Advice on some Buildings: could these be German?

[Keith Addenbrooke]

I’m not very good at re-imagining things for a different context, so was wondering if I could ask for some advice here.

 

I have a number of fairly generic building kits modelled on American prototypes, and was wondering if they might pass as German.  Apologies if this sounds obvious, but I figured the best way to test the idea was to ask.  Of course, with Germany being a large and geographically diverse Federal State, buildings won’t be uniform (why would they?), so any pointers as to any regional examples will be welcome.  Hope that’s OK - nothing too serious*

 

A.  This large station always strikes me as being a bit like a condensed version of St George’s Hall across from here in Liverpool - to me it could pass as any imposing civic structure in almost any Western country?  Personally, I could see this as a German city structure?

 

 

B.  This low relief brick warehouse with loading dock also looks fairly generic 20th Century to me?  Northern Germany perhaps?

 

 

C.  A more modern low relief structure - 1970s perhaps?  Do the doorways look too American though?

 

 

C.  An oil tank and a tin shed are an oil tank and a tin shed - or are they?

 

 

D.  An older style wooden warehouse - could it pass as an older railside Goods Transfer Shed?

 

 

E.  A General Store - again mainly wooden.  Do the shutters give it enough of a European look?

 

 

G.  The final question is a trick question: this is a German Faller model, but I’ve read on a translation of a Stummiforum post (that I can’t now find) the suggestion that it could also pass as French (perhaps Alsace, which if built 1871 to 1920 would be German historically)?  The question here is can it pass as other than German I suppose?  At a stretch, if whitewashed, I could almost see it on the Swiss Furka-Oberalp?

 

 

Any thoughts welcome - I like structure kits and will be keeping them all anyway, so I’ve nothing to lose.  Hope that’s OK, Keith.

 

* I’ve explained elsewhere I’m having a bit of a clear out before a possible house move, so am going through all my stuff at the moment.

 

Edited December 14, 2023 by Keith Addenbrooke

[rekoboy]

The wooden warehouse and the general store look a touch too North American, I think. Position A, the large station, could, indeed, be a large German public building - could be the theatre in Meiningen! The industrial structures can certainly be seen as international - one sees similar in Workington, Weimar, Wroclaw and Wien! The Faller station, I think, could be from anywhere in SW Germany, Austria and Switzerland! Have fun!

[Bernard Lamb]

If you could find another one and add a center section, you would be well on the way to the basis of a model of Leipzig Hbf. with building A. Don't take that seriously, the real thing is huge.

B would fit any scene in more modern times and the Faller staion is easily made to be as specifically regional as you like, within the area defined by rekoboy.

The others do look a bit too American to me.

Benard

[doctor quinn]

The architecture of B & C look fine, B especially puts me in mind of Northern European port areas.
 

However, the doors on C look more like truck loading dock doors for European context. They also seem to have a fixed position to suit 50' boxcars with relatively narrow doors. I'd expect the rail side to have a full length canopy to allow slide side vans to be unloaded. 

Edited December 15, 2023 by doctor quinn
Additional

[Metr0Land]

One of the mags used the big station building in pic A and called it 'Huddersfield' or something of that ilk.

 

The 2 corrugated buildings in pic C have been issued many times in many combinations.  When I bought it it included another longer shed which I didn't use, and a 2 door shed which I did.  It didn't have the tanks that time.

 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2023 by Metr0Land

[Gordonwis]

My thoughts:

 

1) in general when researching buildings for use on model railways, the best approach is to research regional architectural styles. There are quite a few on line and hard copy resources around (for example green Michelin tourist guidebooks used to have chapters on architectural styles (for example the very different styles of farmsteads in the various cantons of Switzerland). Equally, certain 'quarters'  of towns and  cities across the world might have been built by architects wishing to evoke styles from elsewhere. So you can get Italianate architecture in northern Europe, French style buildings in parts of central London, etc.  For example is a building is in 'baroque' style, research where cities have baroque architecture.

 

For each building (slightly awkward as your sequence goes A, B, C, C, D, E, G   :-)

 

A) - definitely looks like some large German city buildings to my eye . The triangular 'apex' above some of the windows is a style seen  in some German city buildings, for example here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/RFu2P5N1ZLGtGHMf6

 

B)  Generic red brick - usable anywhere but only where red brick is common - eg in parts of the former DDR, England, north east France (the Nord Pas de Calais coalfield is famous for having red brick houses that at a glance look like Coronation Street. Red brick is of course mots common close to where the underlying rock is red (eg sandstone)

 

C1) too American IMO

C2)  oil tanks and corrugated iron buildings are universal worldwide IMO

 

D) This sort of timber architecture is good for American or Nordic countries (Norway etc) but style is not very western/central/southern European

 

E) as per D

 

G) looks a bit French / Belgian/ northern German.

[Keith Addenbrooke]

Thank you @rekoboy, @Bernard Lamb, @doctor quinn, @Metr0Land and @Gordonwis for your replies - all helpful and informative.  My apologies for the labelling error with two C’s and no F - my fault (oversight and poor proof reading, sorry).

 

Just one point of clarification on C1 (low relief warehouse).  I’ve not yet unsealed the box, but my understanding is it’s a modular kit so the doors can be relocated if needed - as doctor quinn notes, they are set up in the photo for 50’ box cars.

 

From a modelling point of view, the main weakness in my eclectic collection is kits have not been bought following research into a single project - they’re from different ideas, so it was worth seeing how usable they may still be:

 

A and B (which is actually sold as a Commissary building) were for a Union Station diorama a few years ago, but the bookcase I planned for displays and micro-layouts went mouldy in our cellar while in storage!

C1 and C2 were for an American switching layout which has been the casualty of our impending house move.

D and E were opportune bargain purchases for an American HOn30 layout idea, but I stayed with a smaller design.

G was very cheap and I liked it, so bought it for the fun of building it with no real layout idea in mind.

 

The other kits in my stash are German designs from Noch or Faller.  Thanks again for your help, as always.  Keith.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

The corrugated buildings, as others have said, are universal. I made this from a (free) Scalescenes download for my Shardlow layout.

[Atchison]

To G:

This is German style.

It will be the ideal size when you plan modelling in TT Scale. For H0 it is much too shrinky.

[Neils WRX]

Just come across this thread I use a similar building to B on my Czech Layout.

 

So definitely useable in Europe.

 

Thanks,

 

Neil