Wätjens Park, also called Wätjens Landgut or Wätjens Garten, is a landscape park around Wätjens Schloss with former farm buildings and other structures in the Bremen districts of Blumenthal and Vegesack.
The park and estate have been under Bremen monument protection since 2007.
In 1830, the Bremen merchant and shipowner Diedrich Heinrich Wätjen acquired four agricultural plots on the Geest ridge between the then towns of Blumenthal and Lobbendorf in order to create a rural summer residence for himself. He had the Vegesack building contractor Kimm build a country house in the classicist style. The surrounding park was designed around 1830 according to plans by Isaak Altmann in the style of English landscape gardens.
After Diedrich Heinrich Wätjen's death in 1858, his son Christian Heinrich Wätjen began to expand and develop the previously relatively modest property. By 1864, a castle-like villa had been built - Wätjen's Castle. The Bremen architect Heinrich Müller designed it in the English Tudor style. Wätjen acquired further plots of land, so that the park grew to around 50 hectares. He designed the park without a professional planner. In doing so, he continued the style chosen by Altmann. He acquired the necessary knowledge and inspiration from travels in England. The park was richly decorated with props, such as an artificial ruin, seating grottos, two bark huts, a pond and two fountains.
Wätjen built the Villa Magdalena for his daughter Magdalene (1843-1912) and the Schweizerhaus for his son Diedrich Heinrich Jr. (1840-1893).
The Wätjen estate was not only a representative residence, but also an agricultural business with arable farming, forestry and gardens for fruit, vegetables and flowers. Cows, horses and chickens were also kept. Accordingly, farm buildings with apartments for managers and gardeners as well as workers' houses were built. There was a separate water supply with steam-powered pumps and two water towers. The tower belonging to Villa Magdalena in the southeast corner of the park also served as a lookout tower. A wrought-iron bar fence with gates at the entrances to the three country houses surrounded the property.
In 1888, Diedrich Heinrich Wätjen Jr. had a neoclassical memorial temple built for his father and grandfather.
Around 1900, the park was opened to the public under restrictions, despite private use.
The Wätjen family had to give up the property for economic reasons. The neighboring industrial companies Bremer Vulkan and Bremer Wollkämmerei (BWK) were interested in the property as a potential expansion area. In 1916, the eastern part with the castle and the farm buildings was sold to Vulkan, the western extension with the Schweizerhaus to BWK. After the division, the site was no longer accessible to the public.
Vulkan gradually incorporated part of the area into the industrial plant. Soil from the Geest area was excavated and piled up in the marshland to create expansion areas for the shipyard on the Weser. A truck access to the shipyard was built near the castle, which crossed the park in a north-south direction. The castle and farm buildings were used for company housing. Villa Magdalena and other buildings were demolished to make room for the new administration building. The main gate was moved to the administration entrance. The park became overgrown.
The BWK used the Schweizerhaus as a representative director's residence. For this purpose, the part of the property was redesigned in 1917 according to plans by the Bremen landscape architect Christian Roselius. After the BWK lost interest in using the Schweizerhaus, it was demolished in 1987 despite its good state of preservation. The cast-iron fountain by Diedrich Samuel Kropp (1824–1913), which had been installed in 1865, was dismantled and placed on a green area at the main entrance to the BWK. The garden became overgrown.
After the Vulkan shipyard went bankrupt in 1997, the eastern park was bought privately. The actual shipyard site was to be converted into an industrial estate and connected to it with a new road and railway line. The route uses the edge of the park and represents an intervention in nature and the landscape. Space was needed for the prescribed compensation and replacement measures. The city of Bremen therefore acquired the Vulkan part of the park. However, the land for the castle and the other residential complexes remained in private hands. Due to economic difficulties, the BWK was also prepared to sell its part of the park to the city. The park was expanded on the east side for replacement measures. The area is now around 35 hectares. The compensation measures also benefited the restoration of the park.
Buildings not part of the park, a concrete wall separating the shipyard site from the park and surface sealing were removed, and disruptive spontaneous growth was cleared. The aim is to make the original open spaces, sight lines and tree backdrops accessible again.
Many of the winding paths were no longer recognizable. They were partially searched for, uncovered and reconstructed using an inventory plan from 1890 and other documents. This work is not yet complete. The drainage channels made of pebbles on the edges of the paths were partially restored. The structures of the Roselius Garden also had to be reconstructed based on old drawings and photographs. Wätjen's fountain was restored and placed back in its original place in the park.
Translated by Google •
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