Old fire station (Berlin-Friedrichshain)

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Old fire station

The Alte Feuerwache in the Friedrichshain district of Berlin's Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district has been used by the youth club Feuerwache (entrance on the left) and the Kulturhaus alte feuerwache Friedrichshain (entrance on the right) since 1998 .

The preserved areas of the ground floor of the "Memel" fire station built in 1884, after 1945 the "Weberwiese" fire brigade base, have been renovated in accordance with historical monuments and integrated into the building, which was converted into a cultural center from 1995–1998.

The communal cultural center alte feuerwache Friedrichshain, which offers exhibitions, events, courses and projects, has an exhibition and project room and the studio stage on the 2nd floor. The Kulturhaus belongs to the Department of Culture and History of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg District Office.

The youth club Feuerwache on the first floor offers a varied program for children and young people from 12 years. This communal youth facility is run by the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg District Office, Youth, Family and Sports Department.

history

In 1884 the old fire station was put into operation as the "Memel" fire station in what was then Memeler Strasse 39 (today Marchlewskistrasse 6). It served as the service building of the 52nd police station and location of the Berlin professional fire brigade with accommodation and depot for mobile hand pressure syringes, machine ladders and water trucks. The Marchlewskistraße was called Memeler Straße until 1950 .

The three-storey kinker facing building with five gates and terracotta reliefs in the neo-renaissance style is one of the eight fire stations for whose design the then Berlin city planning officer Hermann Blankenstein was responsible. It is a so-called second generation satellite guard, which supplemented the five central guards after the establishment of the Berlin professional fire department.

What did a Berlin fire station look like in 1896?

Section VII “Buildings of the Berlin Municipal Administration” in the book “Berlin and its Buildings, Part II” from 1896 provides information:

“The most important rooms in every fire station are: the coach houses for the vehicles that are always ready, with entrance gates directly on the street; the stables in which the horses are constantly harnessed; The guard rooms for the teams, which currently mostly consist of a communal guard room and bedroom, but which are intended to be separated for the future, and finally the service apartments for the fire inspectors and fire chiefs as well as for the sergeants and chief fire fighters ... still available in every train guard, if possible: workshops for smaller locksmith and carpentry work, special driver's rooms, bathing rooms for the crews, special feeding areas and open wooden sheds for better drying of the litter ... " (The spelling has been adapted to current use.)

On a historical postcard from 1926 (Klaus Dietz archive), the fire engine in front of the Memel fire station is motorized. The Berlin fire brigade had no more horses in operation since 1922. In the Friedrichshain book "Der Berliner Osten" from 1930 it proudly states: "Every resident of the east of Berlin can find out about the excellent technical development and the current status of the fire brigade by visiting the fire brigade Memeler Strasse 39 (Alexander 5422)."

In 1945, at the end of the Second World War , the building of the old fire station was so badly damaged by fire bombs that only the ground floor remained after the war. The house was given an emergency roof in 1946 and was used as a fire brigade base at Weberwiese from 1948 to 1955 . With the opening of the new Friedrichshain fire station on Rüdersdorfer Straße, operations were stopped.

From 1955, the building served the neighboring furniture factory VEB Edelholzbau Berlin (Fruchtstrasse 37, later Strasse der Pariser Kommune) as a storage room and veneer workshop.

The veneer workshop was relocated from the cellar of the Fruchtstrasse 37 factory building to the old fire station. The old fire station was rebuilt in 1955/1956 for the new use. Machines for cutting veneer - veneer saw and guillotine shears - were set up in the former car hall. Later, a second, even larger pair of scissors was installed, which is why a column had to be removed. On the western ground floor was glued.

The entrances to Marchlewskistraße were closed. Access was via the factory premises from Fruchtstrasse or through a gate on Hildegard-Jadamowitz-Strasse to the courtyard of the old fire station.

With the formation of the combine intercor VEB Inneneinrichtungskombinat Berlin , to which VEB Edelholzbau Berlin also belonged, the veneer cutting of the combine companies was merged in the old fire station in 1969.

With the move of the combine to Marzahn in 1989/90, the location Straße der Pariser Kommune 37 and Alte Feuerwache were given up.

Description of the structure

Of the three-storey building built in 1884 for the Friedrichshain fire brigade according to plans by Hermann Blankenstein , only the ground floor with its historic brick facade and the characteristic arched car exits has been preserved and restored in accordance with the requirements of a listed building.

The courtyard area that used to belong to the building no longer exists. On the left side of the building was originally a narrow workshop and stable building. The chief fire fighter as well as the coachman and mechanic also lived there. Later there was a hose and tool shed with a spiral staircase on the left and a workshop in a wooden hut on the right in the courtyard.

