Architect Bleyer and his buildings in Ratshof: From private houses to apartments

At the beginning of the 20th century, the capital of the province of East Prussia, the city of Koenigsberg (modern Kaliningrad), was in the active phase of its development, the growth of industry and the associated increase in the number of residents required the city authorities to pay attention to both the development of the city’s public utilities and the solution of housing problems, which had became aggravated by the events associated with the First World War. The role of both the city magistrate in the person of its leaders and various housing construction societies is noteworthy. The role of both the city magistrate in the person of its leaders and various housing construction societies is noteworthy. The role of the creativity of individual architects deserves special attention, although it has not been fully studied in Russian historiography. The architect Fritz Bleyer left one of the most significant traces in the urban development history of Königsberg. First of all, due to his authorship of the project for the planning and development of Germany’s first garden city, Ratshof. Among the surviving pre war buildings, along with exemplary residential buildings, Bleyer is also the author of the original project of the Tragheim church community house, which allows us to appreciate the level and style of his work. Thus, the legacy of F. Bleyer, both in his contribution to the practical implementation of the concept of a garden city in the form of Ratshof, and in three residential complexes built in 1914-1915 in the new urban areas of Koenigsberg, was significant for its time and place, laying the standards for comfortable urban housing.