[2], Wood and paint, both for interior and exterior, was selected so it would be authentic both in the German and Japanese village; in the Japanese village there were chopsticks on the tables. [6] The Book Loft covers 7,500 square feet of space, and along with books the store sells jigsaw puzzles, posters, and other merchandise. Erich Mendelsohn and Konrad Wachsmann advised on construction techniques and materials. [3] The German village cost $575,000 to build. German Village was the nickname for a range of residential houses constructed in 1943 by the U.S. Army in the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, roughly a hundred kilometers southwest of Salt Lake City. [6][12] Living quarters were located on the second floor of what was known as the Substantial Building, which would go on to serve as a church, a decorating company, an art studio and school, and an indoor golf course.
Dugway Proving Ground (DPG) is a U.S. Army facility established in 1942 to test biological and chemical weapons, located about 85 mi (137 km) southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, and 13 mi (21 km) south of the 2,624 sq mi (6,800 km 2) Utah Test and Training Range forming the largest overland special use airspace in the United States. By the time Germany surrendered in May 1945, US and British raids had destroyed 45% of German … [8][12] Jacobsma and Tompkins opened a bookstore in one of the stores of Southard's mall;[12] at opening, the store was small, with two floors with a loft on top, providing inspiration for the store's name. Erich Mendelsohn and Konrad Wachsmann advised on construction techniques and materials. [1], The village was authentic down to the smallest details, including authentic German heavy furnishings, clothes hanging in closets and children's toys. [12], Former teachers Carl Jacobsma and Roger Tompkins owned a gift shop in the mid-1970s, and in 1977 Marnie Southard asked them to join her in a retail venture. The U.S. Army employed German émigré architects such as Erich Mendelsohn to create copies as accurate as possible of the dwellings of densely populated poorer quarters of Berlin. [12] In a slow and steady process over the next fifteen years, they would repeat this process at least seven times, until the entire building was theirs. Hermann Weihrauch, Jr. moved to the little German village of Mellrichstadt in Bavaria. The U.S. Army also hired Standard Oil Development Company to assist in the practical testing and construction. The purpose of the replicas of German homes, which were repeatedly rebuilt after being intentionally burned down, was to perfect tactics in the fire bombing of German residential areas during World War II. [12] Southard created a block-long retail mall, building a new store connecting the two buildings, which was the original space of the Book Loft and now serves as its main entrance. [8], The Book Loft offers multiple events a month such as author readings and signings, as well as sponsoring off-site events like comic book conventions. German and Japanese village, aerial view, 1943. [2], Coordinates: 40°08′21″N 113°00′23″W / 40.139062°N 113.006425°W / 40.139062; -113.006425, Nickname for a range of mock houses constructed in 1943 by the U.S. Army in Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, Robin Schuldenfrei, Atomic Dwelling: Anxiety, Domesticity, and Postwar Architecture, pages 117, 118, Aerial view of German and Japanese villages, May 27 1943, Historic Evaluation of German Village at U.S. Army Dugway Proving Grounds, Background and drawings from the US government, Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=German_Village_(Dugway_Proving_Ground)&oldid=944898591, World War II strategic bombing of Germany, Military installations established in 1943, Buildings and structures in Tooele County, Utah, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Mike Davis, "Berlin's Skeleton in Utah's Closet," in, This page was last edited on 10 March 2020, at 16:11. Opened in 1977 and described by the Columbus Business First as "iconic" and a "tourist destination", the store has also been called "a national treasure" by The New York Times. The US Army hired Standard Oil Development Company to assist in the practical testing and construction. Tokyo after the massive Operation Meetinghouse firebombing attack on the night of March 9–10, 1945, the single most destructive raid in military aviation history. [12] She also bought the adjacent building at 632 City Park, which had opened as Wolf Tavern in the nineteenth century and through the years had served as a series of small groceries. The Lidice massacre was the complete destruction of the village of Lidice, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, now the Czech Republic, in June 1942 on orders from Adolf Hitler and Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler.. The working-class areas on which the test buildings were based, such as Wedding and Pankow, had been strongholds before Nazi repression suppressed dissent. Opened in 1977 and described by the Columbus Business First as "iconic" and a "tourist destination",[1] the store has also been called "a national treasure" by The New York Times. German village, oblique angle. Spare parts for bicycles were their first and main products. To ensure that the fires spread as realistically as possible, typical German home-interiors were included, and the wood was periodically doused to simulate conditions in the more humid German climate. [6] A map describing the contents of each of the 32 rooms is available for visitors. Interior of German village. [2], It was found that it was easier to set fire to Japanese housing, but that German houses were more likely to have uncontrollable fires.
[9], "How German Village's iconic Book Loft is adapting to the impact of Covid-19", "An Awakening in Columbus, a Reckoning in Williamsburg", "Cool Columbus: What to Do in the Midwest's Hippest City", "Columbus, Ohio: A two-wheel tour where fun and giant cream puffs reign", "Columbus: Hip neighborhoods, fun attractions make it worth a visit", "Get lost in 32 rooms of books at the Book Loft in Columbus", "Book Loft in German Village gives warmth in cold winter", "Road Trippin'- The Book Loft of German Village", "Wi14 Keynote: Hanif Abdurraqib on Sampling, Reading, and Life in Indie Bookstores", "Independent bookstores hold own against online giants", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Book_Loft_of_German_Village&oldid=967924359, Independent bookstores of the United States, Bookstores established in the 20th century, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 16 July 2020, at 04:08. [2] The Book Loft has been described by visitors as a "literary labyrinth" due to its maze-like 32 rooms of books connected by narrow passageways and staircases.
German Village was the nickname for a range of residential houses constructed in 1943 by the U.S. Army in the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, roughly a hundred kilometers southwest of Salt Lake City. [3][4], The Book Loft of German Village is one of the largest independent bookstores in the United States,[5] with at least 500,000 books in stock and close to a million volumes available during Christmas holiday season. The main goal was to find a tactic to achieve a fire storm in the city center. Paul Zucker, Hans Knoll and George Hartmueller advised on designing authentic interior furnishings. [2], Wood and paint, both for interior and exterior, was selected so it would be authentic both in the German and Japanese village; in the Japanese village there were chopsticks on the tables. Dugway was a high-security testing facility for chemical and biological weapons.