Lichtenberg intermediate pumping station

General view of the structures of the intermediate pumping station, 2007

The Lichtenberg intermediate pumping station is a drinking water supply facility on Landsberger Allee in Berlin-Lichtenberg . Find attached by was Friedrichshagen waterworks drinking water recovered for the eastern districts of Berlin in underground brick clean water containers cached . After extensive modernization and shutdown of some historical machine houses on the site, the intermediate pumping station will continue to be used in the 21st century. However, modern pumping and storage systems in a large underground conveyor hall are used for this purpose.

history

introduction

Who built in the 1870s and 1880s served to supply the Berlin population with drinking water utilities around the then- Old Berlin - at Stralauer Tor , on Müggelsee , in Charlottenburg , at Devil's Lake and in Lichterfelde in Westend , in Steglitz , in Rixdorf and in Friedrichsfelde . But the pipes were long and the water transport therefore required pumping stations, which on the one hand hold water supplies in larger storage facilities for a few hours and on the other hand could increase the pressure to the end user.

1889 to 1893: The Lichtenberg intermediate pumping station is built

For the purified deep water from the southeast of Berlin, coming from the Friedrichshagen waterworks via a pipeline system 16 kilometers in length , an intermediate pumping station was to be built in what was then the municipality of Lichtenberg . The magistrate of Berlin had to at Landsberger Chaussee 27/28 (since 1992 Landsberger Allee 230) an area of approximately 100,000  sqm purchased. The first buildings on the site were four machine houses (also called scoop machine houses ), labeled with the letters A, B, C and D, which were built from 1889 to 1893 according to plans by Richard Schultze and Henry Gill . The architects called in the hygiene specialist Robert Koch because it was about the cleanest possible drinking water . Each machine house had huge pure water pumps, a boiler and coal area, and a sand washer. Behind the machine houses, there were suction chambers and eight clean water tanks built into the ground, each of which contained 9000  m³ of water. The machine house D was the last to go into operation in 1899. With the installed technology - two horizontal compound machines with an output of 155 HP each  - an average of 45,000 m³ of water could be pumped through each day.

1900 to 1930: conversions and extensions

In the years 1900 and 1925 to 1928 extensive structural and technical extensions were made (for example the water tanks that were initially open were closed and a building for the administration was built) and a connection to the Roedersche industrial railway (1911) was made. For this purpose, the city of Berlin bought an area of ​​around 25,700 m².

Houses A and B

The very first machine house (A), which went into operation in 1893, was shut down again in 1914. In 1912, the construction of the clean water tanks 9 and 10 as well as the machine houses E and F, which were necessary to supply the Herzberge insane asylum and the Lichtenberg community (Hochstadt) expanding to the north , began. The architecture was perfectly adapted to the existing buildings. In 1920 the intermediate pumping station had ten clean water tanks and produced around 220,000 m³ of water per day. In 1927 the machine house B went offline and in 1929 also the machine house C, for this purpose another four pure water tanks with a total capacity of 123,000 m³ were built. Since the opening of the intermediate pumping station, all pumps have been driven by steam engines.

In the Berlin address book of 1900 between Weißenseer Weg and Hohenschönhauser Feldmark, apart from construction sites, only the municipal waterworks are noted. 6 machine operators , a porter, a light attendant , a material manager and a foreman lived on the site and the construction office was on it. House numbers for the complex are not given. In the 1880s, the address books did not contain any references to the intermediate pumping station under construction, the house numbers on Landsberger Chaussee had not yet been allocated, four parcels were named after the house owners. The Wilhelmsberg part of the community, to which the site belonged, was still one of the suburbs of Berlin.

1930 to 1990: constant repairs and renewals

At the end of the Second World War , large parts of the waterworks were destroyed by bombing because there was a position of anti-aircraft cannons in the BVG stadium nearby . Further damage was caused because the underground lines were either directly destroyed or the lines under bridges were blown up together with the bridges. Difficulties arose due to the now divided city ​​into four sectors with different responsibilities and a lack of skilled workers. The war damage to the intermediate pumping station in Lichtenberg could largely be repaired up to the 1950s, but fine cracks appeared in the water storage walls later, which resulted in water losses. In 1967 machine house D, which was still in operation, received a control room . Even in 1980, an American aerial bomb was found and defused on the premises of the ZPW.

