Bötzow brewery

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Bötzow brewery

logo
legal form GmbH
founding 1864
resolution 1945
Reason for dissolution War damage and death of the owner family
Seat Berlin
Branch Beverage manufacture and distribution
As of June 8, 2020

The Julius Bötzow brewery was a brewery in the Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg and the largest private brewery in Berlin . It existed from 1864 to 1945. There was space for 6,000 visitors in the brewery's beer garden.

Breweries in Prenzlauer Berg

Until the middle of the 19th century, top-fermented wheat beer was in great demand in Berlin . This changed when the Bavarian “real” bottom-fermented beer became increasingly popular. While around 340,000 hl of wheat beer and 150,000 hl of bottom-fermented beer were still being brewed in Berlin in 1860  , the ratio was reversed in just 15 years.

Since most of the Berlin breweries did not have the necessary know-how and the technical equipment for the bottom-fermented beer, many breweries had to close during this time. Julius Bötzow's family alone owned three breweries, all of which had to close during this time. After the founding of the Empire in 1871, large cities like Berlin began to grow rapidly. The enormous population growth also resulted in a boom in the food and luxury food industry . In the former area of ​​Windmühlenberg alone (later Prenzlauer Berg district ) there were fourteen breweries around 1900:

Bötzow brewery in Prenzlauer Allee around 1900

location

The brewery was located on an area of ​​over 30,000 m² between Prenzlauer Allee 242–247, Metzer Strasse, Straßburger Strasse and Saarbrücker Strasse in what is now known as the Kollwitzkiez residential area. Some buildings have been preserved to this day.

Company history

Julius Bötzow (1871)

On April 13, 1864, the Berlin landowner Julius Bötzow, born in 1839, opened his brewery at Alte Schönhauser Strasse 23/24. He had received this and some start-up capital from his uncle Franz Bötzow, who recognized his nephew's business acumen early on. Julius Bötzow worked intensively on the production and sale of bottom-fermented beer during his apprenticeship with the Schulz District Council in Grüntal . He had extensive renovation work carried out on his uncle's brewery, so the first steam boiler was installed here in a Berlin brewery. Due to the enormous popularity, Bötzow began a few years later on Windmühlenberg in Prenzlauer Allee (parcels 242 to 247) to build a 4000 m² underground storage cellar and a beer garden that could accommodate almost 6000 people . A rococo-style pavilion complemented the offers for visitors. In addition, new factories were built between 1884 and 1891 (in 1887 a larger brewhouse and modern bottled beer) based on plans and under the direction of the architect Gustav Hochgürtel , clad with yellow-red clinker bricks . Bötzow was always one of the first to introduce innovations in his brewery.

In March 1885 beer production started on the Windmühlenberg. Just one year later, Bötzow was the first brewer in the German Empire to call himself “ purveyor to the court of his Majesty the King of Prussia ”. Thanks to its innovative steam boiler, the brewery already had a production capacity of 210,000 hectoliters at that time . A light mail order beer , the dark Nuremberg beer and a light Julherna beer were brewed. The house of the Bötzow family on Prenzlauer Allee was expanded into a splendid villa by 1900 and was also called “Castle in the North” due to its size and splendid furnishings.

At that time the brewery already had two directors, seven accountants and 350 workers and employees.

Brewery premises around 1900
Brewery entrance around 1900

Julius Bötzow realized that the distribution of his beer was particularly important. In addition to the huge beer garden on the Windmühlenberg, there were 10 other specialty bars of the Bötzow brewery, for example the Königshof in Bülowstraße and a bar in the architect's house on Wilhelmstraße , later a splendidly furnished restaurant in the Monopol Hotel in Friedrichstraße and the Bötzow-Stüb'l on Kurfürstendamm .

Shortly before the outbreak of World War I , Julius Bötzow died on July 9, 1914. The brewery was initially run as a general partnership , and from 1918 as a limited partnership . All company shares always remained in the Bötzow family. The heirs had to watch how the beer consumption fell during the war and the malt quotas kept falling .

Liebknecht memorial stone at the Bötzow brewery

In the post-war confusion of 1919, the Revolutionary Committee was founded in the brewery's beer garden, made up of members of the KPD and the USPD, with the help of Karl Liebknecht and Wilhelm Pieck . A memorial stone above the intersection of Prenzlauer Allee and Saarbrücker Straße by the sculptor Otto Maercker from 1959 commemorates this event . The already faded inscription under the Liebknecht portrait reads “Karl Liebknecht - fighter against militarism and war led the revolutionaries' struggles from here Workers and soldiers on January 7th and 8th, 1919 ”.

On October 26, 1923, the Bötzow brewery issued its own emergency money in notes of 10 billion marks . At that time, half a liter of beer cost 500 billion marks. After the First World War , the brewery was completely renovated. The brewery owner had a wort kettle with a capacity of over 600 hectoliters installed in the brewhouse . The bottling plant received the latest automatic machines.

After the unexpected death of Julius in 1926 his brother Hermann - who saw his future more as a colonial ruler in Africa - took over the management. On July 18, 1927, he converted the brewery into a stock corporation , the Josef Bötzow Brauerei-Aktiengesellschaft . This enabled the market leader Schultheiss-Patzenhofer to enter the brand and ultimately to hold the majority of the company shares in the 1930s. Hermann Bötzow continued to run the business. Beer output grew steadily until 1937. The share proceeds were used to support numerous social and cultural projects, including an extensive donation to the Märkisches Museum .

From 1929 the Bötzow-Privat brand was established . In 1938 the brewery was converted back into a limited partnership . Hermann Bötzow, the second oldest son of the founder, acted as a personally liable partner .

