Hamburg town plan and major sights (1952)

A rather interesting plan of Hamburg, the great north German city and port, issued by the Tourist Association of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (Fremdenverkehrsverein der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg) in 1952. This double sided folded sheet, on poor quality paper, shows the city as a whole and its approaches, along with a more detailed city plan.

The city centre and inner suburbs, that had suffered grevious damage from wartime bombing, are dominated by the River Elbe and the Binnenalster and Aussenalster lakes. By the 1950s and into the 1960s, the city was in the midst of post-war reconstruction as well as regaining its once famous reputation of being quite avant-garde! The plan shows the main streets (with an interesting shaded ‘tick’ detail) alongside the S-bahn and U-bahn services as well as the city’s tram network. Hamburg is possibly the largest German city to have abandoned its tram system, one reason being the development of the more integrated heavy rail and metro network that is overseen by the HVV, Hamburger Verkehrsverbund, that would be formed in 1965 to oversee the transport network. The plan also shows many of the ferries that are still of importance in this maritime city.

The sights include the architecturally important ‘Chile House’, the Ohnsorg Theatre (with “low German” shows that I take to be more popular entertainment) and the Kammerspiele, described as ‘intimate theatre’. Number 29 notes “apartment blocks” adjacent to the Hoheluftbrücke station. I think, although I’d welcome some information, these are now “Listed” as being of architectural merit.

The cover is dominated by the marvellous graphic of the Hanseatic City’s coat of Arms along with a representation of a ship or liner atop the globe!

The city name on the front cover is shown in Forum I. Designed by Georg Trump as an outlined and shaded display companion to his Schadow-Antiqua, the all-caps typeface was issued by Weber in 1948. It’s paired with Futura Condensed. All other type in the plan uses regular-wide Futura, with map labels in all caps and legends in mixed case.