A few days ago, I wrote about Sep Ruf’s wonderful bungalows above the Tegernsee. Those bungalows are widely known for their 1950s elegance. But few know that Ruf had also had found his final resting place on the Bergfriedhof in Gmund, a few meters away from the former Chancellor Ludwig Erhard.

But while Erhard’s grave looks well-kept, it took me some time to recognize Ruf’s grave. The grave of one of the most important architects of the 1950s in Germany was completely overgrown.

Tegernsee at Kaltenbrunn

If you are looking for the roots of Bavaria, you don’t have to look any further than lake Tegernsee. From here, the monks set out to eventually found the city of Munich (= monk’s town). Here (at Wildbad Kreuth) the conservative party of Bavaria gathers whenever there are important decisions to be made.
What a uncommon place to find one of the finest examples of architectural modernism from the 1950s – light, but still perfectly fitting to the locale. But still, this is the place where Sep Ruf, one of post-war Germany’s most important architects, settled and build himself a bungalow, at the Ackerberg above the small town of Gmund am Tegernsee. And not for himself, he constructed a building there but also for Ludwig Erhard, then Minister of Economics and later from 1963-66 German Chancellor.
This year the Munich architectural museum in the Pinakothek der Moderne celebrates Sep Ruf’s 100th anniversary with a special exhibition opening on 31 July 2008.

Bungalow

Ludwig Erhard's bungalow

Sep Ruf bungalow