Tempelhofer Ufer 23–24

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Building Tempelhofer Ufer 23–24

The Tempelhofer Ufer 23-24 office building in Berlin was built in 1913 as an administrative building for the mechanical engineering company Orenstein & Koppel - Arthur Koppel AG based on a design by the architects' office Cremer & Wolffenstein and is now a listed building . Its location is in the western area of ​​the Tempelhofer Vorstadt , in today's Kreuzberg district ( zip code 10963) and thus in the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district .

The building is a typical administration building of its construction time and originally formed the main part of a building complex that extended over the properties Tempelhofer Ufer 23 / 23a / 24, Möckernstraße 120 / 120a / 121 and Teltower Straße 35/36 (today Obentrautstraße ). In the meantime, the textile manufacturer Heinze Röcke and the University of the Arts used the building; today there are many different tenants.

Building history

Möckernstrasse 120 building, a few years older part of the entire Orenstein & Koppel complex

The Tempelhofer Ufer 23 / 23a / 24 property was initially the location of the first own production facility of the company Orenstein & Koppel, which until then had been exclusively active in the wholesale and retail trade, from 1886 . The founders Benno Orenstein and Arthur Koppel had separated by mutual agreement the year before. When, after Koppel's death, their two companies, which were independent of each other for almost a quarter of a century , merged to form Orenstein & Koppel - Arthur Koppel AG , the construction company Wittling & Güldner initially built an office building on the in der for the central administration of this globally active company Property acquired in the immediate vicinity at Möckernstrasse 120 / 120a / 121 was built.

A short time later, the company decided to expand the administrative structure. Since the neighboring factories on Tempelhofer Ufer had long since become too small for the constantly expanding company, this property was now used for the construction of a new office building. The construction company Wittling & Güldner was commissioned with the construction . At that time, the company had around 15,000 employees in twelve factories and 95 offices worldwide. The creators of the building, Wilhelm Cremer and Richard Wolffenstein , had been working together in Berlin since 1882 and were among the best-known and most renowned architects in the city; Both died shortly after one another in 1919, the administration building was one of their last large, representative buildings due to the war.

The company, which in 1920 shortened its company to Orenstein & Koppel AG , expanded further over the above-mentioned properties with the formation of six inner courtyards. After all, several thousand people worked in five parts of the building. The Orenstein & Koppel AG was after complete " Aryanization " in 1940 in mechanical engineering and Bahnbedarf AG renamed. Shortly afterwards, Hoesch AG took over the majority of the shares. The administration of the O&K operations continued to use the location until the 1950s.

Of the extensive O&K building complex, only the two listed buildings have survived today.

The building on Tempelhofer Ufer was rebuilt in 1965 by the architects Eckart Muthesius and Klemens Weigel , with the replacement of the old side and transverse wings with a new wing in the middle , when the Heinze Röcke company moved in and resided here until the mid-1980s stayed. At that time there was an outdoor advertisement for Heinze Röcke on the facade. In the following years, the University of the Arts set up a studio for the painter Alfred Hrdlicka in the back wing. Later, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation , the private Institute for Marketing and Communication and the German Tourism Association were located in the main building . In 1997 the entrance hall was rebuilt and a new lighting concept was created.

Today various tenants use the offices in the building, including the publishing group PrinzMedien with the editorial offices of the magazines Der Hauptstadtbrief and The Atlantic Times , an expert for parentage reports , Wikimedia Germany and various media and IT companies.

description

Gable field with the relief of the globe

The building has five full floors and 13 window axes on the street facade . The central risalit , which is crowned by a gable , has three window axes, the two symmetrical side parts each have five axes. The south-facing transverse wing, newly built in 1965, has a roof terrace . The administration building, which is otherwise typical for its construction period, has “a palatial layout”.

The building has an elaborately crafted sandstone facade made of Brunswick dolomite with heavy pillars . The gable field is decorated with a relief representation of a large globe, which should symbolize the wide-ranging business connections; originally the entablature zone under the gable was provided with the inscription made up of letters "Orenstein & Koppel - Arthur Koppel Akt. Ges.". There are also details such as window frames , ribbons and cornices . Figures and lions' heads are incorporated under the windows in the central projection. The four sculptures by the Berlin sculptor Ernst Westpfahl originally erected above the four columns in the two-storey base area of ​​the central risalit have not been preserved. The rear facade of the left side wing is covered with white glazed facing bricks .

Inside there is no large foyer and no representative staircase. The stairs and the elevator are centrally located in the building; the individual rooms can be reached via long corridors. There is a large conference room on the first floor. The original stucco has been preserved in the rooms on the first floor behind the central projectile .

The architect Jonas Geist characterized the building as architecture “with conventional features”.

literature

Web links

Commons : 2. Orenstein & Koppel administrative building  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Kreuzberg on the upswing of the transport industries. Berlin-Brandenburger Wirtschaftsarchiv, accessed on January 14, 2016 (printed in Kreuzberg compact 2011/2012, Verlag BfB Bestmedia4Berlin).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Jonas Geist: Das Haus Tempelhofer Ufer 23/24. In: Geist, Huhn, Prinz, p. 11.
  3. ↑ a b Orenstein & Koppel administration building ( memento of December 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Berlin Intensiv
  4. ↑ a b Jonas Geist: The Tempelhofer Ufer 23/24 house. In: Geist, Huhn, Prinz, p. 12.
  5. ^ Directory. Spree Architects, accessed on January 14, 2016 .

Coordinates: 52 ° 29 ′ 53.7 "  N , 13 ° 22 ′ 52.1"  E