The building was rebuilt from 1995–1998 by the architects Wörle & Partner (Munich) and another storey was added. The facade of the first and second floors is clad with large light-colored tiles and the new roof is designed as a barrel vault. This gives the building the appearance of a railway carriage from a distance .

Use since 1998

The topping-out ceremony took place on November 5, 1997, and the old fire station Friedrichshain was inaugurated on September 5, 1998, followed by the youth club a little later.

When the Kulturhaus opened in 1998, some cultural institutions moved in that had previously been domiciled at other locations in Friedrichshain.

Friedrichshain local history museum

The Heimatmuseum Friedrichshain, which was built in the 1980s in Bersarinstraße 68 (ground floor) as a home history cabinet and from 1991 in the high-rise Lichtenberger Straße 41 (ground floor), received archive rooms on the first floor for its collection and the historic car hall on the ground floor as an exhibition space.

The director of the Heimatmuseum Friedrichshain Heike Abraham (later Heike Naumann) and her colleague Katrin Müller sketched the history of its origins in 1991: “Only with a view to the upcoming 750th anniversary did the historical awareness awaken. Efforts were made to set up a local history cabinet. The basis was a collection of various documents, books and photos that were collected by a school director in the 1960s. For years this collection was housed in the basement of the school building on Pettenkoferstraße. In 1983 it was relocated to Bersarinstrasse 68, where the Heimatgeschichtliche Kabinett was built in the following years ... Due to the small space available in Bersarinstrasse, the exhibition possibilities were also limited. Completely different opportunities have recently emerged, because the Heimatmuseum has had new premises available since December 1990: in Lichtenberger Straße, near the Jannowitzbrücke ... on the ground floor of a high-rise in the middle of a new building area ... "

And that was her vision for the future: “Although the Heimatmuseum now has much more exhibition and work space available (approx. 150m² in total), this cannot yet be seen as the final solution. The museum would be better housed in a building that embodies the history of Friedrichshain ... “ This vision came true for her when the local history museum moved into the old fire station in 1998.

In the following years changing exhibitions were shown here. Accompanying brochures were published for some. The opening exhibition presented "Friedrichshain Brewery History". This was followed in 1999 "The East Side Gallery", 2000 "Friedrichshain Settlement and City History", 2001 "On Water and Rails - Friedrichshain Transport Routes", "Helen Ernst - Stations of an Artist", 2002 "Disappeared Friedrichshain - Buildings and Monuments in East Berlin ". An important advisor and author was the local researcher Jan-Michael Feustel, also known for his publications on Friedrichshain's history .

After the merger of Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg in 2001, it was decided to merge the local history collections of the former districts in the Kreuzberg Museum at Adalbertstraße 95a. The move was completed in 2004. Until then, the museum had exhibitions in the old fire station, some of them on the first floor.

Friedrichshain Cultural Office

In 1998, the Friedrichshain Cultural Office moved to the 2nd floor, where the management can be found today. The Office for Further Education and Culture is currently located in the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Town Hall, Frankfurter Allee 35–37.

studiobühne / theater Narrow towel

The Schmales Handtuch theater , previously at Frankfurter Allee 91, received the large hall on the 2nd floor and was renamed studiobühne in 2003 . Theater and dance performances, music events and readings for children and adults take place here.

Creative workshop bald box

The creative workshop Glatzkasten from Glatzer Strasse was given its room on the first floor for a few years in 1998.

Coffee shop

When the Kulturhaus opened, a café was opened on the southwest ground floor , decorated with fire brigade utensils, which no longer exists.

project space / municipal art rental

In 2001, the municipal art rental agency moved to the Wagenhalle on the ground floor. The project room has been located here since 2003 . It was opened on January 16, 2003 with Lutz Körner's photo exhibition “Yesterday and Today - Changes in Friedrichshain” and offers a platform for local and Berlin artists, exhibitions on socio-cultural topics and cultural education projects

Youth club fire station

The Tabu youth club (Gubener Straße 5) set up its premises on the first floor of the Alte Feuerwache and moved in as the Feuerwache youth club in September 1998. All rooms on the first floor have been available to him since 2005. This could z. B. The dance room and recording studio are newly furnished.

