German Studies Association

"Der Architekt Denkt, Die Hausfrau Lenkt": German Modern Architecture and the Modern Woman Author(s): Mark Peach Source: German Studies Review, Vol. 18, No. 3 (Oct., 1995), pp. 441-463 Published by: German Studies Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1431773 . Accessed: 30/03/2011 13:21
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"DerArchitekt Lenkt": Denkt,DieHausfrau German Modern Architecture and the Modern Woman

Mark Peach SouthernCollege

It is by now a commonplaceto point out that Germanmodern architecture From the prewarglass proponentsset out to reformmore thanjust architecture. architecture advocatedby novelist and visionaryPaul Scheerbart his disciples and to the efficiency-orientedfloorplansof the 1927 WeissenhofsiedlungExhibition, Germanmodernistssought above all to reformthe occupantsof theirarchitecture. had According to modernists,not only architecture lagged behind technological thatutilizedthatarchitecture. sametechnological The advances,butso hadthesociety would also changethe users inventionsthatwere inexorablychangingarchitecture of that architecture well. As envisioned by its proponents,modernarchitecture as would not only incorporateand reflect technological innovation,it promised to reformandmodify the architecture's occupants.No precedingreformmovementof architectural style had startedwith such broadand lofty goals. The celebratedoccupantof the Neue Bauen, as the Germanwing of modern architecture called, was theNeue Mensch,whichcan be translated the "New was as Man"or the "New HumanBeing."This New Man, bornout of the chaos of World War I and the ensuing political revolutionand representinga higher stage in the evolution of the species, embodiedthe modernists'most ferventhopes of cultural regenerationand their disgust with the Wilhelmine culture of the now defunct GermanEmpire.Perhapsmore so than in any otherarchitectural reformor style, Manwas the focus andobsession of modernists.The occupant/user the society and in whichhe lived tookcenterstage.This "NewMan,"forwhomthenew architecture was intended,was an Expressionistconceit carriedover from the pre-WorldWar era.1With Germany'sdefeat and the radicalizingeffect it had on most artistsand the to architects, chiliasticNew Manwas no longerrestricted the shrillExpressionist into literatibut was now incorporated the ideology of the Neue Bauen. And given reformmovement,2the Neue Germany's leadershipin the broaderarchitectural

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Bauen architects'vision of the New Man andits attendent ideology would have a decisive impactfor betteror for worse on the developmentof modernarchitecture. With the economic recovery of 1924 came a reductionin the apocalyptic rhetoricof Neues Bauen architects. The adventof theNeue SachlichkeitNew Man was partof a much largerand broadermovementof lifestyle change and was the focus of considerablediscussion within and beyond architecture. The Werkbund exhibitionsin general,andthe 1927 Weissenhofsiedlung Exhibition3 particular, in were all intended to proselytize the Germanpublic regardingthe advantagesof modern living. The later 1920s witnessed a veritableexplosion of publications devotedto architectural interior and for design,mostof themintended nonprofessional All readers.4 of thesepublications exhibitions a clearagenda: introduction and had the of a willing and interestedpopulationto the benefits of modernliving. Therewas a widespreadawareness of the need for the development of a new lifestyle in conjunction not only with the new architectural developments but broad socioeconomic changes in general. German modernarchitects proponents theirarchitecture themselves and of saw as an avantgardethatwas usheringin notjust aestheticchanges, but a wholesale change in every aspect of the individual'slife, a change which would resultin an entirelyNew Man and a New Woman.One of a numberof antinomiesin modem is architecture revealedby the role played by the New Woman.5Like many other of the New Man and the new architecture, Neues Bauen's preoccupation aspects with the New Womantook place withina broader discourseregarding changing the role of womenin society.6Thecriticalbutproblematic of womenin the success role was of modernarchitecture revealedin BrunoTaut's1924bookDie neue Wohnung.7 In his typically unconventionalway, Taut drew attentionto the importanceof by convertingwomen to the cause of modernarchitecture subtitlinghis book Die Frau als Schopferin.After accusing "young,inexperienced" women of hindering the spreadof the modernlifestyle and architecture (mostly by refusingto give up Tautattemptsto compensate the Gefiihlsballastso despisedby modernarchitects), the elaboratepoint of pinningthe futureof modernarchitecture the on by making and New Woman as the only hope of gaining acceptancefor the new architecture it allows (ordemands,dependingon yourpointof view): the accompanying lifestyle The vitalinfluencethe woman'schangeof mindin this [modern] directionexerts on the collective conditionof the people can by no meansbe valuedtoo highly;becausein orderto even begin to demandthem.8 buildbetterhomesthe womanmustemphatically Thus, in the opinion of Tautand othermodernarchitects,women would play a crucial role in the success or failure of the movement, yet paradoxicallyfor a movement that was so avowedly antibourgeoisit was usually in the accepted bourgeois role as housewife and motherthat the New Woman would make the

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how women would affect the success greatestimpact.This ambivalenceregarding of modern architecture-whether they were the problem,the solution, or bothremainedunresolved. This is not surprising, seeing thatNeues Bauen architectswere representatives fromwhich virtuallyall of a male dominatedprofession.The Bildungsbiirgertum, German architects derived, was, for all practical purposes, exclusively male.9 Although women had been gaining increasing access to university educations (thoughnot necessarilyuniversitydegrees)since 1900,they still facedconsiderable Even with a propereducation,a woman prejudiceandotherformsof disadvantage. since architecture (and was couldhardlyhave been a successfulpracticingarchitect to a largeextent still is) a professionwhich dependedheavily on social contacts,at women were believed to be ill-equipped this time exclusively male. Furthermore, This form of gender for genuine geistig endeavors such as art and architecture. did little to sensitize Neues Bauen architectsto the needs or desires of at prejudice least some of the individualsthey were bent on liberating. Although by the end of the 1920s Germanywas clearly at the forefrontof innovationin low-income housing,the generalconsciousnessraising architectural and on behalf of women was hardlylimited to Germany.Siegfrid Giedion among tracesthe developmentof home efficiency as a means of female liberationto the UnitedStates,attributing heightenedconsciousness of the mid-nineteenth-century and This led, accordingto Giedion,to Americanwomen to Puritanism Quakerism. Beecherandlaterby the home efficiency movementinspiredinitiallyby Catherine Christine Frederick.10Frederick's book Household Engineering. Scientific Managementin the Home (1919, translatedas Die rationelle Haushaltfiihrung. of Studien,1922)laterservedasthe"bible" theprogressive Betriebswissenschaftliche Germanarchitectsof the 1920s.1 Consequently,at least accordingto Giedion, it was primarilythe architectsthatwere leading the way towardwomen's liberation householdefficiency. Andthanksin no smallpartto theinternational flavor through of Neues Bauen, coupledwith the widespreadmovementof governmental interest on andinvolvementin publichousing,impulsesandinspirations behalfof household efficiency spreadthroughout Europe.12 It was in Austria,or at least in its capital,thatthe most systematicattemptwas made to reformculturethrougharchitecture. Althoughthe Social Democratswere for partof the nationalgovernment only the firsttwo yearsof therepublic,theywere ableto maintain powerin Viennauntil 1934.InViennatheyusedtheirparliamentary majorityto reformtax laws in such a way thatthey had the means to erect 63,924 Publichousingforlow-incometenantswas but domicilesbetween 1919 and 1934.13 one aspect of a comprehensivemunicipal reform programof Austria's Social Vienna's housingreformdiffers from Democraticparty.Despite its shortcomings, the reforms envisioned by Neues Bauen architectsin two ways. First, Vienna's household efficiency movement was the project primarily of politicians, not and architects14; second, the focus of Vienna's reforms was the working class,

