Askanian place

View of Askanischer Platz to the southeast into Königgrätzer Straße with the Anhalter Bahnhof, around 1910

The Askanische space is located on the Stresemannstrasse in Berlin district of Kreuzberg . The area in front of the former terminus of the Berlin-Anhalt Railway is named as a reminiscence of the Askanians from the Anhalt family. On the southwest side of the square stands the fragment of the portico of the Anhalter Bahnhof , which was damaged or burned out in World War II and blown up in 1959 . Askanischer Platz is divided by Anhalterstrasse and Schöneberger Strasse; Möckernstrasse ends on its southeastern side .

From the cattle market to the station forecourt

Askanischer Platz 1: The hotel "Habsburger Hof", built in 1889, was destroyed in 1945.

Building on Askanischer Platz, 1907

A pavilion of the tourist association was set up for the 1936 Summer Olympics . Behind it on what was then Saarlandstrasse (since 1947: Stresemannstrasse ) the Europa- / Deutschlandhaus complex , April 1936

“Neues Anhalter Tor” (fragment of the portico from the former Anhalter Bahnhof), 2005

For the first station of the Berlin-Anhalter Bahn, which went into operation on July 1, 1841, a new city gate, the Anhalter Tor , was added to the excise wall in 1840 . This was about halfway between the northern Potsdamer Tor and the southern Hallescher Tor at the communication , today's Stresemannstrasse. The square in front of the Anhalter Tor received its current design after the fall of the toll wall, which was torn down in 1867.

The official naming for the area, which rose from the cattle market to the station forecourt, took place as early as 1844. In addition to the reference to the railway line, the name should also remind of the Brandenburg line of the Ascanians, who founded the Mark Brandenburg in 1157 with Albrecht the Bear and until it died out in the year Had ruled in 1320. The Ascanian margraves Johann I and Otto III. had also specifically promoted the expansion of the later twin cities of Berlin - Cölln in the 13th century . The surrounding streets were also named after the cities of Bernburg , Dessau and Köthen in Anhalt to match the train station . The Askanische Gymnasium was founded in Halleschen Strasse in 1875 (both the square and the school were initially called "Ascanisch").

The urban area around the lively Anhalter Bahnhof on Askanischer Platz between Potsdamer Platz and Belle-Alliance-Platz (since 1947: Mehringplatz ) was a coveted Berlin address. In the immediate vicinity of the house at Schöneberger Strasse 33 (now: No. 19), the place where the later global corporation was founded, Siemens & Halske AG built the house Askanischer Platz 3 between 1899 and 1901 for its central administration and planning departments, based on a concept by Karl Janisch the relocation of the Siemens headquarters at the Nonnendamm in later Siemensstadt said part of Spandau bought 1912 Accumulatoren-Fabrik AG (AFA, 1962 in VARTA renamed) the building for three million marks for its corporate headquarters. A large neon sign “Varta starter battery - Pertrix light battery” was later installed on the roof .

Opposite the train station, the “ Europahaus ” and “ Deutschlandhaus ” building complex was built in the New Building style from 1926 on what was then Königgrätzer Strasse (from 1935 Saarlandstrasse, since 1947 Stresemannstrasse) according to designs by the architects Bielenberg & Moser . The five-storey Deutschlandhaus was completed in the 1920s. Richard Bielenberg died in 1929 and Josef Moser (1872–1963) and Otto Firle were responsible for the construction of the eleven-story Europahaus (completion in 1931) . In the 1930s, the complex housed the “Europe Dance Pavilion”, ballrooms, cafes, the Hofbräuhaus “Augustiner-Keller”, a palm restaurant and the cinema “Europa-Palast” with 2000 seats.

The dominant building, however, was the imposing station hall of the new Anhalter Bahnhof, inaugurated in 1880 . This was badly damaged in World War II and torn down in 1959/1960. The fragment of the portico (“Neues Anhalter Tor”, Askanischer Platz 6/7) that was left standing when the hall was blown up in 1959 was not removed as a result of public protests and is now a listed building as the last relic of the once important building .

After being destroyed in the war, it was rebuilt with sober architecture

1945: View to the northwest of the square with the Deutschlandhaus on the right, behind it the Europahaus , on the left of the center of the picture the ruins of the AFA administration

The Askanischer Platz 3 building used to be the headquarters of Siemens & Halske AG , then AFA headquarters and has been the publishing house of Tagesspiegel since 2009

The almost completely destroyed and formerly richly decorated administration building of the AFA was rebuilt in a greatly simplified manner. A Varta sales house was still located there in the mid-1980s . Up until 2000, the Oberfinanzdirektion Berlin used the former headquarters of Siemens and AFA. In October 2009, the Tagesspiegel publishing house and its daughter papers zitty and second hand moved into the house together with the editorial staff of Zeit Online . All of them belong to the Holtzbrinck publishing house .

After the magnificent architecture had disappeared, the sobriety of modernity returned around the square . One of its representatives is the office and residential building built in 1997 by the architects Hentrich , Petschnigg & Partner (HPP) on the corner plot of Askanischer Platz / Schöneberger Straße. The building shows two faces: the vertical structure through French windows characterizes the front on Schöneberger Straße, while the windows on the facade facing the square, which are combined to form horizontal bands, show a classic office building architecture (with even lighting of the office rooms). The green terraces of two-story maisonette apartments emerge from between protruding stair towers .

Tempodrom

The New Tempodrom , which was completed in 2002 on the site of the former Anhalter Bahnhof, has given urban development in the district an unmistakable boost. Hotels have sprung up like mushrooms in recent years; the Berliner Morgenpost spoke of a "spirit of optimism" and reported:

“Only last week the 'Federal Central Employee Health Insurance Fund' announced the move to Askanischer Platz, the Federal Environment Ministry is building on the corner of Stresemann- and Erna-Berger-Strasse, and the new 'Documentation Center for Expellees' is moving to the ' German House ' at the Corner of Stresemann- / Anhalter Straße "

- Berliner Morgenpost from January 4, 2008

The current trend was already indicated in the renovation of the Europahaus in the immediate vicinity (Stresemannstrasse 92) carried out between 1998 and 2000 . The listed three-part building ensemble from the 1920s houses, among other things, the main administration of the Ministry of Development , a contact point of the Robert Koch Institute as well as the Waterways and Shipping Directorate East.