Belle Epoque - Germany: Bad Nauheim

Germany

Hessen: Bad Nauheim

"My Hessia is to flourish, and in it the arts"
Ernest Louis of Hesse, March 24, 1900

Around 1900, the spa town Bad Nauheim enjoyed a good international reputation. Not only that the number of patients had considerably increased every year, but the spa became more and more attractive for politicians, nobility and high finance. At that time, Bad Nauheim, being situated about 35 km north of Frankfurt, belonged to the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt which, since 1892, was reigned by Ernest Louis of Hesse and by Rhine, the same who, in 1899, had founded in Darmstadt the Artists' Colony Mathildenhöhe. This enthusiastic patron of the arts granted more than ten millions of gold mark for the extension of the spa complex. Moreover, he sent the Grand-Ducal Civil Engineering Inspector, the young architect Wilhelm Jost (1874-1944), to design, to develop and to manage the constructions and conversions of the spa buildings.
Behind the station (1) is the powerhouse of the spa, the vapour laundry and ice-making works. The spa's heart consists of the Sprudelhof (2) (spring court). The Kurhaus (3) (spa hotel) was modified and decorated with rich Jugendstil paintings. The Trinkkuranlage (5) (drinking cure facility) has a courtyard with colonnades and a park with a concert hall. The former inhalatorium (6) is now the municipal library.

Station
Sprudelhof (1905-1911)
The Spa Hotel
(1862-64)
Colonnades
Drinking Cure Facility (1910-12)
Former Inhalatorium (1902)

A Administration buildings
B Fountain basins
2-7 Bath houses

Wilhelm Jost (1874-1944)
Sprudelhof (1905-11)

The Sprudelhof is located in the middle of the axis leading from the station to the spa hotel. Between two administration buildings arranged in a sort of gate lodges, a wide staircase leads down into the inner court where on each side stand three bath houses connected to each other by arcades. The whole complex gives the overall impression of a baroque palace. Three monumental basins of the three mineral springs were built in the centre of the courtyard by the sculptor Heinrich Jobst (1874-1943), one of the numerous artists coming from the Artists' Colony in Darmstadt besides Jakob Julius Scharvogel (1854-1938), Friedrich Wilhelm Kleukens (1878-1956) and Albin Müller (1871-1941).

Administration building

Bath houses
4 and 5

Entrance
Administration bldg

Chimney

Administration bldg

Roof-light

Central Courtyard
with Spring Basins

Basin Sculpture

The decoration of the buildings refers in most details to water: In the plaster, structures forming waves can be recognized, on walls and balustrades you see air or gas bubbles and waterdrops, the lanterns are suspended on fish heads, in the stained glass windows undulate the waves.

Bath Houses 3 to 5

The outline of all bath houses is similar: The entrance leads into a vast waiting room richly decorated. Behind this room is the Schmuckhof (literally ornament court), an inner court reminding of a monastery's cloister. The bath cubicles are found on each side of the Schmuckhof separated from the court by a gallery. On the backside of the inner court are buildings for functional purposes.