Anyone who talks about resort architecture on the island of Rügen, does not mean the design of bathrooms, but rather this architectural mix, mostly held in white, that is characteristic for the Baltic seaside resorts. The resort architecture is a recent style, it was not until about 200 years ago that the days of bathing began on the island. Back then, the islanders lived on fishing, on chalk extraction, on agriculture and on livestock breeding. Soon another line of business emerged: tourism. The latter developed rather slowly though. The „summer retreat by the sea” remained reserved for the well-heeled city-guests. Where initially princely classical buildings characterised the style, such as the princely Goor Bath House („Badehaus Goor“), built in Lauterbach near Putbus in 1817/18, eventually spread a  mix of styles, each carrying the respective architect’s thumbprint. The first „bathing resort gentleman“ of Sellin in 1866, was supposedly the Berlin author Arnold Wellmer, a true-born Pomeranian, discovered Gerhard Parchow, chronicler of the place. „Yes, I was the bathing resort guest in Sellin – the only High German, and exactly that was the most beautiful part of my hamlet nestled in wood and sea”, wrote Arnold Wellmer in his travel report in the, back then, popular family magazine  “DAHEIM”. Former fishing and farming villages on the Baltic coast became aspiring seaside resorts. Houses had loggias and verandas added, where people looking for relaxation would find shelter and rest and additional space. Eventually white mansions, guesthouses and hotels were built. Sculptures on roofs, playful ornaments on wooden panelling of balconies, white façade structures and light-flooded oriels, all that is what we understand by resort architecture, trademark of the seaside resorts Binz, Sellin, Baabe and Göhren on the coast of Rügen, and also shining bright as the chalk cliffs over the Baltic Sea from the harbour town Sassnitz.

FYI: Each year in May the "Week of resort architecture" takes place in the seaside resort of Binz.