Central cattle and slaughterhouse

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Former cattle stables of the central cattle yard and slaughterhouse. In 2011 it was demolished except for the front and replaced by new buildings.

The central cattle and slaughterhouse was the central urban cattle and slaughterhouse in Berlin and was initially in the triangle Thaerstraße - Eldenaer Straße - Ringbahn . It was later extended to the northwest between the Ringbahn and Hausburgstrasse as far as Landsberger Allee . Today's S-Bahn station Storkower Straße was called Zentralviehhof until 1977 . After the construction of the new building area at Fennpfuhl , for which this S-Bahn station was an important entry point, the name was changed.

The central cattle and slaughterhouse was located in the Prenzlauer Berg district, right on the border with Friedrichshain and Lichtenberg . It had belonged to the Prenzlauer Berg district since 1938, when the boundaries of the Berlin districts were corrected. Before that, it had belonged to the Friedrichshain district since Greater Berlin was formed in 1920 .

prehistory

Development of the slaughter industry in Berlin

Map of the terrain

The Wursthöfe , the two oldest slaughterhouses in Berlin, were on the Spree. One was near the Heiligengeist Hospital at Spandauer Tor at the end of Spandauer Strasse, the other was in Köllnische Gasse on Friedrichsgracht . The cattle were grazed in the meadows in front of the city ​​wall and driven to the slaughterhouses for slaughter. In the Paddengasse (the later Kleine Stralauer Straße ) there was another slaughterhouse since 1661, which discharged its waste directly into the Spree . In 1725 it was in such a poor structural condition that in 1727 a new slaughterhouse was also built in Paddengasse, which was used until 1810. It was one of three slaughterhouses that were built at the time and was probably located on stilt houses over the Spree. Another slaughterhouse was built in 1750 near the Schiffbauerdamm in Dorotheenstadt .

The slaughter industry was restricted by royal decrees from 1591. They should ensure that cattle were only slaughtered in the city slaughterhouses. The introduction of the freedom of trade as part of the Prussian reforms in 1810 enabled the establishment of private slaughterhouses, the number of which subsequently increased. Most of the time, however, they did not meet the necessary hygienic requirements.

In 1827 the innkeeper Klaeger opened a cattle market with a slaughterhouse and stables for 1000 cattle, 4000 pigs and 6000 mutton in front of the customs and excise wall near the Landsberger Tor . In contrast to the previous slaughterhouse, this was the first slaughterhouse that was not located in the city center and in the immediate vicinity of residential areas and thus did not cause pollution and odor nuisance from cattle drive and livestock farming. Since 1848 a weekly market regulation has regulated the sales regulations also at the cattle market and a district veterinarian appointed for Berlin in 1853 controlled slaughterhouses, cattle and weekly markets. The Klaegersche Viehhof was closed in 1871 after the rinderpest broke out in Berlin.

Another large cattle yard of this time was the Berlin cattle market, established in 1867 by the entrepreneur Ebers on an area of ​​30  hectares between Brunnenstrasse and Ackerstrasse in Gesundbrunnen . The plans for the cattle yard on which the Sponholz & Co. Viehmarkts-Aktiengesellschaft was based came from the builder August Orth . As early as 1868, the industrialist Bethel Henry Strousberg bought the company and had the necessary and still missing railway connection built. In 1870 the buildings were largely completed. Strousberg sold the company in 1872 to the Berliner Viehmarkt-Aktiengesellschaft . The Berlin cattle market was able to cover a large part of Berlin's meat needs at that time.

Considerations for building an urban cattle yard and slaughterhouse

As early as 1864, Rudolf Virchow proposed to the city ​​council to set up a public slaughterhouse operated by the city of Berlin in order to ensure better quality meat supplies for the ever-growing Berlin population. In 1866 a commission recommended that a slaughterhouse and cattle market should be built on the same site, as the combination would result in cost advantages for the cattle dealers and simplify controls in the stables and slaughterhouses. The city administration suggested a plot of land in Moabit near Beusselstrasse, but the majority of city councilors rejected the project.

On March 18, 1868, the issued Prussian government because of the abuses in the battle industry and the widespread use of trichinosis , the law on "construction of public, only to-use slaughterhouses," the so-called "battle forced law" that the construction of municipal encourage slaughterhouses and then Prohibition of private slaughterhouses should allow. Berlin, too, now had the statutory task of building a public slaughterhouse and carrying out hygienic controls there.

The fact that the city's cattle and slaughterhouse was only opened 13 years later was due to lengthy disputes in the city council, mainly because of the costs and lobbying on the part of the Berlin butcher's guild . There were around 800 private slaughterhouses in Berlin and the surrounding area in 1875. Many of them slaughtered the cattle under very poor hygienic conditions and only a few of them had their meat checked. The butcher's guild argued that the majority of the slaughterhouses were in good condition and only those that were not regulated should be closed. In addition, the streets of Berlin are already much cleaner thanks to the construction of the sewer system .