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whereasin GermanyNeues Bauen architects(virtuallyall of whom were middle reform.What class) aimedat middle-classreformat leastas muchas working-class the two reform movements had in common was a general disdain and lack of empathyfor the culturesof those they intendedto reform.15 Althoughtherewas a consciousnessof changesoccurring traditional in genderroles andalthough general intervention low-income housing was common following World in governmental NeuesBauenwas thecause WarI (atleastatthemunicipallevel), only in Germany's of the New Woman championedby leading architects.16 The Bauhaus,of course, is often consideredto have been at the forefrontof increasingthe social consciousnessof architects.Althoughthe uniquenessof the in Bauhausis generallyexaggerated(therewas considerableexperimentation art education going on in Weimar Germany),it is certainly true that the Bauhaus both domestically and internationally capturedthe attentionof contemporaries because of its publicly stated goals of social and aesthetic regenerationand The division until 1927, reintegration. Bauhausdid not even have an architectural nearly two years afterWalterGropiusmoved the school to Dessau. Even before saw then,however,Bauhaus facultyandstudents themselvesasa utopian community that was a forerunnerof the future society they envisioned.17So although it is affectedGerman modern architecture' s difficultto specificallystatehow theBauhaus rolesattheschool. into view of women,we caninquire expectations regarding gender The Bauhaus was unconventional(thoughhardlyunique) by contemporary and betweenfacultyandstudents. standards bothin its curriculum its relationships was Thisrelationship bothless formalandmoreintimatethantheprevailingnorms. that It was theimpressionof moststudents farless stresswas placedon gender,class, and nationalitythanon innateartistictalentthanwas common in more traditional artschools. In thissense, we mightexpectthatwomenenjoyedgreater opportunities thanat otherschools. Yet women were clearlyexpectedto pursuesome coursesof arttrainingratherthanothers,determined largely by genderexpectations.In fact, in in Helene Nonne-Schmidt's1926journalarticle(reprinted HansWingler's The Bauhaus), she states ... the artisticallyactive woman appliesherselfmost often and most successfully to work in a two-dimensionalplane. This can observation be explained herlackof thespatialimagination by of characteristic men ... the way the womansees is, so to speak, childlike, becauselike a child she sees the details insteadof the overallpicture... (B)utlet us notdeceive ourselvesintothinking that this aspect of her nature will change, despite all the of accomplishments the Women'sMovementanddespiteall the investigationsand experiments.18

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Further evidencethattraditional genderroles werenotespeciallyquestionedor discussed at the Bauhausis HerbertHiibner'sDie soziale Utopiedes Bauhauses: Ein Beitrag zur Wissenssoziologie in der bildenden Kunst, which never once mentionsthe significanceof genderin the Bauhaus'utopia,a utopiawhich tended to emphasizerathervague formulassuch as "transcendence all contradictions" of of and the "reunification the Volkand art."And for all of HannesMeyer's social radicalismand his trenchant statementsregardingfulfilling "real" programmatic rather than"mere" aestheticneeds,he was too narrowminded consider to biological humanneeds thatwere not immediatelysocially determined19 apparently and had little interestin genderroles. Oneresultof theBauhausobsessionwith functionalist on design duringthe second half of the 1920s was its concentration means rather whatsomewouldconsider inevitable the thanends,20 outcomeof a technocratic vision. Modernarchitects'preoccupationwith the changingrole of women must be and viewed in the largercontextof women's liberation the broader processof social and cultural modernizationin Wilhelmine and Weimar Germany. Germany's and transitionto a matureindustrialized increasinglyurbansociety "brought with it a new consciousnessof social problemsanda new desirefor social reform."21 The feminist movement in Germany grew out of demands of liberal middle-class women for improved educational opportunitiesfor women in the 1890s. The increased availability of white collar jobs for women also contributedto the women's movement. Political pressure groups likewise dated back to the late nineteenthcentury,butafterbecomingsufficientlyradicalbetween 1905 and 1908 for to demanda "New Morality"(more liberalmoralstandards women insteadof more conservative standards for men) the movement turned increasingly conservative.22 Despite winning the suffrage in the revolution and enthusiastic in participation the ensuing elections, women largely failed to improvetheirlegal in andeconomic status.Women'sparticipation electionsdid notincreaseafter1919 and culminatedin a remarkableenigma: during the 1920s women increasingly politicalpartieswhose platformscalled for the end of female suffrage.23 supported Renate Bridenthaland ClaudiaKoonz summarizethe complex reasons for this: abouttherightsof women,Germans not did Despitetheirrhetoric envision a change in the traditionalrole of women ... when women did enter the traditionallymasculine occupations,they were neitherpaidnortreatedequally.And no politicalsolutionto this problemappearedto be forthcoming.Withoutan appealing alternative, women persisted in their loyalty to the familiar moreoftenas Kinder,Kiiche,Kircheethos andsaw emancipation a threatthan as a blessing.24 The question thatremainsis whethermodernarchitectsenvisioned a substantive role of women. change in the traditional

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Initially, of course, given the euphoriafollowing the revolution,everything seemed possible in what has been describedas "thefirst trulymodernculture"25, includingradicalchangein women's lives. Imagesof women in WeimarGermany considerable certainlyunderwent change.The athleticismandaffinityfor sportthat of became virtualtrademarks the eralikewise affectedwomen's fashions.Women dressedfor sport,frequentlycarryinga tennisracketand were often photographed Based on the impressionsgatheredfrom populararchitectural ridingmotorcycles. and interiordesign publications,one would thinkthatmost women led relatively activities.26 carefreelives filled with leisure and recreational As historians of Germanfeminism have pointed out, however, there was considerabledifferencebetween the popularimages of women and the lives they actually lived. And Neues Bauen architectswere no less susceptible to these illusions. It was not only architectswho celebratedthe arrivalof the New Woman: Social observersof all politicalpersuasionsfromjournalistsand expertsandpoliticalleadersdetected sociologists to government the emergence of a "new woman"and a "new family" in the 1920s ... the "new women"-who voted, used contraception, obtainedillegal abortions,andearnedwages-were morethana bohemian minority or an artistic convention. They existed in office and factory,bedroomand kitchen,just as surely as-and Theirconfrontation moresignificantlythan-in cafe andcabaret. their heightened visibility in with the rationalizedworkplace, options publicplaces, andtheirchangingsexual andprocreative preoccupiedpopulationexpertsand sex reformers.27 And modernarchitectstoo. DuringNeues Bauen's earlyExpressionistphase therewas little emphasison genderspecificity.The discoveryandevolutionof theNeueMenschwas not gender the and specific. TheNew Manwas to haveas counterpart partner New Woman.The lack of gender specificity regardingthe New Man was especially apparentin modernarchitects'writingsimmediatelyaftertheWorldWar.Architectsandother artists and critics in the Arbeitsratfir Kunst assumed they were discussing an entirelynew species andso definingthe differencein genderroles wouldhavebeen superfluoussince the entiresocial orderwas going to be radicallydifferent.When is "man" discussed duringthis initialperiod(late 1918 untilearly 1920) it is in the betweenthesexes was deemedusefulornecessary. genericsense.No differentiation However, the social organization positedby Expressionistarchitectsdoes provide to the role of women. GermanExpressionistarchitects-most of some clue as a architects-envisioned primarily spiritual whomwouldsoon beNeueSachlichkeit and cultural revolution. In what Wolfgang Pehnt has termed a "conservative there seems little to indicate that women would enjoy a particularly Utopia"28

