There is a circled B on the facade – maximally minimalist. On the other hand, things are much more opulent in the shop windows two floors below. A red spring jacket is on sale there for 650 euros; the matching sneakers cost 325 euros. And yet such prices are hardly surprising – for two reasons. On the one hand, the fashion comes from Bogner, which has always stood for exclusive clothing. On the other hand, you are here on Residenzstrasse, house number 15. So right on Max-Joseph-Platz, opposite the Bavarian State Opera and Residenztheater – you can hardly get a better location than this.
A major intervention could now be imminent in this boulevard with its many listed houses. As a preliminary building inquiry shows, the owner of the office and commercial building at Residenzstrasse 15 is planning to demolish and build a new building, the so-called Bogner House. You’ll find out that this project isn’t exactly met with enthusiasm in the immediate neighborhood when you visit the renowned Max Dietl tailor shop next door – but more on that later. First of all, the application for a preliminary decision, which the Commission for Urban Design will deal with next Tuesday – “due to the special urban location of the building site in the old town ensemble,” as it says in the submission for the meeting.
The originator of this preliminary building request and the owner of the Bogner House is the Holler Foundation, whose purpose, according to the foundation directory, is “to promote youth welfare, human and medical care for the seriously ill, science as well as art and culture.” When asked, the foundation does not want to comment on its construction plans on Residenzstrasse. These envisage a complete demolition of the existing building, which consists of a front building from the 1950s, a lower rear building and an approximately 100 square meter inner courtyard.
The planned new building is likely to be accompanied by a significant increase in the area, especially since a rear building limit was set for the property, but the administrative court, according to the template for the meeting, “declared it to be inoperable”. The building is home to two medical practices, various offices and the Bogner fashion store, which, according to a spokeswoman for the company, “as a tenant cannot say anything about the owner’s plans for the building.”
Inge and Max Dietl run a shop in the neighboring house at Residenzstrasse 16.
(Photo: Florian Peljak)
Max Dietl, on the other hand, wants to say something, and with emphasis. He runs a tailor-made shop in the neighboring house at Residenzstrasse 16 and, according to his own statements, maintains a “good relationship” with the Holler Foundation – but still calls their plans “a catastrophe.” Not only is he worried about the view of that “row with the dream town houses” “in the most beautiful place in Munich”. If there were a demolition next door, he also feared the consequences for his 150-year-old Neo-Renaissance building, the core of which dates back to the 15th century. “These houses are built wall to wall, so it’s like a house of cards,” warns Max Dietl. “If you pull out a card, there is a risk of incredible damage to the neighboring houses. This ranges from cracks in the walls to problems with the statics.”
In addition, there would be the burden on the shops on Residenzstrasse during the construction period, points out Max Dietl: “The noise, the rubble, the dirt – we’ll be left out in the cold here for two to three years.” Regardless, says the 59-year-old, “a total demolition has little to do with sustainability.” The city’s local heritage officer apparently has similar concerns. According to the submission to the meeting of the urban design commission, this “views the project as a whole critically – both in terms of the handling of the building structure and the facade design”. Meanwhile, the Lower Monument Protection Authority considers the façade facing Max-Joseph-Platz to be “in need of discussion”. However, from a building planning and building regulations perspective, according to the local building commission, the project is “in principle possible”.
The architects, preservationists and city council members will have to take all of these assessments into account when they discuss the preliminary application for the property at Residenzstrasse 15 at the public meeting of the urban design commission on Tuesday. The committee has no decision-making authority and can neither issue nor revoke building rights. However, the commission’s recommendations certainly have weight in the subsequent decisions in the town hall or the city council.