View into the underground machine shop

The most important change, however, was that between 1979 and 1983 a new underground conveyor hall in diaphragm wall construction was built on the area in front of machine house C. It has a length of 65 meters, a width of 25 meters and is ten meters deep. The hall contains ten electric gyroscopes, which enable a flow rate of up to 12,400 m³ per hour at a pressure of 4.71  bar . With the complete expansion of this system, the old systems in houses D and E were shut down in 1983.

Intermediate pumping station from the 1990s

The existing brick buildings have been a listed building since 1991 . First, conservation work was carried out, at the beginning of the 21st century, extensive renovations followed both the existing technology and the almost hundred-year-old building. In 2000, however, the administration building had to be demolished, and in 2001 pure water tanks 9 and 10 were shut down. Since 2005, the intermediate pumping station in the Landsberger has been remote-controlled by employees at the Friedrichshagen waterworks. During these years, the siding was also cut, on which the coal for the steam engines and the large equipment had initially been delivered. Coming from the south, the tracks ran in the eastern area of ​​the site up to Landsberger Chaussee and there parallel to the buildings.

In 2000, Berliner Wasserbetriebe commissioned an expert opinion on how and with what measures the green areas and paths on the site can be improved. The company p2m - landscape planning and garden monument preservation - prepared the report and was the first to restore the southern Werkstrasse in 2001 according to historical templates.

In addition to the utility buildings including a workshop, the water tanks have also been preserved. Berliner Wasserbetriebe had spent 18 million euros on the entire renovation work at the beginning of the 21st century .

Use of structures no longer required for pump storage

• One of the vacant warehouses as well as a third of the outside area and two ancillary buildings were to be demolished for a leisure center that takes up the existing architectural style of the facility. The architects Rem + tec had drawn up the plans for the conversion by 2010. Then the property owner, the Water Works Berlin, presented project-related development plan 11-56 VE accordance with § 12 Building Code one, as project developer who wanted Decathlon sporting goods GmbH & Co. KG are active here. On the other hand, there were publications that named the planned sales in more detail and reasons for delays. Specifically, it was about the sale of a former residential building for employees of the water company, two of the six machine houses and two of the ten clean water tanks. The point of contention was the question of whether such a sporting goods market and other retail projects on Landsberger Allee are even permitted. According to the urban development plan for centers decided by the Senate Administration , this would not be approved. An expert opinion on behalf of the Senate did not bring any clarity and the planned start of the redesign in summer 2012 did not take place. Actual construction activities have not been ascertainable since 2013 after the administrative hack.

• At the same time, the Berliner Morgenpost reported on a project that gastro-king Josef Laggner would try to acquire some buildings. He could imagine setting up a restaurant with a capacity of 450 seats and a brewery with a beer garden on the site . The Lichtenberg district office had promised its support. However, until the end of 2014 there was no activity on this matter either.

• The first inline shaft factory in Berlin was set up in 2017 in an existing but unused warehouse . Seven young athletes who are into surfing , kite surfing and snowboarding concluded that there was a lack of recreational activities for surfing in this big city. They contacted the developers of the City Wave (this wave technology is only in use twelve times worldwide, including (now) three major German cities. It was developed by a German couple.) At the same time, they arranged for the renovation of the hall, which they used by the water company rented. The result was a water basin with the external dimensions 8.50 meters wide and 18 meters long, in which an artificial standing water wave is generated using motor power . The facility was opened on November 22nd, 2019. Since then, the operators have been offering courses for beginners and surfing lessons for advanced surfers. In the meantime (as of February 22, 2020) around 150 surfers or interested people visit the Wellenwerk every day. In 2020, a restaurant, a surf shop, a bar, a motorcycle factory, a beer garden and a surfboard workshop are to be added.

