Kuchen Travel Guide

 Kakapo2 Says:  About 600 metres west of the workers’ estate you still find the old weir where once the power for the spinning and weaving mill were generated.I was surprised to still find it moving and working right in the moment I was there. Also the so called Turbinenhaus – the turbine... 

 Kakapo2 Says:  It would be quite nice to climb on this small tower, made of concrete blocks, which looks a bit like taken out of a fortress. There is a balcony-like iron structure on the east side, and a kind of roof terrace at the top. But they have taken away the lower part of the... 

 Kakapo2 Says:  The 2.5 hectare park is adjacent to the Fabrikantenvilla, if you stand in front of it, to the left, and still is a green space.It did not only include rare trees like American nut trees (Amerikanischer Schwarznussbaum), Red Beech (Blutbuche) and cypress (Scheinzypresse). In... 

 Kakapo2 Says:  You find the original owner’s villa if you leave the workers’ estate behind, heading west, cross the square in front of the former weaving mill building (now an outlet store) and carry on to the right. You soon see a locked modern gate, and behind mature trees the... 

 Kakapo2 Says:  This red brick house with nice yellowish pattern was built in 1886/87 for the masters and supervisors and their families. It offered generously sized accommodation.It is located at the corner between the Mehrzweckgebäude and the workers’ cottages of Neckarstraße.The address... 

 Kakapo2 Says:  This brightly coloured three-storey building is located left of the restaurant (Staubbach), the former Kosthaus.It looks unspectacular on the side of the square but lovlier on the side facing Weberallee (formerly: Fabrikstraße).It had 5 units on the ground floor, a canteen,... 

 Kakapo2 Says:  The grassy central square – even called “Square” at the time – is surrounded by all those lovely communal and apartment buildings, includes two pavilions and an attractive fountain.Also today it has a great atmosphere and is a nice place to relax. You can sit down in the... 

 Kakapo2 Says:  If you stroll around you will find some more old houses like this one, built of red bricks with integrated decorative yellowish patterns. When the “Festplatz” was surrounded by the communal buildings and workers cottages, more residential houses were built in other styles,... 

 Kakapo2 Says:  They were Württemberg’s first public baths. The building has a small clock tower and is beautifully half-timbered, with sawed wooden ornaments at the gables. After not being used as bath and washing house anymore, this big building which spanned one whole length of the... 

 Kakapo2 Says:  If you understand German it is no problem to make a self-guided tour. There is a big information panel between the Bath and Washing House (Festival Hall), easily recognisable by its clock tower, and the restaurant Staubbach. Or just print my infos and the photo of this tip... 

 Kakapo2 Says:  This is one of the few remaining buildings of the glory days of fabric production of the SBI. Apart from this only the founder’s villa, the nursery, the new laboratory and the administration building could be conserved. Non-usable buildings, including an impressive 60 m high... 

 Kakapo2 Says:  This English style building, opposite the Festival Hall (originally the Bath and Washing House), is from 1864. The verandahs facing the Square are very attractive. On the ground floor were the apartments for supervisors and the teacher of the enterprise’s school. On the... 

 Kakapo2 Says:  This early building (Neckarstraße 66) dates back to 1858 and is located right beside the Bath and Washing House and to the left of the Schweizerhaus. The architect was Georg Morlok who was not only an architect but also an engineer of the railway company. When this house was... 

 Kakapo2 Says:  This workers cottage (Arbeiterwohngebäude, Neckarstraße 71) was built in 1863, and is located to the right of the Schweizerhaus. It later served as a Mädchenwohnheim (home for girls resp. unmarried women). The house had five apartments. Arnold Staub, the boss of the... 

 Kakapo2 Says:  This house was built in 1864. It is the only house with the gables facing the Square. The decorative half-timbered design was later covered with wooden boards. The house was designed for four small families. It is an early example of the wide-spread Schweizerhaus style of... 

 Kakapo2 Says:  -This renovated building is quite beautiful but the huge and mostly empty carpark in front of it gives it a kind of sad look. At the best of times 25,340 spindles were running in the spinning mill.Since the closure of SBI the building has had a variety of purposes. At the... 

 Kakapo2 Says:  I remember the times when there was a black slack walking track (Schwarzer Weg) along the river, bordered by plum trees, leading to a plot of small gardens (Kleingärten) near the weir (Gingener Filswehr). The land of those gardens belonged to SBI who leased it to their...