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liberated change, position.Althoughtheentirespecieswouldundergorevolutionary was to the back-to-the-soilemphasisamongExpressionists29 unlikelyto contribute the empowermentof women. Modern architecture'stransition to its Neue Sachichkeit phase, however, but changednot only the architecture the ideal New ManandNew Womanas well. Partof the evolution withinmodernarchitecture its definitionof the New Man and to was an accommodation a socioeconomic orderthathad not changedas much as Increasingly,duringthe middleof the 1920s, discussionof the initially anticipated. New Man became less etherealand more pragmaticand specific, particularlyas economic recovery in Germanyencourageda returnto more practicalmatters. Consequently,the New Man became more closely tied to the capitalist/industrial economic orderandless to thecosmic order.Reflectingtheprevalenceof ideassuch and as rationalism Fordism,modernarchitects increasinglyemphasizedanefficient division of labor,bothin the workplaceandin the home;genderdifferentiated roles Thusit is hardly likewisebecamemorerelevant. thatwithinanarchitectural surprising reformmovementstressing(at least rhetorically) functionalismandefficiency the discussion of the New Womancenteredpredominantly increasedproductivity, on in the home. particularly Although initially modern architectstended to discuss the New Man as an entirely new species, they did occasionally begin to specify the role of the New Womanin the futureorder.In these discussionsthe New Womanusuallyfilled two possible roles. Initially,as in Taut's book, the New Womanas homemakerwould Her act as housecleanerandeducator. socialrolewouldnothavechangedmuch,just her taste in home decorating.Since it was the home-the woman's domain and responsibility-that was to undergo such radical change, her cooperation was absolutelynecessary.Only laterwas theregreaterstresson the New Woman's life of outsideof the home. Freedof the constantdrudgery tedioushousework,the New to Woman would then have the opportunity enjoy many aspects of the traditional man's role, includinga careeroutside the home. Modern architecturewould make all this possible. The primarybenefit it offered to the New Woman as housewife was a more efficient home. Modernists repeatedlypointedout how muchlong andtediousworkwas necessaryto properly clean and dust a home decoratedin the traditional (i.e.,"bourgeois" style), with its bulky furniture,heavy drapes, and an overbundanceof dust collecting knickknacks.Clearedof superfluousand sentimentalitems and constructedin hygienic modernmaterials(chromedsteel, glass, and linoleum), the modernhome would requireless time to keep up and thus allow more free time for the housewife. theirarchitecture being universally as Althoughmodernarchitectsunderstood for liberating(i.e., frombourgeoisconstraints) men, women,andchildren,it would be women who would be most directly affected by most of the changes modern architectsforesaw for the New Man's home. The entirefamily would benefitfrom the change of consciousness and improved efficiency that would presumably

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accompanyoccupyinga modernhome,buttheimpacton thehousewife's life would be greatest.More specifically,modernarchitectssingled out the kitchenfor drastic modification;anddespitesome changesin whatwas considereda propersocial role for women, the kitchen remained indisputablythe woman's domain, not the man's.30By extension, the same can be said for the rest of the modernhome. In additionto providingthe necessarypsychologicalshelterthatthe New Manneeded after his stressful workday, the modern home that was stripped of everything superfluouswould primarilybenefit the personresponsiblefor its upkeep,i.e. the housewife-a benefit which modern architects constantly reiterated.Modern architects envisionedthemodernhomeas one largelaborsaving device, an efficient And Wohnmaschine. it would be primarily housewife's labor and "productive" the that would be saved. Thus the Wohnungbecame the focus of moder architects' technocratic dreams. In keeping with its self-appointedtask of reforming German society Neues Bauenwas dedicatednotjust to architectural reformbut througharchitecture for dwelling reform,particularly those classes that seemed most in need of such reform, the working classes.31 The contemporary home would reflect the technologicaladvancesthatindustryhad to offer in orderto make the occupants' Andlogically enough,the partof the home most day-to-daytasksless burdensome. in need of functionalistreformwas the kitchen.The traditional kitchensin working suitablecontraststo what modernarchitectshad in mind. class quarters provided Poorly organized,poorly lit, poorly ventilated,and all too often used to provide sleeping quartersfor subrenters(with predictablemoral effect on the nuclear family), the traditional Wohnkucherepresentedall that was detrimental and to reformwas a anachronistic modernistreformers.The key to socioarchitectural and to doseof technology Taylorist efficiency theory, primarily strong applied thekitchen. The changes modernarchitectsmade in kitchendesign reflectedthe assumed changes in the social role of the family. Since the individualhousehold was no this longer an economically productiveunit (due to rationalization now occurred in the workplace),the kitchenwas now used only to prepare meals, most primarily one hotmeala day(thenewly acceptednormfortheworkinghousewife). likely only The kitchenwas the room where the housewife spentmost of her productivetime reforms.Given the failureof the in the home andwas most suitedto Taylorist-style before the war, which had featureda single kitchen serving a Einkiichenhaus32 group of apartments(thus increasing economy and efficiency and sparing the majority of the housewives the necessity to cook individual meals), modern architectsstressedincreasingthe efficiency of individualkitchens. a But the Einkuchenhaus represented utopiansolutionto a problemthatNeue did Bauenarchitects notwish to solve. Havinglargelyjettisoned SachlichkeitNeues the social radicalismthatmarkedtheirExpressionistphase,progressivearchitects untouched alterthe woman's but now intendedto leave the nuclearfamilystructure in it. The Frankfurt Kitchen,made famous by its inclusion in ErnstMay's place

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was simply the most famous of a number of housing complexes in Frankfurt, kitchen work into a factory style workplacewhere attemptsto "professionalize" therewas no wastedmotionor space.33 pointof this was to reducethe time and The effort necessaryto supply the family with meals, thus winning for the housewife more time. But to what end? What would the New Womando with her saved time? To some extent the answerseems to be thatshe would simply do more work.Justlike many changes in the New Man's life that were ostensibly liberatingbut actually tended to make him more economically productive, the various labor-saving devices (washingmachine,refrigerator, vacuumcleaner34) the home seemed to in allow the New Woman to exchange houseworkfor a job outside the home. Of course,manylower-classGermanwomen were alreadyworkingoutsidethe home, so the increasedefficiency would theoreticallysimply have reducedtheir overall workload.Also, given the postwareconomic changes,manyGermanmiddle-class families thathad previouslydependedon hiredhelp to take care of housecleaning and cooking chores now had to performthese tasks themselves. But the modem and architect' insistenceon theprovisionfor nurseries daycarecentersforSiedlung s children(often not realizeddue to financialexigencies) would again indicatethat that wouldworkoutside home. thearchitects perhaps the (and society)assumed mothers But generally women were not so much expected to fill new social roles as moreefficiently. Progressand performtheirold roles as mothersandhomemakers were effecting all aspectsof life, andthe modernhome mustkeep pace. technology Modernistsconstantlyexhortedthe New Womanto rejectthe traditional methods of housecleaningand adoptnew cleaning methodsand new decoratingstyles that reducedhousework: womanmustsensethebackwardness traditional of Everythinking housekeepingandrecognizethereinthemostseverelimitationof herown developmentandalso thatof herfamily.The woman,on hectic urbanlife places much greater whom the contemporary demandsthan the modest life of 80 years ago, is condemnedto keep house, with the exception of a few modernconveniences, did.35 just like her grandmother Given the constant emphasis on rejecting the old and accepting the new, did cleaning house in the same way her grandmother eighty yearsago was clearly for inappropriate the New Woman. And in keeping with moder architecture's campaign against sentimentality,she was also expected to avoid an excessive worshipof hand-me-downitems: ... a large part of her daily work is caused by completely superfluous things that surroundher, things that one never

