Fred Otto

German architect Fred Otto became head of the municipal planning and building control office in Chemnitz during the 1920s, and helped shape the cityscape. He was a trained bricklayer and studied at the Technical High School of Dresden, but after World War I moved to Chemnitz. Otto’s style was in the New Objectivity school. He built administrative buildings such as the city water plant, industrial and grammar schools, the municipal nursing home at the former Karl-Marx-Square, and the Savings Bank, the bathhouse, the elementary school in Borna.

The municipal pool was designed in the Bauhaus style in 1925 by Otto in collaboration with the local architect Fritz Weber. However, construction work did not begin until 1929 and could only be completed in 1935 because of the global economic crisis. At that time, the pool was considered one of the largest and most modern in Europe with its 50 m pool. It was completely renovated in 1983.