In 1874, when discussions about building a public slaughterhouse flared up again, Virchow was again a strong supporter of this plan. The Berlin magistrate negotiated with the Berliner Viehmarkt-Aktiengesellschaft to buy the cattle market on Brunnenstrasse. However, the majority of city councilors refused the purchase in 1876 because the costs for the necessary renovation and expansion work on the site, including the purchase price, were considered too high and the area was already too close to the city center due to the city's growth. They preferred to purchase an undeveloped site for a new building. Two areas were considered for this purpose: one in Rummelsburg with a connection to waterways and the other on the Lichtenberg field mark between Eldenaer Straße and Ringbahn . After a decision had been made in favor of the second property, the Viehmarkt-Aktiengesellschaft was made a counter offer of eight million marks , which, however, was not accepted. The Feldmark Lichtenberg location was therefore considered secure.

Creation and expansion

The beginnings from 1876 to 1900

Old slaughterhouse with slaughterhouses, market halls, stables and unloading station (design: Hermann Blankenstein )

On October 28, 1876, the magistrate acquired the 38.62 hectare area in Lichtenberg for 657,210 marks in order to build the Central cattle and slaughterhouse on it. On November 26th, 1877, construction work began on the basis of Virchow's hygiene ideas and based on drafts by city ​​building officer Hermann Blankenstein . On March 30, 1878, the area was incorporated into the city of Berlin , since otherwise the Slaughter Law could not have been applied. The opening took place on March 1st, 1881, although not all buildings were finished. This was only the case in April 1883.

The stock exchange, around 1897

The area was roughly divided into two parts. In the western part was the slaughterhouse with the facilities for processing the slaughtered goods and its by-products such as tripe laundry, an intestinal mucus plant , a tallow melt, a skin salting and drying plant belonging to the Kleinlein leather factory, a blood-processing albumin factory and a separate siding . The cattle yard was separated from the slaughterhouse by a wall. There were four large sales halls, numerous stables, the two administration buildings and the stock exchange building, which was destroyed in the war in 1945. In the east there was still undeveloped land, which left space for later extensions. In the far east was the epidemic farm where suspicious animals were kept.

To the north, up to the tracks of the ring railway, the station for unloading the cattle joined. The total length of the track system was 15.5 kilometers and five trains of 400 meters each could be unloaded at the same time at the five cattle ramps. Up to 50 wagons per hour were cleaned in a disinfection facility at the unloading station. A stop on the Ringbahn was inaugurated on May 4, 1881. The Ringbahn crosses the long-distance railway tracks on two steel bridges.

In the first financial year, 126,347 cattle, 392,895 pigs, 111,937 calves and 650,060 mutton were processed. The first administrative director until 1901 was the royal economics councilor Otto Hausburg . In 1902, Hausburgstrasse bordering the extended area was named in his honor.

New administration building, around 1900

Due to the increased demand, the magistrate decided in 1889 to expand the site and bought a 10.9 hectare area to the northwest between Thaerstrasse and today's Landsberger Allee for 1.5 million marks. From 1895 to January 5, 1898, the new slaughterhouse was built with slaughterhouses, stables, administration buildings and cold stores under the leadership of master builder August Lindemann . Two underpasses were built under Thaerstrasse to connect the two sites so that the animals could be driven from the stables to the slaughterhouses.

Further development from 1914

From 1914 to 1923 the development of the central cattle farm and slaughterhouse stagnated due to the inflation caused by the war . During this time empty halls were used by private individuals and authorities as warehouses. From 1924 a new upswing in the cattle and slaughterhouse began, which was further supported in 1925 by the opening of a new meat wholesale market hall, the later Werner-Seelenbinder-Halle , on the opposite side of Landsberger Allee and the relocation of trade from the central market hall on Alexanderplatz . As a result, the external use of the halls was terminated and these were again used exclusively for cattle and slaughterhouses.

Richard Ermisch built a new, large cold store in 1929 and in 1930 the cattle auction hall was expanded by 5000 m². In the following years, the buildings on the site were constantly modernized. Among other things, the outer wall was renewed with clinker stone masonry. From 1937 to 1940 an approximately 420 meter long covered and glazed pedestrian bridge was built across the Viehhof, which led from Eldenaer Strasse to the former S-Bahn station Zentral-Viehhof at a height of approximately six meters .