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touches becausethey have been handeddown from motherand because one was born into them and has never grandmother, asked the question:must this remainso indefinitelyand is this items] at all suitablefor us practice[of keeping hand-me-down today?36 to itemswas something whichwomenespecially to Thisattachment sentimental were consideredsusceptible,accordingto moder architects.Although not only had muchof whatmodernarchitects to women were afflictedwith sentimentalism, attachment say aboutthe difficultyof weaningtheNew Manfromhis anachronistic to sentimentalitems seems to have been directedat the New Woman. During the Neue Sachlichkeitphase, the modernistscontinuedtheir earlier which now evolved into a campaign campaignagainst bourgeois Gemiitlichkeit, against sentimentalism.Sentimentalism-perhaps even sentiment-was deemed AlexanderSchwab questionedwhethersomeone of his generation anachronistic. were even capable of experiencing feelings for such things as "warmth"and architects' modernist that It Gemiitlichkeit.37wasexcessivesentimentalism frustrated attemptsto get the hesitantNew Man to rid his life and dwelling of sentimental inhibitedacceptanceof the new to This sentimentalattachment tradition "ballast." modernistssoughtto weanthe New and architecture interior design.Consequently, Man away from the superficial sentimentalismthat inhibited him. Part of this campaigndemandedradicalhouse cleaning,i.e., the total eliminationof anything that tied the New Man to a supercededpast. Modernists constantly made disparagingremarksabout family heirlooms, and,of course,bourgeoistastein general.Tautmaliciously antiques,knick-knacks into raw materialall "superfluous" items, i.e. knick-knacks.38 suggestedrecycling Authorsof do-it-yourselfbooks on moderninteriordecoratingsuch as the Dexels condescendinglycondemnedthe practiceof displayingphotos of residing loved ones: "[Displaying]the picturesof all loved ones, includingthose which reside in the same home, belongs to thatlevel of cultureat which it is an obligationanymore statedthat"themostirritating Anotherauthor to smile."39 enemy"of moderndesign to and was "thedearacquaintances relatives"thatinsist on contributing the beauty forthegiftgiverandhis gift-so one believes-demands of the apartment. "Respect the display of all these decorations.Regardis fine, but even regardhas its limits." Cuturedid not consist of "showingoff everythingthatone owns, which resembles ThustheNew Manneededto be on of the ornamentation half-cultivated savages."40 but his guardnot only againstsentimentalism, also againstfriendsandrelativesthat to contributed it. Like BrunoTaut,ErnaMeyer also saw the conversionof the woman as a key to making the transitionto the new living style modern architectsand interior designersenvisioned for the New Man. Womenmustrecognizethe advantagesin the adoptingthe new efficient lifestyle, particularly increasein availablefree time.

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Only the housewife can guaranteethatthe modernhome-the key to the modern lifestyle-would be used as the architectintended: The unburdeningof the woman is, on the contrary,a central problemof the housingissue in generalthatcan only be resolved Because throughthe woman'sown intellectualaccomplishment. her can the new home, thatthe architectstrives to only through achieve, attainits complete worth,because only then will it be occupied accordingto its inherentlaws.41 Tautdid not so much see a new role for the New Womanas he foresawthe woman as homemakerin a radicallydifferenthome. Partof the modernistcredo was, of course, ridding the home and its occupants'lives of all Gefiihlsballastand who betterthanthe housewife to do this necessaryradicalhousecleaning? Eventually, however, some modern architects and critics (some of them women) began to insist thatthe new lifestyle envisioned for the New Man would also include new roles for the New Woman. Although all modernists attacked bourgeoisvalues in interiorandexteriordesign,some weremoreoutspokenin their denunciation of the traditionalbourgeois family than others and only a few discussed significantmodificationin the acceptedsocial role of women. Although women were usually depicted in modernist literatureof the period as being (working)housewives andmothers,they occasionallybeganto be somethingelse. Freedfromconstanttedioushousework,thanksto modernhouseholdlabor-saving devices (vacuumcleaner,clothes washing and dryingmachines,electric lighting, gas heating and stoves, etc.), women would now have time to pursueinterestsof in theirown. Women, at least accordingto modernarchitects, longed to participate intellectualand economic life: the contemporary The woman no longer wants to spend the entire day cleaning house anddoing meaninglessthings;she wantsto be ableto take intellectuallife, mustbe able to survive partin the contemporary in theeconomiccompetitionandcanno longeraffordto wasteher thoughtandefforton trivialthings,whethershe is motheror wife or on her own, and she wants to be a valuablecomrade-in-arms in the building of a new Era. Thus she must demand of her home-as we do from everythingelse-that it not restrictthe development of our best and most vital powers, but rather advance them; no one would claim that dusting, cleaning, and valuablein themselves.Thus furniture brushingareparticularly the Era itself demandsthe new [efficient] household.42

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the As depictedin modernistliterature, New Womanapparently wanteda shareof and the New Man's world-in sports, entertainment, recreation,perhapseven a her role careeroutsidethe home-but withoutnecessarilyrelinquishing traditional as homemaker. To the superficialobserver,the periodof the WeimarRepublicdid appearto economicopportunity women.Particularly theexpanding in be an age of greater for for of 1926-29, the employmentopportunities women seemed to widen economy considerablyand some modernistsinsisted that women take advantageof this situation,notjustoutof economicneedbutalso forpersonalfulfillment.As in many the other aspects of the Neue Sachlichkeitphase of modernarchitecture, United in Statesprovidedtheexample.Thegreater acceptance Americaof womenas career women was envied andadmiredby moder architectsandcriticsin Germany.The popularity of " an apparentlymore egalitarian 'Girl Kultur,' which included atteststo the dominanceof changesin dress,hair,make-up,andsexualbehavior"43 the Americanexample. One writercomplainedthateven when the housewife did not work outside the home she enjoyed more respectin the United States thanin Germany,since in Americaeven whenthe husbandearnedthe money the wife was responsible for its spending, thus forcing the man to make her existence as to Womensimply appeared have more lifestyle options comfortableas possible.44 different thanbeforeandtheseoptionsbecamethefocus of publications. Marginally social and economic roles likewise changed expectations regarding women's "Make-up,for example, which before the war had essentially been a appearance. of trademark 'disreputable' women,becameincreasinglythe statusof an initiation of intofemininity,becameoneof theexternaltrademarks thenewtypeof woman."45 The futureof the traditional family also came underdiscussionin the wake of war and revolution.Kupschinskywrites:"Thedeath of relationsand friends,the collapse of 'absolute'old values, the loss of meansor savings, left only immediate as Neues Bauen architectscould not help butreflectthese gratification security."46 in their society. Consequently,althoughmost modernistscontinued to changes Thesemodernists some wentfurther. envisionthetypicalwomanas wife andmother, the bourgeoisconceptof the family to undergoslow butsuredissolution. expected of afterthewartherewerecallsfortheconstruction Ledigenheime, Evenimmediately adults.This particular social situationwas largelydue to the for unmarried housing post-wareconomic conditions,which preventedmany adultsfrom marrying.But even the arrivalof relativeeconomicstabilityin themiddle 1920s did not guarantee the employmentstabilitynecessaryto reestablishtraditional marriageand family: The family lies on its deathbed. ... Either the man accepts responsibilityfor the woman's future,and whenhe loses his job in the next week he comes to realize that he had behaved Or, irresponsibly. out of a feeling of responsibility,he refusesto riskruiningthe futureof a secondpersonandupsetsthe woman,

