Page 170 - Libro Max Cetto

In Cetto’s Proximity Bettina Cetto

The Unterstandshalle on the lakeside of Frankfurt’s Ostpark dates back to 1928, when
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Max was 25 years old. Located amid the thirty-two hectares that make up the park, on
the shores of an artificial pond, the structure was somewhat abandoned when I visited it
about 30 years ago. While this was clearly not the entire original structure –it had evident
bomb damage from the war– the sole semicircular slab, with a flat roof supported by slender
columns and enveloped by a bench, felt expressive and intimate.
Following its curve, there had once been a glass wall modulated by vertical rectangles,
creating a protected space to contemplate the landscape. This is how it looked 93 years ago:

Fig. 15 Ostpark pavilion,1928. © Max Cetto-Archiv, Deutsches Architekturmuseum, Frankfurt am Main.

Fig. 16 Unterstandshalle im Ostpark and reverse of the photo with Cetto’s handwriting, 1928. © Max
Cetto-Archiv, Deutsches Architekturmuseum, Frankfurt am Main.

19 Several buildings that Cetto designed in his early career, working under Ernst May in Frankfurt as part of the progres-
sive local government’s ambitious plans, are still standing, some of them very well preserved.

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