It was not until 1889 that the Kunstverein, founded in 1837 and thus one of the oldest art associations in Germany, got its first exhibition building; before 1889, exhibitions took place in the castle. During the air bombing known as Brandnacht (Fire night, September 11/12, 1944), the building was heavily damaged. After changing exhibition venues, the Neue Hessische Kunstverein (New Hessian Art Association, founded in 1946), under its chairman, Prof. Max Nuß, decided to erect a new building on the site of the old Kunsthalle. To this end, an architectural competition was issued in 1955, won by Prof. Theo Pabst, who taught at the former Technical University of Architecture Darmstadt. On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Kunstverein in 1987, Chairman Dr. Hermann Kleinstück initiated the expansion of the Kunsthalle.
Location in the Mollerstadt
In 1810 the growing importance of the Grand Duchy of Hesse led to the expansion of Darmstadt to the west. Following the plans of the court master builder, Georg Moller (1784–1852), the city’s cultural and social life, such as the casino, moved into classical-style buildings in the new district.
The Rheintor
The border with the western entrance to the city was formed by the Rheintor (1812) on the Rheinstraße, consisting of two guardhouses opposite each other, designed by Georg Moller. The Rhine gate was embedded in a green promenade surrounding the district.
Photography: Stadtarchiv Darmstadt
The old Kunsthalle
In 1889 the then Kunstverein fur Großherzogtum Hessen (Art Association for the Grand Duchy of Hesse) was given its own exhibition building in the neo-Renaissance style, following the design of the architect Prof. Hermann Müller, who had won a competition. As a site, the city provided the northern guardhouse of the Rheintor, whose portico was used as the entrance to the new Kunsthalle. The location, on the main road of the Rheinstraße and close to the 1846 Main Neckar railway station, could hardly be more favorable. In 1909 the interior was completely redesigned by Prof. Friedrich Pützer.
Photography: Stadtarchiv Darmstadt
The Kunsthalle after the destruction
The so-called Mollervorstadt, the city district designed by Georg Moller, fell victim to the Second World War, and with it also many representative buildings which had characterized the cityscape. The ruins of the Kunsthalle were removed after the war: historicism was out of fashion. Only the portico without a pediment remained as a testimony from Moller’s time.
Photography: Stadtarchiv Darmstadt
The new start in the 1950s
In 1957 following a competition the Kunsthalle, which is today a listed building, was constructed according to the plans of Prof. Theo Pabst on the same site. Although Pabst’s design slightly differs from the position of its predecessor building, it refers to its entrance of the now freestanding Rheintor. With its clear form, simple materials, and design elements as well as its functionality and the tension between closed and open surfaces, the building stands for the architecture of classical modernism of the 1950s and as a manifesto of the new beginning after 1945.
Photography: Stadtarchiv Darmstadt
The Kunsthalle today
As early as 1964, the Kunsthalle was expanded by Theo Pabst to create offices and additional exhibition space. An extension from 1985 to the north made it possible to have exhibition space on the ground floor and to house offices and galleries on the upper floor. The extension takes the dimensions and design elements of the Pabst building but creates a special exhibition atmosphere as a “garden hall” and opens to the northern green space. (Design: architects Frankfurt, Edgar Eilingsfeld BDA, Hans-Henning Heinz BDA)
© Kunsthalle Darmstadt / Photo: Anke Müllerklein