Hermann Bötzow was a member of the NSDAP . Nevertheless, he had a nude painting of his wife painted by the Jewish painter Lesser Ury . His wife Ruth Bötzow, who was 20 years his junior, was very much admired by Hitler; they often had contact with each other. It is reported that in April 1933, shortly after Hitler came to power, Bötzow complied with the "timely" requests of his works council: The latter demanded that Bötzow should refrain from supplying juice manufacturer JA Gilka as long as there were people in its management who did not work "Are of purely Aryan descent". Bötzow immediately forwarded the claim to the Gilka company because the Bötzow and Gilka families had been related and friends for two generations. He also had the artist's name painted over on the nude portrait of his wife, which had its place in the family's bedroom, in order to hide his “non-Aryan contacts”. In 1939 there was a big celebration on the occasion of the company's 75th anniversary. Hermann Bötzow emphasized his ties to the “Markische Scholle” and donated a social fund for the workforce.

During the Second World War , large parts of the factory premises were destroyed, including the villa and the bar. Hermann Bötzow killed himself on April 25, 1945. A day later, his wife Ruth went the same way, “for fear of the Soviet soldiers”.

The area between 1945 and 1990

Although some parts were used after 1945 as a brewery (1948/49), warehouses for the VVB fish industry and as a liquor and tobacco store, the beer garden area remained largely fallow for a long time. In 1952 the construction of a kindergarten started. The preserved historical buildings were placed under monument protection at the end of the 1970s.

Since 1990

After 1990, the site changed hands several times. Initially, the area was sold to a company from southern Germany in 1995 for DM 48 million. The company then sold it to Metro AG , which provided a wholesale market with 40,000 square meters of space on the site. Further plans such as a service center or the construction of lofts were never implemented. In 1990 the Berlin Senate took over the monument protection status of the complex.

Remains of the brewery in 2006
Have a good rest! (2011)

At the end of 2010, the entrepreneur Hans Georg Näder bought the 23,400 square meter brewery site. Initial plans as part of a total investment of 100 million euros envisaged the construction of a medical creative center with shopping opportunities in the basement and ground floor area .; cafes, restaurants, boutiques and small shops were planned based on projects in New York and London. A walkway should connect the basement with the ground floor. A hotel and five new buildings were also planned on the site of the former beer garden. The historical structure of the brewery was to be largely preserved. The architects Eric van Geisten and Georg Marfels developed a project for a mixed use of art and cuisine. That is why in 2011 a promising poster over the old entrance announced: Slept in!

Hans Georg Näder, 2013

Master plan 2019

The symbolic start of the renovation work on the former brewery was given as early as 2011, and guided tours of the site were offered during the redesign. Conferences have already taken place in parts of completed buildings, for example the international Ottobock Global Forum 2012 , and art exhibitions have also opened.

On May 21, 2014, Hans Georg Näder presented the 2019 master plan for the area, which was designed by the English architect David Chipperfield . Chipperfield's plans are based on the earlier structure and design of the brewery site, large open spaces are to be retained. In addition, a new beer garden for 1500 visitors including a microbrewery is planned, and three new houses will be built on Prenzlauer Allee. The ensemble is complemented by a public swimming pool and an art house in which Näder will show his art collection. The health company Otto Bock Health Care , named after Otto Bock , will locate its research and development area in the historic brewery buildings and a boutique hotel with rehabilitation lofts for patients will be built in the historic buildings on Saarbrücker Straße. The cellar vaults become a place for manufactories, design and art. There is space for 200 cars in an underground car park. According to the master plan, 250 million euros should flow into the site by the time it is completed in 2019, the year of the 100th company anniversary of Otto Bock Healthcare.

The detailed planning and the management of the work for buildings 1 to 4 were entrusted to DGI Bauwerk-Gesellschaft by Architkten GmbH Berlin . In the second construction phase starting in 2019, several trades have been commissioned with detailed work, including Freese Fußbodentechnik GmbH .

literature

  • 75 years of Julius Bötzow Brewery Berlin. 1864-1939 . Hoppenstedt publishing house, Berlin 1939.
  • Hops & malt. History and perspectives of the brewery locations in the north-east of Berlin . Textpunkt Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-938414-32-4 .

Web links

Commons : Bötzow-Brauerei  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Breweries . In: Address book for Berlin and its suburbs , 1900, IV, p. 23ff.
  2. ^ Hochgürtel, Gustav, architect . In: Address book for Berlin and its suburbs , 1900, I, p. 608.
  3. ↑ 75 years of Julius Bötzow Brewery Berlin. 1864-1939. Hoppenstedt publishing house, Berlin 1939.
  4. ↑ Institute for Monument Preservation (Ed.): The architectural and art monuments of the GDR. Capital Berlin-I . Henschelverlag, Berlin 1984, p. 410 .
  5. ↑ Top hotelier from USA wants to invest in Bötzow brewery In: Berliner Morgenpost , April 26, 2013.
  6. ↑ Kissed awake! With a party for invited guests, Prof. Hans Georg Näder gives the go-ahead for the Bötzow Berlin project. at www.boetzowberlin.de, accessed on June 8, 2020.
  7. ↑ The new master plan for the Bötzow brewery In: Berliner Zeitung , May 21, 2014.
  8. ↑ Homepage of DGI-Bauwerk-Gesellschaft-von-Architekten with details on the Bötzow brewery project , accessed on June 8, 2020.
  9. ↑ Second construction phase of the Bötzow brewery , the source also shows the simulation of Chipperfield for the finished area; accessed on June 8, 2020.

Coordinates: 52 ° 31 ′ 49 ″  N , 13 ° 25 ′ 2 ″  E