Finnensiedlung, Residential settlement in Höhenhaus, Germany.
Finnensiedlung comprises 158 wooden double houses with dark stained facades, white window frames, and pitched roofs, each set on a plot of approximately 400 square meters. Every house includes an attached garden and a basement containing original sanitary facilities from the time of construction.
Construction of the settlement began in 1942 to house families who lost their homes during bombing raids on Cologne. The project provided rapid, standardized housing solutions for those displaced by wartime destruction.
The settlement shows how residential housing was built in the 1940s for ordinary families, with simple, functional designs that repeat throughout. The homes and gardens form a pattern that reveals how communities were meant to live together during that era.
The settlement consists of private residences and is not set up for public tours, so visitors can best experience it by walking through the neighborhood. A stroll through the streets allows you to see the layout and appearance of the houses without disturbing residents.
The layout of the houses was originally intended to form the shape of a Finnish dagger, an ambitious design concept that was never fully realized due to construction constraints. This incomplete geometric vision is now visible only in historical aerial photographs.
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