West India reservoir
The Westindienspeicher is a historic building in Flensburg . The warehouse is one of the district's cultural monuments .
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The Danish merchant and shipowner Andreas Christiansen had it built during the Enlightenment in 1789. The warehouse served as a warehouse for the goods of the Flensburg West India trade . Among other things, pure rum from the Caribbean was stored here in heavy oak barrels, from which the famous Flensburg rum was then made. Furthermore, here are raw sugar , tobacco , cocoa , tea and spices stored. All these goods were hoisted into the attic with the gable crane, which was attached to the still existing crane dome. The two houses on the merchant's yard facing the storage line served as living and business premises, and a sugar boiler is said to have been in the courtyard.
In memory of Andreas Christiansen, who initiated the economic prosperity of Flensburg with his trade trips to the Danish Caribbean islands of Saint Croix , Saint Thomas and St. John and who made it to great fortune as the owner of an important sugar refinery , there is a plaque on the building with the following Inscription attached: "Lord bless all these works / Give strength to the owner / Andreas Christiansen / Set this on May 20th / Ao 1789"
During the economic crisis of the 1850s, the grocer Johann Jacob Maack took over the entire merchant's yard, the last user was the liquor company IC Schmidt, which closed its doors in the 1970s.
In the years 1979–1981 the Westindienspeicher was completely renovated by the Neue Heimat Nord for approx. 2.3 million DM. As a commercial unit, the property could not initially be fully let. The private Nordic University moved into the building in 1985 and used it as an administrative building until the university ceased operations in 1989. The building has been owned by the SBV (Flensburger Selbsthilfebauverein) since 1993 and, in addition to business premises on the ground floor and first floor, also houses six individual apartments with a special flair.
The Westindienspeicher is part of the Kapitänsweg , a touristic tour through Flensburg, and therefore a popular postcard and photo motif and is often visited by tourist groups.
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Coordinates: 54 ° 47 '13.9 " N , 9 ° 26' 2.8" E