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he thus comes to see that even this decision was irresponsible. That is an antinomythatdid not exist earlier....47 Littlesurpise,then,thatmanymodernists beganto questionwhetherthefamily, in wouldeven be appropriate thehighspeedenvironment as traditionally understood, envisioned. Part of the justification for Gropius's investigation into the they housingwas notjust economicexigency, but developmentof theMinimalwohnung social trendsindicateda gradualdissolutionof the a conviction thatcontemporary traditionalfamily unit, to be replaced with much smaller units (in many cases individuals).Familieswouldbe smaller,divorcerateswouldincrease,andincreased sexualfreedomwouldencourage of manyto postponemarriage regardless economic All of this addedup to increasedfreedomfor the individual,including conditions. in accommodation the form of new housing women, and demandedarchitectural organization.Gropiussaw this trendas a demandnotjust for increasedefficiency in thehome,butanextensivedivisionof laborthatextended thehousingcomplex: into The intellectual and economic independence of the woman demands the liberation of the family from home economic forcesthetransition thecentralized to activity.This phenomenon "supra-household"[Grosshaushalt], resulting also from the generallaws of economy.48 Centralizedlaundryservice and the increased availabilityof cafeteria food (employee canteens and school lunch programs) would further decrease the SocialistAlexanderSchwabwent even further, necessity of a fulltimehomemaker. whathe considered inevitablebreakdown the oratleastwas morespecific,regarding the Givenher economic independence, New Womanmay of the traditional family. even choose to be a single head of the family: it that Perhaps is entirelythinkable on a largescaletheindependent woman will live permanentlyin her own apartment, working fromtimeto timethemalecompanionof herchoice, and entertain raise her childrenthereas well. Such occurrencescan of course be found already;they may be more frequentin the future.49 Schwab expected a variety of relational possibilities in the society then as evolving and which he mistakenlyinterpreted socialist. to some modern architects,the success or failure of the Clearly, according modern movement dependedon the New Woman. On the one hand, it was the housewife's anachronisticattachmentto sentimental knick-knacks and bulky traditional furniturestyles that balked the intentions of modern architects to streamlinethe home andlifestyle of the New Man. Withoutthe conversionof the

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housewife to the religionof modernism, cause was lost. On the otherhand,once the the New Womansaw the light andbeganto demandthe efficient, airy, sunny,and hygienic home foreseen by modernarchitects,the movementcould only succeed, given the influence over domesticissues supposedlywielded by women. Women would also have the most to gain from this lifestyle reform. The efficient home envisionedby modernistarchitectswould provideher with greater amountsof time for herself,to be used addingto family income with a job outside the home, spendingextratime with her children,or using the leisuretime to edify herself with a book or improveher physicalhealththroughsport.Althoughhouse and kitchenwork remainedindisputably woman's work, she could now dispose a of these dutiesmoreefficientlyandutilizethetime won to pursueherown interests, economic andotherwise.Modernarchitects not questionthatthe New Woman did would enjoy a greaterdegree of choice in lifestyle. Perhapsin the not too distant future(at least accordingto some modernarchitects) New Woman'ssocial and the maritalroles would also undergochange.The evolution of the traditional family, from a situationin which the individualwas tied primarilyto the family and only freedomfor secondarilyto society, wouldreverse,simultaneously allowinggreater the individual;and a more collectivistic society, which most modern architects seemed to accept as inevitable,would likewise entail more freedomof choice for women. So although more drastic changes may lay immediately ahead, in the meantime the New Woman occupied a middle ground,as it were, between the traditional and view as independent bourgeoisnotionof homemaker themoremodern individualand wage earner. The difference, however, between the modernarchitects'vision of the New Womanand the New Womanherself, the differencebetweenillusion and reality, was considerable.Changes in the socioeconomic role of women unquestionably occurred,butit was morea changeof imagethanof therealconditionsunderwhich most women lived.50The New Woman'sappreciation bothphysical fitness and of cosmetics was considerablyless liberatedandliberatingthanit appeared Neues to Bauen architectsand proponents.Again, Kracauer: The employeesmustparticipate whetherthey wantto or [mittun] not.The thronging into the manybeautysalons also originatesin fear of unemployment[Existenzsorgen],the use of cosmetic productsis not alwaysa luxury.Outof fearof beingpulledoff the shelf like datedgoods, ladies and gentlemendye their hair and takeup sportin orderto stay slim ... Fashionand forty-year-olds business work handin hand.51 Similarly, the liberationof women from the corset's constraintswas simply and the to active, independent replacedby otherbodily constraints; pressure appear athletic resultedin other forms of physical "discipline":"In place of whalebone

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corsets came the "Hautana," the brassiereand girdlemade out of rubber.The i.e., battlefor the "slimfigure"begins. The pressurethusremained,it simply relocated to differentpartsof the body."52 Rationalizationcertainlyaffected the lives of women, but not always in the for benevolent ways assumedby moder architects.Rationalization, instance, implied a reorderingof people's privatelives to meet the new At rationalization industrial paceandrhythms. leastas ametaphor, extended from the factory and office to public institutionsand political life andinto the home, even into the bedroom.The term was used to describedevelopmentsin manyareas,includingthe and birth housework, designandarchitecture. rate,sexualbehavior, was supposedto help women bettermanagethe Rationalization double burdenof work and family throughthe introductionof efficient time and motion coordinated patterns of work Even sexual techniquesand birthcontrolwere not organization. the sparedfromattemptsto "rationalize" most privateof human activies.53 that Similarto the Neue Bauen architecture disciplinedin orderto liberate,the on effect of rationalization sexual reformalso controlled: Fascinated by and celebratoryof the New Woman, the Sex Reformersat the same time soughtto controlandchannelher ... of the reformersshareda vision of the rationalization dangerous that eroticimpulses,arationalization wouldshapetheheterosexual couple in a way thatalso disciplinedwomen.54 Eventhe efficiency-oriented floorplansandkitchendesignsdid notnecessarily make life easier for the New Woman.55 Along with greaterefficiency came greater demands.Rationalizationonly helped women meet the increasinglyhigher work society. The plethora of quotas assigned to her by a rationalization-obsessed informationregardingchild care and home hygiene reflected higher standards which women were expected to meet: of To the so-called "Taylorization housework"was added the of childraising.Childrenwere put growing professionalization was in or intokindergartens nurseries, whichtheirupbringing put into the handsof paidpersonnel,who workedaccordingto their own child-rearing principles. Housework and upbringing the remained women'sdomains.Thecontroloverthem,however, but surely escaped them, and theirlatitudefor decisionslowly making neverthelessnarrowed.56

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Rationalizedarchitecture not relieve the burdenof balancinghousework did anda job or meeting the raisedexpectationsof hygiene andnutrition. Adelheid As von Saldernconcisely phrasesit, Modernization rationalization daily life, as supported and of by the bourgeoisreformersas well as by the workers'movement, was a very effective combinationof realprogressfor the tenants on the one handand of social disciplineandculturaldomination on the other.This ambiguitymeantprogressivemodernization withoutdirectemancipation, especially for women. The tenants wereseen only as objects,even by famousarchitects suchas May or Gropius.57 Thedisciplineto whichtheNew Womanwas subjectedwas notconfinedto her dwelling's floorplan. of Conformingto new standards hygiene or interiordecorationsimilarlytook more time, not less.58 Like the Sex Reform movement's New Woman, Neues Bauen's New Womanwas emancipatedand domesticated:"Thepivot of the new rationalized domesticculturewasthe 'modemsuperwoman'; health-andnutritiona conscious consumerand socializer of children,gainfullyemployed, and a willing andactive sex partner."59 alongwiththe new opportunities politics andcareer So in choices came old burdens motherhood houseworkwhichnow carriedhigher of and standards be met. "Despitea relativelybriefencounterwith new roles duringthe to war, by far the overwhelmingmajorityof all Germanwomen neverin fact strayed from the conceptionsof womenhoodby which they had been raised and resented being linked with a few women in masculineroles."60 This concern, the possible vermannlichung the New Woman, seemed to of point up yet anotherantinomywithinNeues Bauen. Modernarchitectscould not seem to decideto whatextenttheNew Womanwouldbe like theNew Man.Schwab seemed to be respondingto this concernwhen he wrote that ... the demandof the contemporary woman,even those thatare employed and athletic,in all thingshaving to do with design of her immediate environment,is clearly influenced by natural femininecharacter (weiblichen Naturgebundenheit). Experience shows thatwhile the averagemanis indifferentin relationto the appearanceof the home and shows no vital need for all those "warmth," things thatone groupsunderthe heading"comfort," "beauty,"the woman is more or less constantly working at making the living quarters"a bit cute", if necessaryeven with modest means.61

