The development of Bad Nauheim as jugendstil spa complex

The buildings of the spa complex at Bad Nauheim (Germany) are among the most important examples of Jugendstil architecture in the world, but the place or the architect Wilhelm Jost are not mentioned in scientific works. Salt water springs in this area were already exploited by the Celts and the Romans. The village of salt producers began to change into a spa in the first half of the 19th century, when the curative power of the salt water from wells was recognized. At the beginning of 1900, changed hygienic and aesthetic ideas and expectations required the construction of new bathhouses. At that time, Bad Nauheim belonged to the Grand Duchy Assia-Darmstadt. The Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hessen had commissioned artist of Jugendstil to decorate rooms of his New Palace in Darmstadt, and had summoned seven artists of Darmstadt to found an artist’s colony. The new spa complex of Bad Nauheim absorbed the ideas emanating from Darmstadt, and the layout of the whole town was arranged according to the modern precepts of Darmstadt Jugendstil. The paper describes the transformations and reuse of Bad Nauheim until nowadays, and analyzes typologies and decorative motives of the spa complex, excellent example of early Jugendstil in Germany, from the point of view both of history of architecture (Elena Manzo) and geometrical and morphological analysis of elements (Manuela Piscitelli).