Riga zeppelin hangers

[Sgt Stripes]

Hi. On a recent visit to Riga Latvia I went to see the Zeppelin hangers now a unesco world heritage site. I could not find out any information on then before 1922 apart that  they were built by the Germans. Were they built in WW1 and were Zeppelins ever housed in the hangers. Many thanks

[Aspern]

The Zeppelin sheds were originally built at the Wainoden airship base in the Courland region. The two sheds were named Walther and Walhalla. Walther was completed on May 1916 and Walhalla in October the same year. At various times the base was home to Zeppelins L 35 (20 Dec  1916 - 2 Jan  1917), L 37 (7 Aug 1917 - 19 Sep 1917) and L 38 (20 Dec 1916 - 29 Dec 1916). After Strasser lost L 38 due to the bad weather in the region he withdrew his Zeppelins and after that only berthed his less-favoured Schutte-Lanz airships there. SL 8 was there (23 Sep 1916 - 3 Oct 1916 and 16 Jan 1917 - 25 Jan 1917 and 10 June 1917 - 27 June 1917. SL 9 was based there four times (24 Jul 1916 - 26 Jul 1916,  & 21 Oct 1916 - 10 Nov 1916, & 29 Jan 1917 - 30 Jan 1917, & 13 Feb 1917 - 27 Feb 1917). SL 14 was there (4 Sep 1916 - 8 Sep 1916, & 17 Nov 1916 - 18 Dec 1916, & 22 Mar 1917 - 9 May 1917).

 

After the war, in the 1920s, the winning design for the new market in Riga incorporated the re-use of the Zeppelin sheds. In fact only the roofs were used the rest of the market buildings incorporated new materials.

 

Ian

[Sgt Stripes]

Many thanks. This is the first information I have on these sheds. I even went to the powder museum in Riga which is the Latvian war museum but when I ask the question I just received a shake of the head and a blank look.