Come on, let′s save a house!

For years now, we have been accom­panying our partners in the imple­men­tation of pro­jects, often involving buil­dings worthy of pre­ser­vation. Their love for listed houses or those threa­tened by dere­liction, indus­trial monu­ments and modern classics has repea­tedly resulted in asto­nishing revivals.
Some­times, however, more extensive support, pro­motion and advice is needed, and we regu­larly receive inquiries con­cerning this. We have the­r­efore com­piled a list of initia­tives and orga­ni­sa­tions that are com­mitted to pre­ser­vation and re-use.

Germany: Deutsche Stiftung Denk­mal­schutz (“German Foun­dation for Monument Pro­tection”

Deutsche Stiftung Denk­mal­schutz is the largest private initiative for monument con­ser­vation in Germany. It has been com­mitted to the pre­ser­vation of threa­tened monu­ments since 1985. Its holistic approach ranges from the emer­gency rescue of threa­tened monu­ments to nati­onwide cam­paigns such as the “Tag des offenen Denkmals” (“Open Monument Day”; next date: 11 Sep­tember 2022). Among the monu­ments that can be visited on that occasion is the Waren water tower (pic­tured).

Thanks to the help of more than 200,000 sponsors, the foun­dation sup­ports several hundred pro­jects every year.

Germany: Stiftung Indus­trie­denk­mal­pflege und Geschichts­kultur („The Foun­dation for the Pre­ser­vation of Indus­trial Monu­ments and His­to­rical Culture”)

Stiftung Indus­trie­denk­mal­pflege und Geschichts­kultur was estab­lished in 1995 as an instrument for coping with struc­tural change in North Rhine-West­phalia. It is the only foun­dation in Germany dedi­cated to the pre­ser­vation of high-ranking indus­trial monu­ments – with the aim of saving them from demo­lition, securing them, making them the subject of sci­en­tific research and acces­sible to the public, and putting them to a new use in keeping with their monument status.

The foun­dation takes ownership of indus­trial monu­ments and gives impulses to inte­grate the relics of the indus­trial age into urban deve­lo­pment, land­scape planning and monument pro­tection con­cepts as well as into com­mercial and tourism pro­jects. In Germany, orga­ni­sa­tions such as the network Industrie. Kultur. Ost or asso­cia­tions such as kulturfabriken.eu are also dedi­cated to indus­trial heritage. Our partner Dr. Jan Kobel from Hotel Stadthaus Arn­stadt is actively involved in the latter and has founded an asso­ciation to protect the Milchhof Arn­stadt (pic­tured).

“Nichts ist so uncool wie Neu­bauten”

Dr. Jan Kobel, Fotograf und URLAUBS­AR­CHI­TEKTUR-Partner

Great Britain: Landmark Trust

Founded in 1965, The Landmark Trust is one of Britain’s leading con­ser­vation cha­rities and is known far beyond the borders of Great Britain.

Alt­hough it has no endowment of its own, the Landmark Trust has a 500-strong team that main­tains a head office and has regional staff respon­sible for the day-to-day running of its current 200 buil­dings.

The aim is to save his­toric buil­dings that are in danger of being lost forever. These “land­marks” are sen­si­tively res­tored and con­verted into self-catering holiday accom­mo­dation. The let­tings income in turn sup­ports the pre­ser­vation and main­tenance of the buil­dings.

Since its begin­nings, the Landmark Trust has taken a distinctive approach to its buil­dings. Rather than imposing modernity upon them, the his­toric cha­racter of each place is brought out. From the choice of buil­dings, to the details of their fit­tings and finishes, the Landmark Trust seeks to enhance the beauty of his­toric struc­tures, rather than simply to remodel them to suit modern requi­re­ments.

The buil­dings are rarely purchased but usually acquired through agreement with the owners who are unable to save them them­selves.

Switz­erland: Stiftung Ferien im Bau­denkmal (“Foun­dation Holidays at the Heart of Heritage”)

Stiftung Ferien im Bau­denkmal, founded in 2005 by the Swiss Heritage Society, is another initiative at the interface of tourism and monument pre­ser­vation. Throughout Switz­erland, the foun­dation takes over archi­tec­tural monu­ments that have fallen into dis­repair and are threa­tened with demo­lition, res­tores them sen­si­tively and gives them a secure future as holiday accom­mo­dation.

Similar to the Landmark Trust, the carefully res­tored buil­dings are made acces­sible to the public at reasonable prices. The active expe­rience of building culture puts the focus on con­veying infor­mation about and raising awa­reness of his­to­rical buil­dings.

The foun­dation sup­ple­ments its diverse offe­rings with monu­ments owned by third parties and con­tri­butes to their pre­ser­vation by renting them out. At present, the offer includes 50 buil­dings in all Swiss cantons. For example, the Huberhaus in Upper Valais (pic­tured below) or the Tür­a­lihus in the Canton of Grisons (picture at the very top).

Switz­erland: Edith Maryon Foun­dation

In 1990, three young men estab­lished a non-profit foun­dation “for the pro­motion of social housing and work­places” with only 12,000 Swiss francs – and named it after Edith Maryon, an English sculp­tress and close asso­ciate of Rudolf Steiner, who was already involved in a social housing project a century ago.

To date, the Basel-based, non-profit Edith Maryon Foun­dation has com­pleted or pro­vided for more than 100 pro­jects, pri­marily in Switz­erland and Germany, but also else­where.

The non-profit orga­ni­sation removes land and pro­perties from spe­cu­lation, ensures affordable housing or work­places and sup­ports social and cul­tural pro­jects.

Wüs­tenrot Stiftung (Germany)

In the spring of 1921, a group of idea­lists came tog­ether to alle­viate the pressing pro­blems of the years of pri­vation after the First World War. In Stuttgart they founded the asso­ciation “Gemein­schaft der Freunde” (“Com­munity of Friends”), which, according to its sta­tutes, was com­mitted to “the creation of housing and old people’s homes for the general public on a purely cha­ri­table, land-reforming basis”.

In 1924, the asso­ciation began ope­rating as a building society in Wüs­tenrot. Finally, in 1990, it returned to its ori­ginal position and trans­formed itself into an insti­tution in the form of a foun­dation that serves the common good in a con­tem­porary and future-ori­ented manner.

Since then, the foun­dation has been con­cerned with tan­gible and intan­gible cul­tural heritage. It con­cep­tua­lises and imple­ments its own pro­jects in the areas of monu­ments, future issues, city & country, lite­rature, art & culture and edu­cation, and it pro­motes the ideas and pro­jects of other non-profit insti­tu­tions. The foun­dation focuses on cul­tural assets created after 1945.

• Monu­ments (German only)
• Publi­ca­tions (German only)

Addi­tional recom­men­da­tions

Modern classics such as Haus Schminke, which is run by a foun­dation, Taut’s Home, designed by Bruno Taut and part of Berlin’s Hor­seshoe Estate, and many other new and old archi­tec­tural monu­ments can be found at our website:

• Cat. Listed Building – old
• Cat. Listed Building – new

Funding pro­grammes

An overview of funding pro­grammes and funding orga­ni­sa­tions in Germany are available, among other places, in the funding database (German only) of the Federal Ministry for Eco­nomic Affairs and Climate Action.

We would be happy to learn about other orga­ni­sa­tions and funding pro­grammes that we can add to our list. Please send us a comment on this article or use our contact form.

Text: Ulrich Stefan Knoll, July 2022

Pic­tures: © Zeljiko Gataric (Titelbild), © Jan Kulke (1, 2,), © Dr. Jan Kobel (3, 4) © Bruno Helbling (5, 6)