House of Friendship (Rostock)
The House of Friendship in Rostock (colloquially: HdF , since 2008 Peter-Weiss-Haus ) is one of the lesser-known, albeit culturally and historically particularly interesting monuments of the Hanseatic city. It is located at Doberaner Straße 21 in the immediate vicinity of Doberaner Platz in the Kröpeliner-Tor-Vorstadt near the city center . The building, which was erected and expanded in several stages from the 1860s, was listed as a historical monument in 2000. Together with the ruins of the former malt factory opposite (most recently Anker Spirituosen) and an adjoining sanatorium (women's, eye and ear, nose and throat clinic), which is still used as a hospital today, it is part of an ensemble of semi-representative functional buildings of the late 19th century, which at that time had been built next to the actual city.
Naming
The name HdF, which is still in use, has been used since the 1950s and refers to the official name " House of German-Soviet Friendship ". As such, it served the cultural exchange between the former GDR and the former Soviet Union, whereby in individual cases less political agitation than an ongoing event profile to cover the cultural needs of the population was in the foreground. Around 1948 the building was also known for a short time as the “ Maxim Gorki House”.
history
The structure to be found was built in three sections between the 1860s and 1930s. Important participants were the architects Gotthilf Ludwig Möckel in the 1890s (also Ständehaus in Rostock ) and Walter Butzek in the 1930s. A storage cellar that preceded the construction is still available today as a basement and is the oldest part of the building. It was incorporated into the “Steinbecks Keller” excursion restaurant, which opened in 1864, and built over. At that time there were no technical cooling systems. Ice embarked over the nearby Warnow was brought into the cellar and kept it cold for months. The first structural system of a restaurant consisted of a hall building with a stage and bar, as well as a towering tower with a glazed viewing floor. Slightly set back from the street, these buildings were surrounded by verandas and arcades, which led into a “concert garden” on the east side. The building was located at the corner of the brewery complex west of the old town, the development of the Kröpeliner-Tor-Vorstadt was just beginning.
In 1884 the Mahn & Ohlerich company took over the Steinbecksche Brewery. Around 1890, the complex was expanded to include neo-Gothic additions, in particular a further two-story hall with a ceiling structure visible from the inside. The so-called “Möckelsaal” redraws the gable that is still unmistakable today towards the street - the previously dominant tower receded in its effect. Gotthilf Möckel is responsible for the interior design of the hall. Although complete construction documents are missing, the Rostock Monument Office assumes that Möckels will be involved in all interventions in this construction phase.
In the course of an expansion of the brewery between 1936 and 1938 by Walter Butzek, the excursion restaurant was subjected to further renovations. The old large hall from 1864, which previously protruded deep into the property, was demolished to make room for a new boiler house. The newly constructed cinema hall was rotated by 90 degrees and placed on the remaining structure. The arcades were also torn down and replaced by additional extensions. As the person responsible for the industrial-style functional buildings on the brewery site, Butzek was also able to apply his classically modern expression, which at that time was limited to industrial buildings, to the structure of the excursion restaurant. The now found compact, yet loosely-seeming joining of the construction sections was completed by Butzek in a professional manner and completing the high level of Möckel. Butzek's plan templates have largely been preserved and are available in the Rostock building archive.
After 1938 there must have been further renovations, which obviously went hand in hand with a drastic simplification of the street gable at the Möckelsaal, as well as the removal of the railing on the eastern extensions from 1938 at the foot of the tower. Various openings have been closed and internal access has been simplified. The period and scope of these measures can no longer be determined, apart from the traces mentioned, in the absence of documentation. According to photographic sources, the renovations took place before 1960, not in the course of the last major renovation measures between 1975 and 1977. By 1990, numerous structural fixtures were added to the interior (including massive cold rooms). During the long period of use as a cultural center, the interior fittings in numerous rooms were supplemented with jewelry and paneling, such as a wall-filling map of the Soviet Union with important sites of socialist production. Various lead glass works with an artistic focus on productive people are striking.
Peter Weiss House
In January 2009 the " Peter Weiss Haus eV" bought the building including the adjoining former "Concertgarten" in order to operate it as an independent educational and cultural center. The now "Peter-Weiss-Haus" will be completely renovated in connection with the new use. In the Peter-Weiss-Haus is the Verein Soziale Bildung eV with the "Open Child and Youth Work" for the Rostock city center districts "Mitte" and "Kröpeliner-Tor-Vorstadt" and the educational area. The state association of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania of the Federation of German Scouts is also located in the Peter-Weiss-Haus. Since January 2010 the Peter-Weiss-Haus has also been the seat of the Rostock Literature House in the network of German-language literature houses . As part of the cultural management of the property, Subraum eG was spun off in May 2009 - it has been managing parts of the building commercially since the end of 2009 and supports the work of the local non-profit organizations. The Peter-Weiss-Haus cooperates in addition to the joint work with those responsible for youth, educational and cultural work on site, especially supraregional in the program focuses on documentation and theater work.
Web links
- Website of the Peter-Weiss-Haus Rostock
- Website of the Rostock Literature House
- Website of the network of literature houses
- Website of Soziale Bildung eV (open child and youth work in Rostock)
- Website of the subspace cooperative in the Peter-Weiss-Haus
Coordinates: 54 ° 5 '17.8 " N , 12 ° 7' 22.7" E