At the time, it was considered exemplary and even revolutionary: With the garden settlement Gronauer Wald in Bergisch Gladbach, the paper manufacturer couple Anna and Richard Zanders, influenced by the land reform movement and before the establishment of the German Garden City Society, created a residential area that garnered nationwide attention in the first decades of the 20th century. This study aims to outline the idea and the development of the Gronauer Wald settlement, as well as to describe the individual construction phases of the settlement's history. The development of the residential area will also be placed in its historical context. Finally, the current condition of the residential buildings in the Gronauer Wald settlement will be described, and the issues of protection and preservation of the historical settlement landscape will be addressed.