The master builder Georg Heyer

Gildenhall was founded by the Berlin carpenter and master builder Georg Heyer (1880 - 1949) who bought an old decommissioned brickyard and the surrounding land at Lake Ruppin in 1920. He constructed a new lumber mill, carpentry and joinery workshops and a house for himself there. His appeal for followers was supported by the German Werkbund, the magazine Die Volkswohnung ("The People's Home") and the German open-land association Freiland e.V. Eden-Oranienburg. Craftsmen and artists from a variety of social backgrounds responded to his call.

Together they established an alternative way of life and economic activity which combined the principles of the Werkbund and Bauhaus. The settlers committed themselves to a simple life and to the development and cultivation of their skills. The inhabitants worked cooperatively and founded a union called the "Handwerkschaft Gildenhalle GmbH" in 1923. The items produced in Gildenhall were marketed and distributed by Hausrat GmbH.

The development of the settlement in Gildenhall was influenced by a number of architects in the years that followed. The traces they left behind remain visible and invite visitors to take a charming walk of discovery of a hidden modernist treasure on the shore of Lake Ruppin.

A single-storey timber-framed structure, Georg Heyer's house, Am See 20 (1), the first residence of the open land settlement, was built entirely in accordance with the ideal of using traditional craft and construction techniques. The four gable-fronted semi-detached houses (2), which were originally cladded with cane reed and were built by Heyer in Blumenstraße 35/37 and 36/38 in 1921, again reflect the emphasis placed on forms of building.