During the Second World War , serious damage from air raids by the Allies did not occur until the end of the war in 1945, while operations had been maintained before that. 80 percent of the buildings on the old slaughterhouse were destroyed during the war. The first repair work began in some parts immediately after the end of the war in order to be able to resume supplies to the Berlin population. Larger parts of the area served as war bag camp 1 for the Red Army until 1948 . Here were reparations and looted art stored until they adjusted to broad gauge tracks directly to Leningrad were brought. Among other things, the lead glass windows of the St. Mary's Church in Frankfurt, which were stored at the end of the war in the New Palace in Potsdam - Sanssouci to protect them from destruction, were located here until August 14, 1946 . Larger open spaces on the site were also used for the temporary storage of rubble, for which a standard-gauge rubble track was laid from the slaughterhouse site along Weidenweg to Friedenstraße . These facilities were eliminated around 1950.

In the GDR , the central cattle and slaughterhouse advanced to become the leading company in the meat processing industry in East Berlin . In 1958 the central cattle and slaughterhouse was converted into a state-owned company (VEB) and this was then incorporated into the VEB Fleischkombinat Berlin in 1963 . Up to 2,700 workers were employed in ten parts of the company. During this time, operations were concentrated on the grounds of the New Slaughterhouse between Thaerstraße and Landsberger Allee. There the slaughterhouse was also most clearly perceptible to bystanders, both through a factory outlet on Landsberger Allee and through the sounds of the battle. In particular on hot summer days, there was odor nuisance to the residents. In particular, the pigsties on Landsberger Allee led to smells when leaving the S-Bahn station. The area of ​​the old slaughterhouse and cattle yard was gradually transferred to other state-owned companies.

Post-turnaround time and abandonment of operations

After the political change , the combines were initially privatized and their operations were finally ceased in 1991. The tasks were taken over by the recently expanded meat wholesale market in the wholesale market on Beusselstrasse in Moabit . The site was then an industrial wasteland for several years .

Conversion of the area

New start as a media village?

After ceasing operations in 1991, new visions for the site were developed in the 1990s. At first the site lay fallow .

As part of Berlin's application for the 2000 Summer Olympics in the early 1990s, the slaughterhouse area was also included in the planning. The grounds of the old slaughterhouse were intended for the construction of a media village that would provide living space for all journalists. However, since Sydney emerged victorious from the application process, these plans did not materialize. Only the Olympic project Velodrom on the area of ​​the Zentralvieh- und Schlachthof north of Landsberger Allee, which included the demolition of the old Werner-Seelenbinder-Halle, was realized and completed in 1999.

Planning and development from 1995

New building in the Hausburg district

The plans of the Senate Administration around 1995 provided for the new Alter Schlachthof district to be built on the 50  hectare site by 2010 with around 250,000 m² of commercial space and apartments for 4,500 residents. At first it was also a question of realizing a car-free residential area, which ultimately failed. The division of the site into five areas (Hausburgviertel, Thaerviertel, Blankensteinpark, Eldenaer Viertel and Pettenkofer Dreieck) was followed by architectural competitions and sales activities . The official development began in 2002, at the end of 2009 there were already 894 residents who were living in condominiums or rented apartments, terraced houses or town villas . In addition, there were and are numerous businesses and shops. Large-scale green spaces and the gradual implementation of a good infrastructure ensured that the new Alter Schlachthof development area has now become a sought-after residential address for young and old. At the end of 2012, 1,842 people lived here.

Remnants of the mutton auction hall in Blankensteinpark

In the center of the new city quarter is the 5.1 hectare Hermann-Blankenstein-Park , which opened in October 2004. He includes the iron support structure of the mutton auction hall in the park. The other quarters also have public green areas, so a total of around ten hectares, i.e. one fifth of the total area, are designated for green areas.

Monument protection

In 1990 the whole area was placed under monument protection as a cultural monument , and on September 28, 1995 it was entered in the list of monuments in Berlin. In 1989, only around 33 percent of historical buildings were left on the grounds of the old slaughterhouse and around 70 percent were left on that of the new slaughterhouse. Some buildings and halls were included in the planning for the post-reunification period and restored.

Listed are among others:

  • the cattle auction hall and the remains of the mutton auction hall,
  • Slaughterhouses on Landsberger Allee and the cattle stables on Eldenaer Straße,
  • the former administration building and the former director's villa on Eldenaer Strasse,
  • the slaughterhouse wall on Hausburgstrasse,
  • a small pump house on Eldenaer Strasse and
  • the remains of the footbridge .

Many other buildings, especially those on the expansion site, have not been preserved and were gradually demolished in the years after the political change .

Single building

Cattle auction hall

Sketches for the cattle auction hall

The former cattle auction hall is the only one of the original three auction halls that has survived the times and adjoins Blankensteinpark to the east. Only part of the iron structure of the mutton auction hall has been preserved, giving the northern part of the Blankensteinpark a special character.

