Heino Schmieden
The architect Heino Schmieden shaped the face of numerous German cities in the Wilhelminian era, particularly with the design of public buildings. Concert halls, museums, judicial, university and administrative buildings –but above all hospitals– were designed by him. He was also the leading architect in the founding and construction phase (1898-1902) of the sanatoriums in Beelitz.
Together with his childhood friend and 1st law firm partner, Martin Gropius, he worked on a modern, human-centric architectural language that considered design beauty to be part of the building’s function.
The Beelitz sanatoriums are proof of this claim. The architecture critic Gerwin Zohlen wrote in 2012: “Even in the ruined and shredded state of today, the Beelitz sanatoriums are the elusive document of an architectural-aesthetic surplus and added value that was spent on social and medical purposes at the time. The dignity, attitude and commitment that speak to us from the sanatoriums seem almost unthinkable today, especially as they were built for ordinary people. At the same time, they are a testimony to the architectural skill that was still a matter of course 100 years ago.“
How to find us
By car:
Address for navigation
Road to Fichtenwalde 13, 14547 Beelitz-Heilstätten
You can reach us via the A9 Berlin – Nürnberg departure 2 „Beelitz-Heilstätten“, or the Landesstraße 88. Parking lot 2 is open in winter.
By train:
You take the Regionalbahn Line 7 the route Berlin – Dessau, Get off at Beelitz – Heilstätten station and follow the signs for the Beelitz Heilstätten treetop walk (Baumkronenpfad). After a 5-minute walk you will reach the entrance at the “Pförtnerhaus” (gatehouse)