News from Southern Africa & Namibia: Namibia: The Elisabeth Haus in Windhoek | Роддом Элизабет Виндхук Намибия

Thursday, 21 January 2021

Namibia: The Elisabeth Haus in Windhoek | Роддом Элизабет Виндхук Намибия

The Elisabeth Haus, the story of Windhoek's landmark

It is the year 1907. Settler families in German South West Africa live on remote farms and in small villages far apart from one another. The means of transportation are slow and uncomfortable and there are hardly any roads worth mentioning. Serious illness becomes life-threatening in many cases because medical assistance often comes too late. Many expectant mothers find themselves in the same predicament.

It was against this background that German organizations called for the establishment of a maternity home in Windhoek. The appeal for donations was very well received in Germany. The first stone was laid on 20 October 1907 and the construction work was finished a few months later. As the lion’s share of the funds was raised by the Women’s League of the German Colonial Society chaired by the Duchess Elisabeth of Mecklenburg, it was named Elisabeth House.

In 1908 the Red Cross flag was raised for the first time and henceforth announced every birth. In the early years, when Elisabeth House stood all alone on the rise visible from far afield, the flag was the signal to many a father calming his nerves with a beer somewhere on Kaiser Street (Independence Avenue).

Then the First World War broke out. Nevertheless, an extension was added to Elisabeth House. The two parts were connected with a roofed passage. Since the weather vane on the turret was a stork, the maternity home acquired the nickname “the Stork’s Nest”.

Elisabeth House closed its doors on 1 April 1981. Altogether 12,669 babies were born there in the course of 73 years.

The historic building was proclaimed a national monument in 1986. It is now part of the Polytechnic of Namibia.

Source: Gondwana Collection

Two neglected but prominent German-colonial buildings, originally the maternity hospital for the city, converted into upscale offices of NUST top management. Labyrinth of add-on storage spaces & car-ports removed to reveal original structures, then linked with central glass lobby connecting east and west access areas. Parking re-configured into pedestrian walkway and seating areas to generate public open spaces and enhance building settings. Interiors preserved where structurally sound, with alterations in clear and sandblasted glass walling to distinguish new and old, as well as bring daylight into previously gloomy interiors.

ELISABETH HOUSE

In one complex Elisabeth House reflects an architectural symbiosis of two different buildings designed by two German architects of the colonial period. It was used as a maternity ward from 1908 to 1981, during which time 12 669 babies were born within its walls. The building is currently used by the Polytechnic of Namibia.

http://www.namibweb.com/monuments.htm

Elizabeth-Haus (Storch Str.)

Architect Gottlieb Redecker. Built in 1907 as a maternity home and named after Duchess Elizabeth zu Mecklenburg, wife of the President of German Colonial Company. Until the closure of the building as a maternity home in 1981, some 12 669 babies were born there.

In the Elisabeth House, Gottlieb Redecker and Wilhelm Sander created an architectural symbiosis of two different buildings and combined them into one complex. This structure is unique in Namibia.

The official gazette proclaiming the building as a national monument provides the following background: "The Elisabeth House was erected on the initiative of the Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft as maternity home and was used as such up to and including 1981. The Women's Association of the Red Cross for Germans Overseas administered the maternity ward. Between 1908 and 1981, 12669 babies were born in this ward." The building, which was erected in 1907, was named after Duchess Elisabeth zu Mecklenburg, wife of the President of the Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft.

Polytechnic of Namibia, new campus. Stone foundation. Older building: Large communal living and dining rooms. 4 nursing rooms, a nurse's room, an operating theater with 3 large round-arched windows, a kitchen and a store room in the southern wing. The extension to the south is connected to the older part by an ambulatory. Tower-like structure on the eastern side. Both parts have a veranda. Bronze plaque and information board. Stork sculpture on the roof. The first part had been erected between 1907-1908 by the architect Gottlieb Redecker on the initiative of the "Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft" as a maternity home. Until 1981, 12,669 babies were born here under the administration of the "Frauenverein vom Roten Kreuz fuer Deutsche ueber See".

The German imperial government donated the land and the "Kolonialgesellschaft" raised funds for the construction. In 1912 parts of the stoep were walled in. Between 1914 and 1915, the extension of the building was erected after the design of Wilhelm Sander. During the same time, the house served as refuge for Germans. After its closure in 1981, the house was transferred to the Academy of Tertiary Education (now UNAM). Today, it houses the history centre of the Polytechnic of Nambia. First maternity ward in Windhoek. Other "Elisabeth-Haeuser" were built in Grootfontain and planned for Omaruru and Gobabis. Maternity ward, refuge. Higher education.