Individual buildings (selection)

Details of a restored nacelle

architecture

Almost all the buildings on the site are fairly uniform in the Brandenburg- Late Gothic historicism style, which is based on the first Berlin waterworks in Friedrichshagen. However, decorative facade elements were used more sparingly - for example, the mirrors are bare plaster, in Friedrichshagen they are painted white and often decorated with stucco elements.

Engine houses

In all machine houses there were rooms for the workers employed there as well as a tool shed.

Machine house B, whose pumps were shut down in 1927, contains all of the pumping station's electrical engineering that was later installed. This was renewed in the GDR era in 1983, and in 2003 Berliner Wasserbetriebe brought it up to date with the latest technology. In addition to the six earlier nacelle houses, another was added in the 1980s, which was marked with the letter E. After its closure at the beginning of the 21st century, artists have gradually settled here (sculptors, painters, a ceramist).

The machine house D was in operation until 1991 and since then has housed the archive of the pumping station, some reserve pumps and a boiler system. The latter includes a 46 meter high chimney (previously: 52 meters high). A single house (not specifically designated) was still used in 2007 for the drive machines.

Underground storage basins

Weather protection for the air shafts

Exposed outer wall of a storage room

Above these brick halls with barrel vaults and a length of 40 meters, a column largely covered with soil led to the surface, which was used to draw air. Because in the absence of these, a negative pressure would arise when pumping out the container, which would counteract the pumps. These pillars have been largely exposed since the late 1990s and are considered a technical relic. Furthermore, a number of larger valves were required, which were also hidden in the ground, barely visible. In 2012, such a standard part could be seen on the Vulkanstrasse before it was finally dismantled.

A total of five stairwells lead from the surface of the earth to the floor of the storage facility, and there was also a water lift. A stairwell to the tanks bears a Star of David on one side , the connection with the work or the buildings has not been clarified.

Such a memory is divided into several chambers, which are connected to one another by overflows. The outer walls have a conical cross-section against the pressure of the earth, at the base they are three meters thick, at the top only 50 centimeters. Small turrets above the ground mark the edges of the water containers. The water storage basins described here have been out of service since the 2000s, their tasks have been taken over by new metal containers in a newly constructed underground machine hall. They have already been used for cultural events such as concerts, but are mostly empty.

Residential building and outer wall

One of the apartment buildings

At the western end (near Vulkanstrasse) and the eastern end (second gate entrance around Landsberger Allee 230b) of the site, houses were built for the civil servants employed in the waterworks and their families. These three villa-like brick buildings are located inside the complex and can only be reached via a locked driveway past a porter's house. The residential buildings have also been in use since the reunification of the city and the takeover of the intermediate pumping station by Berliner Wasserbetriebe . These buildings were no longer attractive, so that in 1998 there was a tender for the conversion or reconstruction and repair of the listed multi-storey residential building C, which the company Uwe Knörck Architektur + Management had won and was allowed to do.

The entire intermediate pumping station is an important supply facility for some eastern districts and is therefore surrounded by a brick wall about two meters high. The upper edge of the masonry is formed by transverse roof tiles in the monk and nun system . Around 2005, however, the management of the water company had the wall along Landsberger Allee replaced by a stable metal fence of the same height, secured with spikes, which provides a view of the building complex.

Some technical information

The temperature of the incoming and pumped water is constantly between 8 and 10 degrees Celsius . In the intermediate pumping station, the drinking water was still chlorinated until 1991 to ensure that it was sterile . Bacteriological water tests once a week now guarantee a high quality of drinking water, but the water contains plenty of minerals and iron.

The suction lines are operated with a vacuum of 0.5  bar , the pipes have a diameter of 1200 millimeters.

The electrical power comes from the nearby substation, and emergency power generators guarantee the supply of drinking water even in the event of a longer power failure.

Almost all processes have been automated since the 2010s, so that only six employees are on duty for the three intermediate pumping stations in the Lichtenberg district, video surveillance guarantees security.

