A house by the highway, or a house of the highway guard - this is how the word
Chausseehaus can be translated from German. Abbreviated Ch. Hs., ehem Ch.Hs.,
Chs., ehem. Chs. These abbreviations are rarely found on German topographic maps
from the 1930s. Even more rarely, houses by the highway can be seen in person.
The house by the highway was a service room and, at the same time, a home for
the guard and his family. The first houses by the highway began to appear at the
turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, when in Germany there was a massive
Eydtkunen (Chernyshevskoye) through Königsberg to Elbing (Elbląg) and further to
Berlin), carried out already in Soviet times, several highway houses were
demolished.
During
the expansion of the Kaliningrad-Nesterov-Chernyshevskoye highway, several
highway houses were demolished. In particular, such a fate befell the highway
house located south of the village of Poppendorf (Zorino), where highway No. 142
Wehlau (Znamensk) - Allenburg (Druzhba) - Friedland (Pravdinsk) - Bartenstein
(Bartoszyce) - Heilsberg (Lidzbark Warmiński) - Melzak (Pienężno) - Braunsberg
(Braniewo) began from Reichstrasse No. 1.
Mollenen
(Kashtanovka), Samland county. The building of the former house by the highway
housed the post office. Postcard from the beginning of the 20th century. Today,
only an orchard remains on the site of this house by the highway.
Fragment
of a topographic map. 1937.
Just over a dozen former highway houses have survived in the Kaliningrad region.
House
of the highway guard on the right side of the road Zaozerye - Zarechye (Caymen).
August 2016.
Fragment
of a topographic map at a scale of 1:25000. 1937.
House
by the highway near the village of Razdolnoye. It stands on the right side of
the Kaliningrad-Mamonovo road (former Reichstrasse No. 1). August 2016.
Fragment
of a topographic map at a scale of 1:25000. 1930s.
House
by the highway in Ulyanovka. Right side of the Kaliningrad-Mamonovo road. August
2016.
Former
Reichstrasse No. 1 near the village of Podduby (former Auenhof). The house by
the highway survived only because the modern Kaliningrad-Chernyshevskoye road
bypassed the city of Gusev (former Gumbinnen). October 2016.
Fragment
of a topographic map at a scale of 1:25000. 1930s.
Fragment
of a topographic map at a scale of 1:25000. 1937.
One
of several roadhouses on Reichstrasse No. 128, which crosses East Prussia from
north to south from Kranz (Zelenogradsk) via Königsberg to Ortelsburg
(Szczytno), has survived to this day in the village of Sosnovka in the
Zelenograd district. The section of this road from Königsberg to Bartenstein
(Bartoszyce) was completed back in 1830. August 2016.
Fragment
of a topographic map at a scale of 1:25000. 1937.
House
by the highway in the village of Gross-Legitten (Turgenevo). Right shoulder of
Reichstrasse No. 126 Labiau (Polessk) - Königsberg - Morungen (Morong) -
Marienwerder (Kwidzyn). The section from Labiau to Königsberg was built by 1853.
August 2016.
Fragment
of a topographic map. 1930s.
Another
house by the highway on the former Reichstrasse No. 126 has been preserved in
the village of Saranskoye (Laukishken). August 2016.
Fragment
of a topographic map. 1930s.
The
highway guard's house north of the village of Sukhodolye on the road Znamensk
(Wehlau) - Mozyr (Klyayngnie) - Kamenka (Pentlak). August 2016.
Fragment
of a topographic map. 1930s.
House
by the highway in the village of Kamenka (Pentlak) on the eastern side of the
Krylovo-Chernyakhovsk road, former Reichsstrasse No. 139
(Nordenburg-Insterburg). August 2016.
Fragment
of a topographic map at a scale of 1:25000.
The
house of the road guard north of the village of Kurortnoye (Gross-Wonsdorf) on
the road Druzhba (Allenburg) - Pravdinsk (Friedland), former Reichstrasse No.
142 (Wehlau - Allenburg - Friedland - Bartenstein - Heilsberg). August 2016. The
section of the road from Wehlau to Allenburg was built by 1857.
Fragment
of a topographic map. 1930s.
House
by the highway on the road Friendship (Allenburg) - Railway (Gerdauen). August
2016. Former Reichsstrasse No. 141 from Allenburg to Bischofsburg via Gerdauen
and Rastenburg. The Allenburg - Gerdauen section was built in 1850-1854.
Fragment
of a topographic map. 1930s.
In the Polish part of East Prussia, there are also several houses along the
highway. We do not know their exact number, but several surviving highway houses
are shown in the photographs below.
House
by the highway on road no. 591 (former Reichstrasse no. 141), south of Barciany,
at the turnoff to the village of Gumninska. September 2016.
Fragment
of a topographic map. Scale 1:25000.
Former
house by the highway near the village of Garbno (Lamgarben) on the northern side
of road no. 592 (former Reichsstrasse no. 135 Bartenstein - Rastenburg -
Lötzen). September 2016.
House
by the highway along road no. 592 (former Reichsstrasse no. 135) southeast of
Kętrzyn (Rastenburg). September 2016.
Fragment
of a topographic map at a scale of 1:25000.
Advertisement
for the road construction company of Georg Raeder from Wehlau. 1930s.
Tilsit
(Sovetsk). Königsberg highway. 1900s.
The
Gerdauen (Zheleznodorozhny) - Barten (Bartsyany)
highway. Early 1940s.
Highway
in Bischofsburg (Biskupiec).
* Reichsstrasse ( Reichsstraße) -
a name introduced in the Third Reich in 1934, replacing the previous term
Fernverkehrsstraße - a road of national importance. Many of the highways that
existed at that time received their own numbers, and the Reichsstrasse
themselves were designated by yellow plates with road numbers on them. With the
advent of the autobahns, the Reichsstrasse became the second most important
roads in Germany.
Sources:
Wikipedia
Bildarchive
Photo gallery of maps in the German language (maps). — Gotha, 1941.