Staircase gallery

In September 2018, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the building, a staircase gallery with historical, partly large-format pictures on the history of the old fire station was opened (draft and design: Susanne Ahner, image rights | Archives: Feuerwehrmuseum Berlin, Klaus Dietz, FHXB- Museum, Landesdenkmalamt Berlin (Franziska Schmidt / Wolfgang Bittner), Förderverein Museum Kesselhaus Herzberge eV | Photos: Susanne Ahner, Inge Blohm, Fritz Wollenberg).

literature

  • Kulturhaus alte feuerwache Friedrichshain: Chronicle of the Alte Feuerwache in the stairwell gallery of the Kulturhaus (text and editing: Susanne Ahner, Marion Jarosch, Kerstin Ottersberg), Berlin 2018
  • Architects Association of Berlin and Association of Berlin Architects (ed.): Berlin and its buildings, Vol. II and III Building construction, Wilhelm Ernst & Sohn, Berlin 1896, p. 129
  • Willi Gensch, Dr. Hans Liesigk, Hans Michaelis (editor): Der Berliner Osten, Berliner Handelsdruckerei, Berlin 1930, p. 233
  • Horst Dembny, manuscript: "Alarm 333 for the Memel fire station 08/11/99 - childhood memories of the 30s and 40s"
  • Ralf Schmiedecke: Berlin-Friedrichshain. The archive images series. Sutton Verlag, Erfurt 2006, ISBN 3-86680-038-X , p. 76
  • Ralf Schmiedecke: Berlin fire brigade. The archive images series. Sutton Verlag, Erfurt 2009, ISBN 978-3-86680-188-2 , p. 66
  • Landesdenkmalamt Berlin (Ed.): Monuments in Berlin, Friedrichshain district, Landesdenkmalamt Berlin and Nicolaische Verlagsbuchhandlung Beuermann GmbH, Berlin 1996, pp. 95, 97
  • Working Group Berlin Regional Museums (ed.): New Paths in City History - East Berlin Local Museums and Collections, Berlin 1991, pp. 11-18

Web links

References and comments

  1. ↑ In the staircase exhibition of the Kulturhaus from 2018, the photo of the old Berlin fire brigade of the Memel fire station in 1908 from the archive of the Berlin Fire Brigade Museum and the photo of the courtyard with workshop and stable building in 1908 from the archive of Klaus Dietz are shown. In both photos the five archways can be seen from the courtyard. The photo of the ruins of the Memel fire station after 1945 from the archive of the Berlin Fire Brigade Museum shows some archways, including the fifth from the street. Many photos only show the 4 gates of the carriage hall, and in many publications only 4 gates are mentioned. But even today the fifth same archway can be seen to the right of the 4 gates. It is important for the facade structure. The newly designed entrance to the Kulturhaus is located here, which leads into a passage from which the project room (formerly the carriage hall) on the left, the stairwell on the right and the area behind the building (formerly the courtyard) can be reached.
  2. ↑ Architects Association of Berlin and Association of Berlin Architects (ed.): Berlin and its buildings, Vols. II and III Building construction, Wilhelm Ernst & Son, Berlin 1896, p. 129
  3. ↑ Willi Gensch, Dr. Hans Liesigk, Hans Michaelis (editor): Der Berliner Osten, Berliner Handelsdruckerei, Berlin 1930, p. 233
  4. ↑ Horst Dembny, manuscript: "Alarm 333 for the Memel fire station 08/11/99 - childhood memories of the 30s and 40s". The manuscript is in the FHXB Museum
  5. ↑ https://berlin.kauperts.de/eintrag/Berufsfeuerwache-Friedrichshain-1200-Ruedersdorfer-Strasse-57-10243-Berlin
  6. ↑ In the staircase exhibition of 2018, the photo workshop in the former carriage hall, June 1995, is shown by the Landesdenkmalamt (Franziska Schmidt).
  7. ↑ Dieter Krasny, Hans J. Lehmann, Holger Ober: intercor - VEB Inneneinrichtungskombinat Berlin, self-published by the authors, Berlin 2016, pp. 16, 41
  8. ↑ Horst Dembny, manuscript: "Alarm 333 for the Memel fire station 08/11/99 - childhood memories of the 30s and 40s"
  9. ↑ Berlin Regional Museums Working Group (Ed.): New Paths in City History - East Berlin Local Museums and Collections, Berlin 1991, p. 11
  10. ↑ Berlin Regional Museums Working Group (ed.): New Paths in City History - East Berlin Local Museums and Collections, Berlin 1991, p. 16
  11. ↑ Berlin Regional Museums Working Group (ed.): New Paths in City History - East Berlin Local Museums and Collections, Berlin 1991, p. 18

Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 58.5 ″  N , 13 ° 26 ′ 32 ″  E