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successfulDer neue Haushalt:Ein Wegweiser ErnaMeyer, in herremarkably stressesthe uniquecharacteristics that zu wirtschaftlicherHausfiihrung, repeatedly and women have to offer the new architecture household,often resortingto crude essentialistarguments.62 on the otherhand,Meyer also repeatedlyapologizes But, formanyof thesesameuniquely"feminine" that qualities,emphasizing conservative and tradition-boundwomen deserve much of the criticism they receive from In frustrated architects(andhusbands).63 keepingwiththistheme,Tautcomplained that women's inclination to respond more to feelings than to efficiency and Lateron in the practicalitywould inhibittheir adoptionof the new architecture.64 same book, Taut essentially stated that women needed to become more organizationallyflexible, less attachedto outmodedideals and technologies, i.e., more like the New Man.65 Again, the discourseamongmodernarchitectsreflected withinGermansociety. As Frevertpoints broaderperceptionsandmisperceptions out, the increasedsimilarityin hairandclothingstyles andleisureactivitiesamong young Germansof both sexes apparently"removedsexual differences into the But background." just as the women's liberationmovement"hadno answerto the of how the 'new woman' could resolve the conflict between modern question it family ties,"66 would appearthatmodern occupationaldemandsand traditional architectshad no single answereither.67 A similarconflictexisted betweenefficiency andautonomy.Manymodernists believed that rationalizationsomehow "produced"the New Woman, that her eventualliberation(howeverdefined) was inevitabledue to social trends.Yet the NationalSocialistsshowedhow homeefficiency couldbe utilizedon behalfof antican feminismjust as effectively as on behalfof feminism.An argument be madethat rationalizationthat produced the New Woman produced National the same The Socialism.68 emphasison athleticismthatwas a trademark the New Woman of was continuedin the ThirdReich, but now for eugenic not recreational purposes.69 Indeed,Annemarie Trogermakesa case for the New Woman'scontinuitybetween the WeimarRepublicand the Bundesrepublik. Ideology andthe image of "women'srole"was modernizedtoo. It now encompassed both motherhood and some notion of vocation.Dependingon the economic situation,one or the other received a strongeremphasis: from a soldier's heroic mother the out turning handgrenadesforthewarthrough 1950s' efficient and partnerin reconstruction modernmother,to the smartand aggressivecareerwomanof the 1960s and 1970s and,finally, to today's psychologically trainedmother who retires from the strainedlabor marketto devote herself fully to the emotional needs of her overworkedhusbandand nervouschildren.70

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Like modem architecture rationalization the New Womanproved and itself,71 to beremarkably that of and pliable concepts couldservea variety political socialagendas. In sum, Germanmodem architectsdid not envision gender equality. Their vision of the New Woman was certainly unlike traditionalinterpretationsof gender roles, but, reflecting their bourgoisroots and interests,German "proper" modem architectsdid not go beyond what middle-class society envisioned for women and, in the larger scale of things, this was rathermodest.72Not unlike Renaissancereformsthatencouragedwomen to become educatedso as to become Neues Bauen architectssoughtto define and createa betterconversationpartners, woman who was a more interestingwife and domestic helpmeet, who filled her traditionalgender role more efficiently in orderto leave more time to make life genial for her husband. Caught between the pincers of declining economic (andthe resultingloss of autonomy)andraisedexpectationsas wife opportunities andmother,the decline of theNew Woman'sfortunesin Germany precededthatof Neues Bauen.73 The antinomies that affected the New Woman likewise affected her more of the celebratedcounterpart, New Man.Thebuilt-inassumption Neues Bauen,that meant liberation,proved more complex than assumed.Discipline rationalization of did not necessarilyresultin freedom;rationalization society did not necessarily NeuesBauenarchitects, resultin liberation.74 inevitably,remainedcaptives perhaps of theirsocial class andthe dominantmentality.For the most part,they subscribed to regarding wholeheartedly assumptionssharedby many of theircontemporaries the "inevitable"trends of the time, including the assumption that increased would necessarilyresultin increasedcollectivism andthatthis was rationalization a good thing.The Enlightenment optimismthatmarkedmuch of the social reform movementsof the period,includingNeues Bauen,withits profoundfaithin reason, and rationalization, science, ultimatelyservedonly to maskdeepersocial problems themselves. without the andresulted inregimentation only questioning socialinstitutions chairman MichaelGeyer,who pointed to *I owe a debtof gratitude my dissertation out that the neue Frau was not necessarilyidenticalto the neue Mensch, and also F. to Christian Otto andAdelheidvon Salder, both of whom were kind enoughto refereesof thisjournal readdraftsandmakesuggestions,andalso to the anonymous for their criticalcontributions.
I Calais(written1912/13,produced1917)was GeorgKaiser'sExpressionistplayBuirgervon

Die der and Jost about"thebirthof the New Man." Hermand Frank Trommler, Kultur Weimarer 1978), 194. See also (Munich: Verlagshandlung, Republik Nymphenburger Eine inRichard Richard Hiilsenbeck, ed.,Dada: literarische "DerneueMensch," Hiilsenbeck, comments of Dokumentation Rowohlt, 1984).Many Gordon regarding Craig's (Hamburg:
immediatelyafterthe war: Expressionistwriterscould also applyto Neues Bauen architects

to ist Frank's echoed Leonard cry, eloquent 'DerMensch gut!'andwished helphim "They

