyslask.blogspot.com
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Ołtaszyn in the 1930s and today. Source: Herder Institut – Marburg and Google Earth
The housing estate at the end of the 1920s and today. Source: Die Form: Zeitschrift für gestaltende Arbeit Bonn&Berlin and Google Maps
One of the semi-detached houses in 1924 and 2024. Source: Siedlungs-Wirtschaft. Blätter für intensiven Kleingartenbau und Siedlung, Jahrgang II, No. 11, November 1924 and Google Maps
