Kulturbrauerei

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The Kulturbrauerei seen from the intersection of Schönhauser Allee / Sredzkistraße

The Kulturbrauerei in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg is a 25,000 m² building ensemble . The former brewery in Kollwitzkiez ( Pankow district ) with its courtyards and unique architecture has been a listed building since 1974 . It is one of the few well-preserved monuments of industrial architecture in Berlin from the end of the 19th century.

Today it is operated commercially by TLG Immobilien as a cultural center . There you will find cinemas , theaters , discos and event rooms .

history

Foundation and takeover

The pharmacist August Heinrich Prell took over the taproom of his father-in-law, the distiller Claude, at Neue Jakobstrasse 26 in 1842 and founded a small brewery. His bottom-fermented beer, made in the cellar, was sold on site in a bar. Since there were no further storage options with the low groundwater level, Prell rented storage cellars at Schönhauser Allee 39, which had been built there by the master brewer Wagner. After the company's founder died in 1863, Jobst Schultheiss took over the company completely; but only until he had to sell the flourishing business to the merchant and purveyor to the court Adolf Roesicke for 210,000 thalers in 1864 for health reasons . His son Richard Roesicke took over the management of the brewery and Johann Mathias Beck took over the technical side. The company now traded under the name "Ad. Roesicke'sche Lagerbier-Brauerei", with its administrative headquarters first in Vossstrasse and later on Königsplatz.

Through extensive modernization and expansion - among other things, the area was expanded from two to twelve acres of land - the medium-sized company grew into a large industrial brewery. Production and the headquarters have now finally been relocated to Schönhauser Allee. The German-Dutch Actien-Bauverein also played a significant role in the success of the Schultheiss brewery . This increased the demand for his area through his own construction activity and corresponding self-sufficiency with building materials. For example, the bricks were burned in their own kiln near today's Helmholtzplatz . The ring railway and its own rail network made it possible to deliver raw materials to the construction sites quickly and cheaply. Thus the residential quarters expanded and the catchment area for the brewery's products expanded enormously. In 1871 the company was converted into a stock corporation and became the Schultheiss' Brauerei Aktien-Gesellschaft .

Extensions

The first major expansion of this Schultheiss brewery was the construction of a new brewhouse in Franseckistraße, today's Sredzkistraße, in 1871–73 . When the district was connected to the water supply in 1874 and three years later received its own water network, an important prerequisite for brewing beer was ensured. In order to maintain the storage cellar temperatures required for the beer, the breweries were still dependent on natural ice cooling until 1882/83. The purchase of a refrigeration machine and the mechanical cold it generated represented a great innovation and was unique in this form in modern brewing technology in Germany. The refrigerated warehouses that became free as a result could now be converted into urgently needed warehouses.

Expansion and renovation by Franz Schwechten

The architect of large parts of the former Schultheiss brewery: Franz Schwechten

In order to give the strongly expanded brewery - which now had an area of ​​25,000 m² due to the purchase of additional plots - a cohesive appearance, the well-known Berlin architect Franz Schwechten was commissioned to plan the expansion, conversion and new construction of the area. Based on the model of a medieval castle with various courtyards, the first drafts were presented in 1887 for the fermentation rooms and storage cellars to the east of the brewhouse - with the gable fronts facing east along Franseckistrasse - and also for the loading hall to the north.

fusion

In 1891 the brewery merged with the then largest competitor in the south of Berlin, the Tivoli brewery . And then rose to the largest brewery in Germany with 43 defeats with ice cellars, 19 bars, 65 railway wagons, 533 wagons and 537 horses. The parent company in Schönhauser Allee was named Department I and supplied the north of Berlin. From then on, the former Tivoli brewery designated as Department II was responsible for the south .

Further extensions and modifications

According to Schwechten's plans, a representative bar was built in 1892, which became a popular excursion destination for Berliners and guests of the city. Shortly before the turn of the century in 1898, the design of the facade to Tresckowstraße as well as the Pich- and Schwankhalle were completed and the northern workshop rooms were converted into horse stables.

Share of the “Schultheiss-Patzenhofer Brauerei-Aktiengesellschaft” in Berlin from 1932

Another milestone in the history of the Schultheiss brewery was the merger with the "Patzenhofer-Brauerei-AG" in 1920. The merger resulted in the "Schultheiss-Patzenhofer Brauerei-Aktiengesellschaft" with its headquarters in Schönhauser Allee.

Structural changes to the old boiler and machine house were carried out between 1925 and 1930. It was partially demolished in order to later replace it with a three-storey building with high and low bunkers. Furthermore, parts of the production facility were converted into office space.

The brewery under the National Socialists

During the Nazi dictatorship in 1937 the company was named a " National Socialist Model Company " and one year later it was run as a military business. During the Second World War , prisoners of war were used for transport and auxiliary work. From 1942, Ukrainian female forced laborers were employed in the underground cellars for the production of armaments by Telefunken . During the battle for Berlin in the last days of the war, the staff of Command Section H of the "Fortress Berlin" holed up in one of the underground cellars, numerous deserters and residents who hoisted the white flag were shot.

The brewery's buildings survived the war relatively unscathed, so that brewery operations could quickly be resumed. By order of the occupying forces on October 30, 1945, the company was confiscated and continued as a Soviet stock corporation (SAG) until it was converted into the VEB Schultheiss-Brauerei Schönhauser Allee .

The end of the brewery

1967 saw the definitive end of brewery operations. The wear and tear on the system could not be stopped, so production on the site was stopped and the machinery was dismantled. Some of the buildings were temporarily used by a furniture wholesale market and as a sports casino. From then on, the beers of the VEB Schultheiss brewery were produced in Leninallee .

