Joining forces to save the Sep-Ruf house

The historic Sep Ruf house in Grünwald is to be saved.

And with combined forces.

At an on-site appointment, representatives of monument protection, politics and district home care came together.

Grünwald

– Since mid-February, the municipality of Grünwald and many citizens have been worried about one of the ten houses that the well-known architect Sep Ruf built in the second half of the 1930s.

At an on-site meeting on Hugo-Junkers-Strasse, representatives of the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments, district home caretaker Rolf Katzendobler, Member of the State Parliament Sabine Weigand and Irene Meissner from the Sep-Ruf Society came to the conclusion that, with combined forces, "for the settlement" must be fought - and that the chances of success are not so bad.

The meeting was organized by the Greens.

State Office for the Preservation of Monuments: "From our point of view, monument properties are clearly given"

The crux of the matter is that the entire row of houses in the southern part of Hugo-Junkers-Strasse has been a listed building since 1993, until the owners of house number 1, who now want to build a new one, complained.

That was in 1998, they got it right, but the administrative court didn't bother to commission its own expert opinion at the time.

Burkhard Körner from the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments said on Wednesday at the on-site visit: "From our point of view, the monument quality is clearly given." The monument values ​​will be justified again "according to the documents", and an attempt will also be made to have the entire line placed under ensemble protection via the State Monument Council, what is possible if this does not only include individual monuments.

There is no comparable settlement in the district

Irene Meissner, who is doing her doctorate on Sep Ruf and co-founded the Sep Ruf Society six years ago, once again explained to the around 30 people present, including many neighbors, how important and unique the Grünwalder settlement is.

Nothing comparable can be found either in the district or in Munich - and not in Sep Ruf's work either.

A prototype for the nice little house with the square floor plan is in Harlaching on Gabriel-Max-Straße and is also a listed building.

The model settlement that Ruf built in Ramersdorf is not comparable because it was “commissioned by the Nazis”.

Unique construction

Here, in Grünwald, however, the architect did not allow himself to be restricted by the specifications of the time.

"The roofs don't protrude". From the rectangular floor plan, Ruf formed a "triangle" that forms the far-reaching roof.

The houses already have sloping ceilings on the first floor, but these have been compensated for by built-in installations.

"The settlement here cannot be overestimated," said Meissner.

Removing a house would mean "taking a pearl from a string of pearls".

The building committee will decide on the owners' application on March 13th

Since the 1990s, Meissner said, the reputation of Sep Ruf, who died in 1982, has increased significantly.

"Back then he was even more of an insider tip", at least since the large exhibition dedicated to his 100th birthday in the Pinakothek der Moderne in 2008, we have known how modern and groundbreaking his buildings are.

On March 13, the building committee will decide on the owners' application for a preliminary decision, which was postponed in February.

The district office was also involved to prevent the property from being simply pushed away.