The so-called Schwarzenberg estate was built to the east of Mainzer Landstraße (now Mainzer Straße) in the "Unter Schwarzenberg" district, close to the boundary with Biebrich. Here, in 1902/03, the city had two four-storey workers' apartment buildings built at right angles to each other (Block A and B, Gernotstraße 11-15 and 3-9) with a total of 64 apartments. Felix Genzmer drew up the plans for the complex, which originally comprised four blocks of flats.

The residential buildings, also known collectively as workers' homes, were primarily intended for the municipal workers of the water and gas works. From 1905, each apartment had a garden and, after 1914, usually also a small animal shed. The blocks originally had light-colored plastered surfaces and a red brick structure, similar to the workhouse for the poor, which was also built in 1896/97 according to Genzmer's plans and is now the Salvation Army's men's home (Schwarzenbergstraße 7).

A memorial stone was erected in the landscaped rear area of the blocks of flats for the residents who died in the First World War. The plinth bore the inscription: "Erected by the residents of the 'Schwarzenberg' municipal workers' home." In 1953, this stone was replaced by a simpler one with the names of those killed in both world wars and the inscription on the plinth: "Gratitude - the residents of Schwarzenberg". When the buildings were sold in 1989, the memorial stone was moved to the premises of ESWE Versorgungs AG in Weidenbornstraße.