Old fire station (Mannheim)
The old fire station in Mannheim is a cultural center in a historic fire station . The building complex is located near the Neckar and was the central fire station of the city of Mannheim from 1912 .
history
The Mannheim main fire station was located in the city center at the end of the 19th century on the site of the municipal building yard in squares U 2 / U 3. In 1910, the municipal building department decided to build a new building on the strategically more strategic northern bank of the Neckar. In the 1970s, the main fire station was relocated to a new location in the Lindenhof district , south of the main train station . The building of the old fire station was to give way to a fourth high-rise tower in the north of the Neckar bank development and was therefore to be demolished.
Musikwerkstatt Alte Hauptfeuerwache eV
First of all, the “Cultural Policy” working group of the Mannheim Jusos (Werner Göbel, Helmut and Ute Mocker and others) developed a concept for using the building as a “communal communication center” with a socio-cultural program for all strata of the population and age groups. A concept that did not meet with the expected response. In contrast, the citizens' initiative “Musikwerkstatt Alte Hauptfeuerwache e. V. ”supported by journalists from the local daily newspaper“ Mannheimer Morgen ”- for example by Dieter Preuss, who has since died - and chaired by insurance broker Gert Peter Schulz, bassist of the rock'n'roll group“ Just for Fun ”, the concept of a exclusive use as a music workshop.
While the historic building was empty and falling into disrepair, concerts were held every Saturday in the fire station's vehicle hall behind it - a sober functional building from the 1960s. Entry was free. The events were financed through beverage sales: two thirds of the profits went to the respective band, one third to the event to cover costs. Within a very short time, the fire station became an unparalleled cultural center. It established itself as a crowd puller for the entire Rhine-Neckar area .
It was a musically creative time: the upper floor of the unused vehicle hall with its numerous small rooms offered sufficient rehearsal rooms for musicians. The “fire station” became a meeting point for musicians and a melting pot from which numerous bands and formations of all musical genres emerged. Ultimately, the Mannheim Pop Academy, founded in 2000, also has its roots in this creative phase.
The fire station engagement provided the initial spark for numerous other cultural initiatives in Mannheim. The listed Capitol cinema in Waldhofstrasse, around 300 meters away, for example, was saved from demolition due to a similar initiative. The driving force here was Matthias Graupner. In contrast to the non-profit music workshop, it carried out events with a commercial background, but this did not detract from the matter. The loss-making cinema had found a new use. Demolition plans were no longer an issue. During this time Graupner founded the city magazine Meier together with his partner Regine Portele .
After the historic main building of the fire station had been placed under monument protection - also under the considerable pressure of the Mannheim population - the demolition plans came off the table. The city administration decided to convert the fire station into a cultural center. Cost: 21 million marks. The main building was not only renovated, rather new ceilings were put in, and the inside of the building was completely rebuilt.
Kulturzentrum Alte Hauptfeuerwache
On May 9, 1981, was finally Cultural Old Central Fire Station was inaugurated. Since then, the main building has served as a cultural center, and the vehicle hall in which the concerts took place, which was not listed - and also not worth preserving - had had its day, was torn down and gave way to the third and last of the three high-rise buildings. The city of Mannheim appointed a house manager: he was supposed to coordinate the activities of the various cultural initiatives that settled in the house.
At the beginning of the 1990s, this structure showed clear weaknesses. The activities lost their charisma, most of the voluntary initiatives dissolved. At the beginning of the new millennium, the position of house manager was given extensive competencies. Today the Alte Feuerwache has actually developed into a socio-cultural center under municipal sponsorship with a renowned program primarily for jazz and contemporary rock and pop music . Today, the range of services offered by the fire station can keep up with comparable facilities in major German cities. Since 2001, the Alte Feuerwache has been the most important Mannheim venue for one of the most important German jazz festivals Enjoy Jazz . Sören Gerhold has been the managing director since October 2012.
The center, which was previously subordinate to the cultural office of the city of Mannheim, was released into the independence of a non-profit company ( gGmbH ) in 2005 in order to obtain more freedom. The company receives a municipal subsidy, which in 2005 amounted to 590,000 euros, around one third of the annual budget. Various cultural facilities can still be found in the building today: rehearsal rooms for bands, the children's and youth theater of the Schnawwl National Theater , workshops of the district association of visual artists (BBK), the free radio bermuda.funk , offices of the cultural office of the city of Mannheim and artist apartments.
The Alte Feuerwache received an award in 2013 for its live music program and received the German venue award from Minister of State Bernd Neumann .
architecture
Architect Richard Perrey (including the Humboldt School, Municipal Hospital today Mannheim University Hospital , Herschelbad ) planned the Art Nouveau building. The 42 meter high neo-baroque hose tower is characteristic of the Alte Feuerwache .
literature
- City of Mannheim (Hrsg.): Kulturzentrum Alte Hauptfeuerwache . Mannheim 1981.
- Volker Keller: The old main fire station in Mannheim. History of a building , in: Mannheimer Hefte 1980, H. 1, S. 3553
Web links
- Alte Feuerwache cultural center
- Old fire station Mannheim. Rhein-Neckar industrial culture, accessed on February 7, 2015 .
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 49 ° 30 ' N , 8 ° 28' E