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realize thatgoodness by liberatinghim from forces thatthwartedhim, so thathe might live transformed... might create and live in a social orderbased on love." "Engagementand Journal of Contemporary Neutralityin WeimarGermany," History 2/2 (April 1967): 53. Discussionof the New Manwas notlimitedto Germany. Austria,creationof the New Man In formed the focal point of the reforms of the Social Democrats. See Max Adler, Neue Menschen:Gedanken ubersozialistischeErziehung(Berlin,1924);andHelmutGruber, Red Vienna:Experimentin Working-Class Culture,1919-1934 (New York:OxfordUniversity neuerMensch formsthebackdrop Gruber' examination to s Press, 1991),in whicha proletarian of AustrianSocial Democraticreforms. 2 Reyner Banham,Theoryand Design in the First Design Age, 2d ed. (Cambridge,Mass.: M.I.T.Press, 1960), 265; LeonardoBenevolo, Historyof ModernArchitecture (Cambridge, MillerLane,Architecture Politicsin Germany, Mass.: M.I.T. Press, 1977), 380. Barbara and Mass.:Harvard 1918-1945(Cambridge, Press,1968),27-28. University 3 See RichardPommer and ChristianF. Otto, 1927 and the Moder Weissenhofsiedlung Movementin Architecture(Chicago:Universityof ChicagoPress, 1991) and KarinKirsch, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt,1987). Die Weissenhofsiedlung (Stuttgart: 4 JohnWillett,Art and Politics in the Weimar Period: TheNew Sobriety1917-1933 (New York: Pantheon, 1978), 129. Willet mentions the publishers Englert and Schlosser in in Klinckhardt Biermann Leipzig,WedekindandJuliusHoffmanin Stuttgart, and Frankfurt, Das neueFrankfurt. Schrollin Vienna,andof coursetheBauhausbooksandthejournal Also, Der "Whohas not yet writtena book on building?", Kunstnarr1 (April 1929), likely written by editor ErnstKallai. 5 See the editors' introductionand related materialin chapter8 ("The Rise of the New Woman")in Anton Kaes, MartinJay, andEdwardDimendberg,eds., The Weimar Republic Sourcebook(Berkeley:Universityof CaliforniaPress, 1994), 195-219. 6A discoursemarked Inside the by anxietyandviolence. See Beth IrwinLewis, "Lustmord: Windows of the Metropolis,"in CharlesW. Haxthausenand HeidrunSuhr, eds., Berlin: Culture and Metropolis (Minneapolis:University of Minnesota Press, 1990). See also Reinhold Heller, The EarthlyChimeraand the Femme Fatale (Chicago, 1981) and Bram Dijkstra,Idols of Perversity(New York:OxfordUniversityPress, 1986). 7 BrunoTaut,Die neue Wohnung. and Die Frau als Schopferin,2d ed. (Leipzig:Klinkhardt Biermann, 1924). Later, in his 1929 book Die neue Baukunstin Europa und Amerika freedomfrom traditional Julius Hoffmann),Tautlikened the new architecture's (Stuttgart: axial symmetryand the pitchedroof to the moder woman's rejectionof the corset. 8 Ibid., 55, 58. 9 KonradH. Jarausch,Students, Society, and Politics in Imperial Germany:The Rise of N.J.:Princeton AcademicIlliberalism(Princeton, UniversityPress, 1982), 109-10. 10Mechanization Takes Command:A Contributionto AnonymousHistory (New York: OxfordUniversityPress, 1948), pp. 512-27. 11 Kuche und des Lore Kramer,"Rationalisierung Haushaltes Frauenfrage-die Frankfurter und zeitgen6ssische Kritik,"in ErnstMay und das Neue Frankfurt1925-1930, exhibition catalog (Berlin:Ernst& Sohn, 1986), 79. 12 Giedion, 522-26. 13RainerBaubock, im Wien,1919-1934 (Salzburg: Wohnungspolitik sozialdemokratischen W. Neugebauer,1979), 152. 14Gruber, Red Vienna,61.

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5Gruber,Red Vienna,53, 184-85. England was no exception to western and central Europe regarding governmental involvement in housing reformbetween the world wars. There was apparentlyeven less interest in examining gender roles in England than there was in Germanyand Austria, certainlyno questionof a New Womanin relationto housing design. M. J. Daunton,ed., Councillorsand tenants: local authorityhousing in English cities, 1919-1939 (Leicester UniversityPress, 1984), 190, 206. 17Herbert Hubner,Die soziale Utopiedes Bauhauses.Ein Beitragzur Wissenssoziologiein zu der bildendenKunst(dissertation publishedby the WestfalischenWilhelms-Universitat Munster,1963), 62. 18 HansWingler, BerlinChicago(Cambridge, Mass.:MIT ed., TheBauhaus:WeimarDessau Press, 1976), 116. Stadtbau19Mechthild Schumpp, UtopienundGesellschaft: DerBedeutungswandel utopischer Bertelsmann StadtmodelleuntersozialemAspekt(Gutersloh: Fachverlag,1972), 98-99. 20Hubner,106-7. 21 Richard J. Evans, The Feminist Movementin Germany1894-1933 (London: SAGE Publications,1976), 35. 22See Evans, 115-43. 23 and RenateBridenthal ClaudiaKoonz, "BeyondKinder,Kiiche,Kirche:WeimarWomen in Politics and Work,"in Renate Bridenthal,Atina Grossmann,and MarionKaplan,eds., in and WhenBiology BecameDestiny: Women Weimar Nazi Germany (New York:Monthly Review Press, 1984), 34-37. See also Ute Frevert, Womenin German History: From to trans.(New York: McKinnon-Evans, Bourgeois Emancipation SexualLiberation,Stuart Berg, 1989), 168-85. 24Ibid.,56. 25 A Walter Weimar: CulturalHistory 1918-1933 (NewYork:Perigee,1974),preface. Laqueur, 26 See Elke Kupschinksy,"Die vernunftige in Nephertete" JochenBoberg,TilmanFichter, and Gillen Eckhart,eds., Die Metropole: Industriekultur Berlin im 20. Jahrhundert in (Munich:C. H. Beck, 1986), 165-73. 27RenateBridenthalet al., WhenBiology Became Destiny, 11. See also Atina Grossmann, "The New Woman and the Rationalizationof Sexuality in Weimar Germany,"in Ann Snitow, ChristineStansell,and SharonThompson,eds., Powers of Desire: The Politics of Sexuality(New York:MonthlyReview Press, 1983), 156. 28 WolfgangPehnt,ExpressionistArchitecture Thames& Hudson,1973), 12, 32. (London: 29Ibid., 28. 30 was male andfemale Accordingto Frevert,"There no fundamental questionsof traditional the stereotypes,"185. Regarding divisionof laborin thehomeandthewomen's movement's Frevertwrites: responseto modernization, There was no doubt whatsoever that family duties were of prime A importance. synthesisof workandfamily was inconceivablewithout extra burdens, and the idea that men might undertakesome of the childcareand housekeepingtasks was alien to bourgeois and socialist minds alike, 203. 31 There was considerablediscussion at the time (mostly among its critics) regardingthe the to mission of Neues Bauen, i.e., whetherthe architectswere attempting "bourgeoisify" the or proletariate proletarianize bourgeoisie.The issue is complex.Neues Bauen architects
16

