Erlöserkirche, Parish church in Stuttgart-Nord, Germany.
The Erlöserkirche is a Protestant parish church on Birkenwaldstraße in Stuttgart-Nord, built 1906–1908 to plans by Theodor Fischer. Its five asymmetrical parts — tower, nave, choir, sacristy and stair tower — are raised in rough, smoke-blackened limestone tuff from the Swabian Alb, with white mortar joints. The nave measures 35 by 20 metres, rises 25 metres on the street side, and carries a steep red-tiled roof at 49 degrees; the 33-metre tower sits asymmetrically on the ridge.
The Erlöserkirche was built between 1906 and 1908 to plans by Theodor Fischer, who avoided the ornament of historicism and reduced the exterior to the geometric forms of its parts. Its first pastor, from 1908 to 1913, was the pacifist Otto Umfrid. Badly damaged in the Second World War, the church was rebuilt between 1950 and 1954 under Rudolf Lempp.
The church was initially called "Kirche am Weinberg" (Church at the Vineyard) because it stood among vineyards on the hillside. Its first pastor, from 1908 to 1913, was the well-known pacifist Otto Umfrid. A large linden tree stands on the triangular forecourt and provides shade.
The church is easily accessible and welcomes visitors during service times and prayer hours. The dark stone exterior makes the building easy to spot from the surrounding area.
The tower sits off-axis on the ridge of the nave roof, set back toward the hillside on the advice of Stuttgart's elders, so the church shows no monumental front to the street. Its seven storeys rise from a nine-metre square plan and end in a recessed cylindrical top.
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