The cultural reformer K.E. Osthaus founded the "Folkwang" in Hagen in 1902 as a museum for contemporary art and design. His next goal from 1906: the creation of an "experimental field of modern building" ("Hohenhagen", Haßleyer Straße/Stirnband). Only architects with a penchant for emerging modernism were allowed to work here, such as Peter Behrens and Henry van de Velde. However, the experimental field did not go beyond the rudiments.
In the corner area to Haßleyer Straße, architect and industrial designer Behrens created the houses Schröder (1909, destroyed in the war), Cuno (1909/10, Haßleyer Straße 35) and Goedecke (Amselgasse 1, 1911/12). Walter Gropius worked on the Villa Cuno (today: children's day-care centre) as site manager. The Villa Hoesch, Goldene Pforte 1 (today: Wirtschaftsverband), was designed by Theodor Merrill (around 1925), the house Goldene Pforte 2 by Gebr. Ludwigs (1937).
The rear part of "Hohenhagen"/Stirnband was to be built on by Henry van de Velde, who envisaged about 12 country houses here. In the end, however, only the "Hohenhof", which is now used as a museum, was built. The villa occupied by the family of the art patron K.E. Osthaus, one of the most important buildings in NRW from the period around 1910 in terms of architectural history, is based on a design from 1906. By 1908, van de Velde had realised a total work of art, i.e. he designed not only the "outer shell" but also the interior. Limestone and slate show influences of the Bergisch-Märk building style. Art Nouveau details are also still recognisable.
In the conception, van de Velde had to incorporate several works of art, including those by Henry Matisse, Ferdinand Hodler and Hermann Haller (the reliefs at the entrance are by him). In the garden: the tomb of Osthaus (deceased 1921), sculptor: J. I. Auerbach.
In the area Stirnband 38-54, the Dutchman Johannes L.M. Lauweriks came to the fore in 1910/14. A convinced member of the Theosophical Association, he had worked as an architecture teacher at the Düsseldorf School of Arts and Crafts (under founding director Peter Behrens) before moving to Hagen (1909). Already in this function he propagated a design method based on a stringent system of measurements, thus anticipating the standardisation in modern house building. Lauweriks was able to realise his principle most clearly in the Stirnband 38 house. It was initially occupied by the founder of modern stained glass in Germany, Johan Thorn Prikker. In the house Stirnband 48, adorned with a caryatid, the sculptress Milly Steger lived and worked.
There were various project ideas for the wooded area opposite, including one by Bruno Taut, who submitted a design for a Folkwang School in 1920.
One of Peter Behrens' students during his time at the Düsseldorf School of Arts and Crafts was the young Leopold Ludwigs from Hagen. Together with his brother Heinrich, he founded the architectural firm Gebr. Ludwigs in 1907, which quickly received numerous commissions. Especially in the area around Osthaus' experimental field of modern building "Hohenhagen", the Ludwigs office was able to realise several country house designs - often for factory families - before and after the First World War, such as the villas Haßleyer Straße 10 ("Haus Nest", 1909/11), Haßleyer Straße 14 (1909/11) and Haßleyer Straße/corner of Eppenhauser Straße 136 (1927).
Three more exceedingly individually decorated Ludwigs villas from the "1910 era" stand in Eppenhauser Straße, house numbers 151, 153, 155. Villa Kerckhoff, Lohestraße 3, was built in 1922 in the English country house style, paired with expressionist style elements.
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