Nordsternhaus (Berlin)

Nordsternhaus, main entrance and west side

The Nordsternhaus , built between 1913 and 1914, is the former administration building of the Nordstern insurance group in the Schöneberg district of Berlin . The building is on the corner of Badensche and Salzburger Strasse , near Schöneberg Town Hall . It was used as the head office of the three insurance companies of the Nordstern Group: Nordstern Lebensversicherungs-Gesellschaft , Nordstern Accident and Liability Insurance Company and Nordstern Feuerversicherungs-Gesellschaft . It has housed the Berlin Senate Department for Justice since the 1950s and is a listed building .

Architecture and history

The reinforced concrete skeleton structure, which was to provide office space for 900 employees, was designed by the architects Paul Mebes and Paul Emmerich (architects Mebes and Emmerich ); the structural engineer Otto Leitholf from Berlin calculated the statics . The building stands on a triangular plot of land, towards the acute-angled corner the facade clad with Langensalza travertine is generously rounded, so that a small forecourt was created, which was unofficially called Nordsternplatz . Between the two wings of the building facing the streets, two rounded crossbars span a small and a larger courtyard. The four large sculptures that originally flanked the three door openings of the main entrance at the rounded corner are no longer there. The facade of the five-story building is divided horizontally with various window shapes and parapets. Inside, an oval vestibule leads to the main staircase with lavishly designed wrought iron railings with plant ornaments. The second floor, which housed the representative rooms of the company management (including the also oval supervisory board meeting room), was 4.70 meters high, the other floors 4 meters.

The building was equipped with modern office technology. In addition to a parcel pneumatic post system that was carried out by the Berlin company Paul Hardegen & Co. and was unique in Europe at the time , with which files weighing up to two kilograms could be sent, the employees of Nordstern Insurance had various file lifts, an internal telephone network, a centrally controlled clock system and a fresh air system are available. This building technology runs in the hallways and is hidden by wooden cornices . Most of the interior furnishings and fittings in the open-plan offices were designed by Paul Mebes especially for the Nordsternhaus, but are no longer preserved today. But other artists were also involved in the decoration, such as Bruno Paul , H. Vauk, Karl Rickelt , Hans Krückeberg , Walther Schmarje and Franz Mutzenbecher . In addition, building ceramics from the Veltener Ofenfabrik AG under the artistic direction of John Martens also belonged to the artistic furnishing of the official entrance area on Badenschen Straße . He also designed the fresh air fountain made of majolica in the official courtyard , which was manufactured by the Karlsruhe majolica manufactory .

The house suffered damage in World War II , which was soon removed. Since the political situation in divided Berlin was too uncertain for the insurance company, it withdrew from the city and later sold the house to the Berlin Senate . In 2006 an arson attack was carried out on the Nordsternhaus, to which the militant group (mg) is said to have confessed.

literature

• Paul Westheim : The Nordstern house in Berlin-Schöneberg. Bruckmann, Munich 1914. (Reprint from the magazine Decorative Art )
• Berliner Architekturwelt , Volume 18, Issue 5/6, August / September 1916, pp. 164–186 ( PDF; 21.4 MB ). (24 picture panels with exterior and interior views, two floor plans and details of the art in buildings; except for captions without explanatory text)
• Architects and Engineers Association of Berlin (ed.): Industrial buildings, office buildings. (= Berlin and its buildings , part IX.) Ernst & Sohn, Berlin 1971, ISBN 3-433-00553-2 , p. 132 f. and 188.
• Martin Wörner, Doris Mollenschott, Karl-Heinz Hüter: Architectural Guide Berlin. 4th edition, Dietrich Reimer, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-496-01110-6 .
• Dehio-Handbuch der Deutschen Kunstdenkmäler, Berlin. 3rd edition, Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 2006. ISBN 3-422-03111-1 , pp. 520-521.

Web links

Commons : Nordsternhaus  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• The Nordsternhaus on berlin.de
• Entry in the Berlin State Monument List

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Reinforced concrete skeleton construction according to Berlin and its buildings (cf. literature ) - The contemporary publications, however, tend to suggest a solid construction with brick walls, reinforced concrete ceilings and iron roof trusses.
2. ↑ In the otherwise very detailed essay by Paul Westheim (cf. literature) the figures and their sculptor are not mentioned, although they can be clearly recognized in the illustrations in this publication.
3. ↑ Axel Mauruszat: The parcel pneumatic tube system of the Nordstern insurance in Berlin-Schöneberg. In: Schattenwelt , Mitteilungsblatt des Berliner Unterwelten e. V., edition 4/2006, pp. 44–47
4. ↑ BIM Newsletter 1/2008 ( Memento of the original dated February 28, 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. 
5. ↑ Arson attack on the administration of justice

Coordinates: 52 ° 29 ′ 9.4 "  N , 13 ° 20 ′ 34.6"  E