Fittings

Since the extensive renovation work in the 1990s, some of the original fittings have been removed on the outdoor area, as the following gallery shows:

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More on the site

Between the buildings some rare (and later have over the years conservation Asked) trees such as poplars , ash and maple been planted. 16 of these trees are no longer roadworthy because of “massive age-related damage” and have to be felled, according to the opinion of the Green Spaces Office from 2015. The press release from February 2016 also states: “According to the Tree Protection Act, almost all trees affected are classified as pollutant level 3. [...] for this pollutant level no mandatory substitute measures are planned. The Berliner Wasserbetriebe therefore only has to plant four young native deciduous trees with a trunk circumference of 14 to 16 cm as substitutes. "

literature

• Sabine Röck, Hilmar Bärthel, Peter Güttler: Berlin and its buildings . Part X: Urban engineering . Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2006, ISBN 3-86568-012-7 .
• Jan-Michael Feustel : Walks in Lichtenberg. Berlin reminiscences, No. 75 . Haude & Spener, Berlin, 1996, ISBN 3-7759-0409-3 , p. 42 ff.

Web links

Commons : Zwischenpumpwerk Lichtenberg  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Homepage of the district office for the intermediate pumping station

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Shahrooz Mohajeri: 100 Years of Berlin Water Supply and Wastewater Disposal 1840-1940 on books.google.de, Franz Steiner Verlag 2005, p. 105 ff. (Digitized version )
2. ↑ ^{a b} Sebastian Höhn: Too nice for vacancy , supplement Lichtenberg-Hohenschönhausen, April 26, 2013.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Röck, Bärthel: Berlin and his buildings , p. 70.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Röck, Bärthel: Berlin and his buildings , p. 352.
5. ↑ Landsberger Chaussee . In: Address book for Berlin and its suburbs , 1900, V, p. 105.
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Guided tour for interested parties on March 8, 2007 by Mr. Kremse and Mr. Deckwert from Berliner Wasserbetriebe (headquarters in Berlin-Friedrichshagen)
7. ↑ American bomb defused . In: Neues Deutschland , March 28, 1980; accessed on February 27, 2015.
8. ^ Röck, Bärthel: Berlin and his buildings , p. 97.
9. ↑ Monument intermediate pumping station Lichtenberg, Landsberger Allee 230
10. ^ View of the Lichtenberg intermediate pumping station (municipal waterworks) on the Berlin city map from 1926  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ).
11. ↑ ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Expert opinion for the paths on the premises of the ZPW. ) On: p2mberlin.de , accessed on February 27, 2015.
12. ↑ ^{a b} Ingo Rössling: Gastro-König takes over Lichtenberger Wasserwerk ( Memento from February 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on December 30, 2016.
13. ^ Claudia Fuchs: Wellness for the water storage. Ikea is building on Landsberger Allee. Maybe other investors will follow suit soon . In: Berliner Zeitung , May 28, 2009.
14. ↑ ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Homepage Architects Remtec with the specific project for the conversion ).
15. ↑ ( page no longer available , search in web archives: BPlan 11-56 VE statement ) from 2011 (PDF; 831 kB).
16. ^ Christian Hunziker: Struggle for a sports store and storm in the water tank . In: Der Tagesspiegel , January 12, 2012; Retrieved December 20, 2013.
17. ↑ About us - City Wave , accessed February 25, 2020.
18. ↑ Melanie Reinsch: Surfing on the pole . In: Berliner Zeitung , February 23, 2020, p. 23 (print edition).
19. ↑ Homepage of the Wellenwerk Berlin
20. ^ Richard Schultze: Berlin municipal waterworks. Tool shed and workers' room (1889) in the holdings of the Architecture Museum of the TU Berlin
21. ↑ ( page no longer available , search in web archives: project overview residential and commercial buildings ) on uweknoerck.de; accessed on February 27, 2015.
22. ↑ Press release from the Lichtenberg District Office, February 22, 2016: Tree felling and replacement plantings at Landsberger Allee 230 .

Coordinates: 52 ° 31 '58.7 "  N , 13 ° 29' 25.6"  E