The cattle auction hall was built together with the pig auction hall and mutton auction hall of the same size during the first construction phase. With a base area of ​​212 meters long and 72 meters wide, it was one of the largest roofed iron structures in Berlin at the time and it still is today. The roof is twelve meters high at the ridge and six meters at the eaves . It is supported by 320 cast iron columns. The area of ​​approx. 15,200 m² is divided into grids of 8 x 7 meters each. Due to the large width of the hall, skylights had to be installed in the eight side aisles. The outer walls were built from bricks . At first, all three halls were planned and built as open structures; however, after complaints from the cattle dealers, they were glazed in the first year.

The renovation and conversion of the cattle auction hall was part of various ideas competitions in the post-reunification period. In September 2004 the conversion plans of a group of investors around Die Zunft AG were published, but they were not implemented. The usage concept Zunfthalle Alter Schlachthof consisted of a retail, a restaurant and a manufacturing section for small and medium-sized companies as well as craftsmen and a kind of glass factory for the manufacture of handicraft products.

The later planning under the name Viva! Center , according to which the hall was to be converted into a shopping and leisure world exclusively for sports, outdoor and wellness from 2008, was not implemented either. An additional gallery floor and a pool with a view of Blankensteinpark were to be built in the southern part of the center. Instead of the initially planned small-scale use, the overall use of the unique hall came to the fore.

Between 2009 and 2011, the Berlin architects Gnädinger Architekten renovated the hall. The total volume was around 12 million euros. After the renovation work was completed in 2011, the Zweirad-Center Stadler company opened a bicycle shop in the former cattle auction hall .

Storkower Strasse footbridge

My Prenzlhain

In 2018 took place at the intersection Hermann-Blankenstein-road with the Thaerstraße attended by Ulla Schmidt the ceremonial laying of the cornerstone for a new neighborhood, called My Prenzlhain . Here the cds-Wohnbau-Gruppe and the Otto-Wulff-Bauunternehmung are erecting a multi-storey block building along Hermann-Blankenstein-Straße according to plans by the architects Georg Gewers and Henry Pudewill , consisting of three building parts of different sizes with individually designed facades. However, the interior should be kept relatively uniform, floors or buildings can be connected to one another. Outwardly, the quarter presents itself on five above-ground floors with a roof terrace. An underground car park should not cause any parking problems. The floor area of Mein Prenzlhain is around 42,000 m². There are rental and owner-occupied apartments, commercial space for rent or purchase. The main offices of the Bundesvereinigung Lebenshilfe e.V. move into the street-side office buildings  . V. (Chairwoman Ulla Schmidt) and the Vocational Training Center (BTZ) Berlin of the Berlin-Brandenburg Vocational Promotion Agency; they should be ready for occupancy at the end of 2019. The completion of the entire complex including the designed environment is planned for the end of 2022. The quarter will then offer a total of 190 residential units.

literature

Web links

Commons : Zentralvieh- und Schlachthof  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ History of the Zentralviehhof S-Bahn station, Storkower Straße
  2. ↑ Berlin city map from 1926 with the central cattle yard and the meat wholesale market hall marked (north of it) ( Memento from July 20, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  3. ^ Richard-Ermisch-Strasse. In: Street name lexicon of the Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein (near  Kaupert )
  4. ↑ The Marienkirche and the leaded glass windows . ( Memento from October 1, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) MDR.de
  5. ↑ The Central Viehhof on a map of Berlin from 1960 with buildings drawn in ( memento from July 19, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  6. ↑ Statistical report: Residents registered under registration law in the State of Berlin on December 31, 2009 (PDF; 2.0 MB)
  7. ↑ Population by gender, age group, nationality, migration status, areas of origin . Status: 12/2012. Office for Statistics Berlin Brandenburg
  8. ↑ Renovation and monument protection measures in the old slaughterhouse in Berlin. Retrieved October 22, 2018 (German).
  9. ^ Die Zunft AG - Zunfthalle Alter Schlachthof ( Memento from 7 July 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ Presentation of the former cattle auction hall. Homepage Gnädinger Architects; accessed on January 24, 2016.
  11. ↑ Once cattle, now wheels. Former cattle shed on the slaughterhouse is home to Germany's largest bicycle shop. In: Berliner Zeitung . 7th / 8th May 2011, p. 23.
  12. ↑ Presentation of the project Mein Prenzlhain (PDF) at www.reeseconsult; accessed on January 30, 2019.
  13. ↑ Project with commitment (advert in the Berliner Zeitung ), January 30, 2019, p. 7.
  14. ↑ Mein Prenzlhain , detailed project description. Accessed January 30, 2019.

Coordinates: 52 ° 31 ′ 18 ″  N , 13 ° 27 ′ 43 ″  E