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but certainlysought to improve the lives of working-classoccupantsof their architecture, of they were equally concernedwith the aestheticimprovement theirown class, which they It believed that saw as havinga special positionof moralleadership. was becausemodernists only a radicalchangein tastecould rescuethe bourgeoisiethatthey were seen as attempting it. to proletarianize 32See GuntherUhlig, Kollektivmodell"Einkiichenhaus": zwischen FrauenWohnreform 1900-1933 (Giessen:Anabas-Verlag,1981). bewegungund Funktionalismus 33Kitchendesign duringthe later 1920s was a source of greatinterest,if not obsession, to Kitchen there were also the Neues Bauen architects.In additionto the famous Frankfurt Kitchens.And, accordingto Gisela Stahl, Munich and Stuttgart Es gibt Kichen von BrunoTaut, Hugo Haring,Ludwig Hilberseimer, von Franz Schuster, Ferdinand Kramer, Grete Lihotzky. Es gibt KiichenderArchitektenvereinigung Bauhauskiichen, Werkbundkiichen, fir 'DerRing,' Kiichender 'Reichsforschungsgesellschaft das Bau-und Wohnungswesen'.Die Liste lieBe sich fortsetzen. zum Haushaltoder wie man vom Haus zurWohnungkommt,"in "Von der Hauswirtschaft Wem gehort die Welt. Kunst und Gesellschaft in der WeimarerRepublik(Berlin: Neue Gesellschaft fur Bildende Kunst, 1977), 102. Another aspect of the professionalization was processfor housewives in Siedlungen(atleastin Frankfurt) assortedclasses on cooking, and how to utilize new technology. Adelheid von Saldern also notes that the cleaning, housewife was encouragedto wear a white lab coat to encouragea professional attitude towardher domestic tasks and also to help keep her clothes clean so that she could appear was fromwork."A changeof appearance seen as to attractive herhusbandwhen he returned evidence of the innerchangewhichwas necessaryto cope withthe new conditionsof life and work in general."'The Workers'movementandculturalpatternson urbanhousing estates the SocialHistory15(1990),347. in and settlements Germany Austria andin rural during 1920s," 34 Moder architectshad high hopes for these labor-savinginventions. See Ella Briggs, statedthat"nothing im "Elektrizitat Haushalt," (1927):92. The author Wohnungs-Wirtschaft brings women closer to salvation from the slavery of housework than the utilization of The time savedcouldbe usedfor moretime spentwith children electricityin thehousehold." Thesemuch-trumpeted orintellectualorphysicalimprovement. home-efficiencydevices did not,however,become widely availableuntilthe 1950s. See Detlev J. K. Peukert,TheWeimar Republic:The Crisis of Classical Modernity,RichardDeveson, trans.(New York: Hill & Wang, 1992), 100. 35 Grete Lihotzky, "Rationalisierung im Haushalt,"Das neue Frankfurt1/5 (April/June 1927): 120. 36ErnaMeyer, "Wohnung und Entlastungder Frau,"Wohnungs-Wirtschaft (1927): 85. 37 Bertelsmann Das Alexander 1974),135. Schwab, BuchvonBauen(Disseldorf: Fachverlag, 38Taut, Die neue Wohnung, 86. p. von 39WalterandGreteDexel,Das Wohnhaus Heute (Leipzig:Hess & Becker, 1928), 160. 40 Ludwig Neundorfer,Wie Wohnen?(Leipzig: Verlag der eiserne Hammer,1927), 3, 12. 41 Era und Entlastungder Frau,"Wohnungs-Wirtschaft (1927), 86. Meyer, "Wohnung 1/5 Das undderHausrat," neueFrankfurt (April/June 42 FranzSchuster,"DieneueWohnung 1927), 124. 43Bridenthalet al., 6. For other descriptionsof the New Woman see Renate Bridenthal, "Something Old, Something New: Women Between the Two World Wars," in Renate

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Bridenthaland ClaudiaKoonz, Becoming Visible: Womenin EuropeanHistory (Boston: (Munich, 1925). HoughtonMifflin Co., 1977), 439. See also F. Giese, Girlkultur 44"DieKiche-die Fabrikdes Hauses,"Wohnungs-Wirtschaft (1925): 19. 45Kupschinsky,166. 46Ibid.,170. 47Quotedin ibid. 48 Josef Gantner,"Zusammenfassung des Referatesvon WalterGropius-Berliniiber 'die soziologischen Grinden der Minimalwohnung"'Das neue Frankfurt3/11 (November 1929), 226. 49Schwab,118. for '"The 50ClaudiaKoonz, 1928-1934,",inBridenthal, Competition a Women'sLebensraum, et al., WhenBiology Became Destiny, 227. 51SiegfriedKracauer, am DieAngestellten:AusdemneuestenDeutschland(Frankfurt Main: Verlag, 1971), 25. Suhrkamp 52Kupschinsky,168. 53Bridenthal,et al., 11. 54Atina Grossmann,'The New Woman and the Rationalization Sexuality in Weimar of in Stansell,andSharon Germany," Ann Snitow,Christine Thompson,eds.,Powersof Desire: The Politics of Sexuality(New York:MonthlyReview Press, 1983), 154. 55 kitchendesignssuchas theFrankfurt Kitchen,withtheiremphasis Ironically,functionalist on small-scale production, ignored current trends in industry, namely the social and economic division of labor. Stahl, 104. This probablyreflectedthe commitmentof Neues Bauen architects the nuclear to with alternative formsof family family,despitetheirflirtation organization. 172. 56Kupschinsky, 57Von Saldern,"Theworkers'movement," 346. The WeimarRepublic, 100. 58Peukert, 158. 59Grossmann, 60Koonz, 227. 61 Schwab, 128. 62 Ema Meyer, Der neue Haushalt: Ein Wegweiser zu wirtschaftlicherHausfihrung (Franck'scheVerlagshandlung: Stuttgart,1928), 33d printing,2, 5, 76, 86. 63 Meyer, Der neue Haushalt, 30, 84, 89, 112. 64Taut, Die neue Wohnung,10. 65Ibid., 104. to Meyer, attempting generateespritde corps for housewives, essentially says the same thing,i.e., thathousewivesmustbecome morelike craftsmenandtechnicians.Der neueHaushalt,2. Also like Taut,Meyercalls forhousewivesto be flexible andadaptible,13. Grete Lihotzky, who likewise emphasizes the importanceof the "thinkingwoman"with blamesthe difficultiesexperiencedby progressivearchitectsin "someintellectualtraining," "Thatall the efforts to the contraryhad so little practical introducingthe new architecture: in uninterested the new ideas." the success is primarily faultof women, who areremarkably im Haushalt,"120. See also Stahl, 104. "Rationalisierung 66Frevert,201-3. 67 In his section on "Americanism and Fordism,"Antonio Gramsci was cautious in his estimationof potentialchanges in genderroles.

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The formation of a new feminine personalityis the most important questionof anethicalandcivil orderconnectedwiththe sexualquestion. Until women can attainnot only a genuineindependencein relationto menbutalso a new way of conceivingthemselvesandtheirrolein sexual full characteristics relations,thesexualquestionwill remain of unhealthy and caution must be exercised in proposalsfor new legislation. Selectionsfrom the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci, Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey this Nowell Smith,eds. andtrans.(London:LawrenceandWishart,1971), 296. Surprisingly, continuedinto the Nazi period.ClaudiaKoonz, ambiguityregardinggendercharacteristics Mothersin the Fatherland:Women,the Family,and Nazi Politics (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987), 191, 196. 68 AnnemarieTroger,'The Creationof a FemaleAssembly-LineProletariat," Bridenthal, in et.al., WhenBiology Became Destiny, 238. 69Ibid., 244-45. 70Ibid.,265. 71 See Winfried im Nerdinger,"Bauhaus-Architekten "DrittenReich," in Nerdinger,ed., und Bauhaus-Modere imNationalsozialismus. (Munich: ZwischenAnbiederung Verfolgung 1993), 153-75; Werner Diirth, Deutsche Architekten. Biographische Prestel-Verlag, Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn, Verflechtungen1900-1970, 2d ed. (Braunschweig/Wiesbaden: and 1987), 95-99; and Miller Lane, especially chapter6 ('The New Architecture National Socialism"). 72Gisela Stahl makes the point thatas long as women were responsiblefor reproduction of the workforce, but without receiving pay for this socially and economically necessary of of function,therecouldbe no realliberation women,despiterationalization thekitchenand the ideologicalupgrading housework.Womenwerefacedwith thechoice of threeoptions: of being a Nur-Haus-Frau,i.e. economic dependenceon the husband;the double burdenof of houseworkandcareer;or the renunciation marriage, Stahl, 103. family,andmotherhood. 73 See Alice Ruhle-Gerstel,"Backto the Good Old Days?,"in Kaes, et al., 218-19. Koonz, Mothers in the Fatherland,12. 74 Antinomies I explore furtherin the unpublisheddissertationfrom which this article is partiallytaken, "Disciplineto Liberate:the Social Vision of Neues Bauen."