Because of its unique architecture, the brewery complex was placed under protection in 1974 . After the political change in 1990, the Treuhandanstalt took over the site, which was threatened with decay. A year later the cultural revitalization of the site began - the "KulturBrauerei gGmbH" was founded and in the same year the boiler house was renovated and the program "Einspruch" produced by Sat. 1 was filmed with Ulrich Meyer . An investor competition was put out to sell the property. There were various interested parties who wanted to revive the former brewery site, but in the end they withdrew the offer. Thus, the Treuhandanstalt handed over the site to the " Treuhandliegenschaftsgesellschaft " with the task of acting as the client. The task was to develop a self-contained concept and to renovate the area in its entirety. In 1996 the TLG presented a usage concept which provided a mix of non-profit and commercial use in a cultural mixed use . Then there was tough struggle at the political level to establish studios, galleries, offices, restaurants and retail outlets. Another component of the usage concept was the implementation of specific issues relating to monument preservation . It provided for the lower monument protection authority to be included in the planning. The preservation of monuments accompanied the architects weiss & faust in their work and so, for example, advertising statutes were drawn up together. By November 1997 around 2/3 of the space had been let. The development plan that was drawn up prohibited, among other things, the construction of amusement arcades and video or similar presentations in the area. The approval of movie theaters and discotheques should be made dependent on their type and size.

Redevelopment

Bronze sculptures in the courtyard of the Kulturbrauerei

With the help and approval of the resident and Bundestag President Wolfgang Thierse , the urban development contract was signed in 1998 and the building permits were successively granted. Thus, on September 19, 1998, the groundbreaking ceremony for the renovation took place. The 100 million D-Mark project was financed by TLG. Since the Kulturbrauerei is a dominant piece of industrial architecture in Germany, what was already there should be nuanced as part of the renovation and largely retained. The design principle of the renovation was to preserve the original character of the listed building ensemble as much as possible and to combine historical with modern architecture. The substance of the clinker was decisive for the preservation of monuments and the TLG for the renovation. Only damaged parts of the facade were replaced, materials that were true to the original were used for the roof and support structures, and the traditional roof covering in the form of plain tiles and black roofing felt was retained. With the aim of restoring the site as true to the original as possible, modern supply technology such as elevators were installed inside to protect the facade, which caused a large part of the immense total costs. Furthermore, attention was paid to the use of the historical courtyard paving in order to largely restore the original condition.

A central theme of the renovation was the question of how best to create a spatial connection between the individual courtyards and the brewery premises. So that the visitor can orientate himself spatially and the temporal levels can be grasped, the buildings were arranged alphabetically on the map and all parts of the building got their old names back. In this way, the earlier use can still be clearly traced today. Another small detail in the overall ensemble is the carillon installed on the building of the former bottle rinsing and extraction room, which is intended to create an acoustic connection between the neighborhood and the culture brewery. Through this sound game, both urban spaces, separated by the walls of the brewery, should at least acoustically grow together. The use of lush greenery was deliberately avoided because it contradicts the sense of the old industrial facilities. Only the old "Leopold's" was deliberately unsealed for a further detail: Due to the different soil conditions - it was u. a. Gravel, grass and normal paving used - you can still understand the production process of that time in an abstract way. The renovation work was completed in 2000 and several tenants moved into the building, for example a cinema, the Russian Chamber Theater and numerous cultural institutions. The "Classic Summer in the KulturBrauerei" was produced for the first time in 2002. In December 2012, the federal government sold TLG to the US investor Lone Star for 1.1 billion euros, who is now the new owner of the Kulturbrauerei.

Todays use

Various events, concerts and festivals take place in the Kulturbrauerei (including band competitions and theater festivals) and it is also a rehearsal room for various artists and ensembles. The facilities include:

Web links

Commons : Kulturbrauerei  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Henry Gidom: Berlin and its breweries. Complete list of brewing locations from 1800 to 1925. Berlin 2016 (3rd revised and updated edition), p. 48f
  2. ↑ http://www.albert-gieseler.de/dampf_de/firmen4/firmadet46846.shtml
  3. ↑ a b c d e kulturbrauerei-berlin.de: History of the KulturBrauerei , accessed on January 27, 2019
  4. ^ Rudolf Vierhaus: German biographical encyclopedia 8, p. 489
  5. ↑ berlin.de: Profile of the Kulturbrauerei ( Memento of the original from April 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Accessed April 24, 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.berlin.de
  6. ^ Die Kulturbrauerei im Prenzlauer Berg 2001, p. 72 ff.
  7. ↑ Die Kulturbrauerei im Prenzlauer Berg 2001, p. 87
  8. ^ Die Kulturbrauerei im Prenzlauer Berg 2001, p. 95
  9. ^ Die Kulturbrauerei im Prenzlauer Berg 2001, p. 96 ff.
  10. ↑ Die Kulturbrauerei in Prenzlauer Berg 2001, p. 99 f.
  11. ↑ Die Kulturbrauerei in Prenzlauer Berg 2001, p. 100 f.
  12. ↑ The Kulturbrauerei in Prenzlauer Berg 2001, p. 102 f.
  13. ↑ Tagesspiegel Berlin, December 13, 2012
  14. ^ Berlin - Weber Shandwick . In: Weber Shandwick . January 19, 2014 ( webershandwick.de [accessed October 11, 2018]).

Coordinates: 52 ° 32 ′ 20 ″  N , 13 ° 24 ′ 49 ″  E