Pienzenauerstrasse Munich 1915-1934

In 1910, Franz Zell is able to buy a plot of land of around 900 square metres at Pienzenauerstraße 12 in Munich’s Herzogpark. The neighbouring property was acquired by the painter Karl Throll, who was secretary of Munich’s Verein für Volkskunst und Volkskunde (Association for Folk Art and Folklore) together with Zell in the early years. The two were friends and seem to have given each other ideas for painting furniture. Zell designed both houses.

The contemporary press, including the Neudeutsche Bauzeitung, 1913, writes in an article about the houses designed by Zell: "Externally, the two residential buildings represent themselves as unpretentious yet elegant structures [...]. Inside, the houses are equipped with state-of-the-art heating systems, water heating systems, gas cookers [...]. Particularly noteworthy are the richly equipped bathrooms, which are not housed in dark chambers, as is so often the case, even in stately apartments, but in bright, airy rooms, turning the bathroom into a main room in the flat. The basement rooms house the caretaker’s flats and garages."

In 1915, Zell and his family moved into the house at Pienzenauerstrasse 12. He probably lived and worked there until his divorce in 1934.

The house was badly damaged during the Second World War and demolished in 1951. It was rebuilt by the new owner in the style of the original Zell building.

Michaela Thomas