The building shows some nice designs which includes a swan, from which its name is derived. Furthermore several trees flowers and designs can be found on the facade of the building.
The sign at the bottom of the building shows that this building is part of the "Jugendstil weg (route) in Flensburg". It passes many Jugenstil buildings/structures, of which this is one of them.
The text on the plaque reads (luckily to have found a translation online)
"FLENSBURGER Jugendstilweg
NO. 20 Südergraben 31
Probably the most colorful Art Nouveau residential building in Flensburg was built in 1904 by the Flensburger Carpenter Boy Willandsen executed for the C. Nissen family.
Rich Art Nouveau decor is appropriate over three floors. Even the infatuation of Façade with light and dark glazed stones shows a playfulness that is Art Nouveau differs from the "old" style of historicism. Decorate the polygonal bay window large trees, their roots and crowns with green leaves framing the windows serve. The recurring motif of the rose is also borrowed from nature. Here they are Rose bushes, their roots and branches an ornamental framework for the windows form. The year of construction is applied in bold numbers. The right window axis surprises with pictures made of stucco and paint: a swan, Art Nouveau-like with a curved neck, floats on a pond with water lilies and reeds. There is a rising one above it Sun face opposite a dark cloud. Motifs that are more likely to be printed on textiles, glass, Art Nouveau ceramics and graphics. The swan, on innumerable carpets, posters and books, and the sun, like the tree, embody nature and life.
Despite the damage, even the fence shows plant ornamentation. The windows and that Ground floor are altered by later revisions.
It was probably the Nissen family who ran a painting and wallpapering business in their house company, familiar with the latest design trends of Art Nouveau and presented them boldly in their new building."
Source:https://www.flensburg-mobil.de/einrichtungen/flensburger-jugendstilweg-nr-20-24937-flensburg.html
The group of buildings in this street is a Germany National Monument:
"Building group Südergraben 27-47; 1884-1904; Group of ten one- to four-storey residential buildings with representative historic plaster and brick facades in closed and semi-open construction
Justification: historical, artistic, urbanistic
Scope of protection: City villa (Südergraben 27), residential and commercial buildings (Südergraben 29, 39), residential buildings (Südergraben 31 (with enclosure), 33, 35, 37), villa (Südergraben 43), former Sauermann School of Applied Arts (Südergraben 45), Villa Sauermann (Suedergraben 47)"
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About Jugendstil:
"Partaking in the Art Nouveau trends elsewhere in Europe, Jugendstil in Germany revolutionized and popularized modern design and crafts at the turn of the 20th century. The term Jugendstil, meaning "Young Style," was derived from the magazine Die Jugend, and the style tended toward floral motifs, arabesques, and organically inspired lines and eventually moved toward abstraction and functionalism. Importantly, it emphasized workshops, where groups of designers worked with industrialists for mass production to disseminate products.
Jugendstil would become an important touchstone for Expressionists in Germany and Austria who were creating new visions of the modern subject and urban centers as well as later Bauhaus experiments in combining fine and applied arts."
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