AM TACHELES: Five amazing details about the history of the site in Berlin-Mitte
You
have almost certainly heard the saying that claims “a cat has nine
lives.” Well, you could probably say the same for the area around what
used to be the Kunsthaus Tacheles art center at the intersection of
Friedrichstraße and Oranienburger Strasse in Berlin-Mitte. In fact, the
site has already enjoyed nine lives: as the Friedrichstraßenpassage
department store, as a show room and House of Technology by the
electrical company AEG, as a prison, as a school for artists, as the
headquarters of the Free German Trade Union Federation, as a dance
school, as a nightclub, as a cinema, and finally as an art center. Now,
the site is about to embark on its tenth life as a new urban quarter.
Given the excitement surrounding Am Tacheles, we thought we’d delve
into the site’s eventful history to uncover five astonishing yet less
widely known details just for you.
Cyclopean style
The Friedrichstraßenpassage’s distinctive architecture is widely accredited as being a preeminent example of what became known in German architectural circles as the “Cyclopean style.” Based on designs from the architect Franz Ahrens, the five-story reinforced concrete structure was constructed between 1907 and 1909, cleverly combining the hallmarks of both a department store and a shopping arcade. The numbers alone underscore the colossal nature of the undertaking: 10,000 square meters of floor space, a 150-meter passage and a 48-meter-high domed room with a diameter of 28 meters. It was the building’s monumental scale that earned it the moniker of “Cyclopean.” In German architecture, the Cyclopean style describes architecture that eschews traditional standards and embraces large-scale physicality.
Europe’s longest pneumatic tube system
Measuring 21,000 meters, Europe’s longest pneumatic tube system
served a central point-of-sale terminal with 150 cash registers in the
Friedrichstraßenpassage. This was a particularly innovative concept at
the time and allowed many stores to join together as a retail
association and conclude their sales at a central terminal. Using air
pressure, cartridges with money and receipts were sent to the central
cash desk in a matter of seconds. After a sale was logged, the
customer’s receipt and change were then transported back via the same
system. In architectural terms, the stores also overlapped, as is
usually the case in a passageway, and their sales and display spaces
merged into one another. However, the innovative business model
developed by Otto Markiewicz wasn’t enough and the
Friedrichstraßenpassage failed only six months after opening. In 1909,
the department store mogul Wolf Wertheim rented the complex and
transformed it into a department store that would last until 1914.
Blue, red and yellow hall
Among the Friedrichstraßenpassage’s absolute highlights were its
special halls. These were designed to give tenants the perfect spaces to
present their wares. These unique showcases included the Blue Hall,
whose walls were partly covered in blue velvet. The hall’s ceilings
soared to an impressive 7.5 meters high and the upper section of the
hall was covered with modern Silhyo panels made of porcelain enamel. The
high-end interior was rounded off with a bronze bay window, ceiling
frescoes, wooden mosaic windows and windows with lead glazing.
The Red Hall featured floor-to-ceiling mahogany wall paneling and was
complemented by a gallery, also in mahogany. This hall also boasted a
wooden mosaic floor and a richly decorated ceiling.
The two-story Yellow Hall was named for the pillars supporting the
overhead gallery, which were clad in yellow Siena marble. The gallery
housed light polished oak dressing rooms for the store’s female
customers. Many years later, this Yellow Hall became the Kunsthaus
Tacheles theater hall.
The birth of the show room
You probably think of show rooms as something entirely modern. In
fact, the show room concept was already popular in the 1920s – in a
particularly splendid way. In 1927, the electrical company AEG moved
into the former Friedrichstraßenpassage department store and created a
show room to display its products and advise its customers. As a result,
this monumental building was given a new name, “House of Technology,”
which it kept all the way through to 1945. On the first floor alone,
AEG had 20 large display windows. In addition, the building gave AEG
more than 10,000 square meters of sales and office space. In special
rooms, the company could showcase its entire product range. There was
even customer consultation service in a specially equipped lighting
demonstration room, while cooking demonstrations highlighted the
benefits of the latest home appliances.
After the Second World War, the building served as a school for artists,
a cinema and as the headquarters of the Free German Trade Union
Federation. In the 1980s, the East German government had the famous
domed building demolished. At the time of reunification, the site’s
remaining structures were scheduled for demolition, although this was
prevented by an artists’ collective, who occupied the site and turned it
into an art and cultural center.
A new slice of city
From its early life as a magnificent shopping arcade and department
store to twenty years as a near-derelict but vibrant art center, a new
slice of Berlin is now being created on the site of the former Kunsthaus
Tacheles. Combining living, working and shopping, the quarter’s master
plan is the brainchild of the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron,
who also famously designed the Elbe Philharmonic Hall in Hamburg, the
Allianz Arena in Munich and the National Stadium in Beijing.
The new life of AM TACHELES has just begun: Construction work is in full swing and is expected to be completed in 2023.
Click on the links to learn more about AM TACHELES and VERT by Herzog & de Meuron, the first of the quarter’s five stunning residential buildings.
Photos:
Stairs AM TACHELES Showroom (1): Tim Krüger
Construction site (2): Christian von Steffelin
Construction site (3): Nils Schirmer
Sources:
https://industrie-kultur.de/ik/2017/01/26/berlin-von-der-friedrichstrassen-passage-zum-tacheles-eine-fruehe-mall-und-ihre-wechselvolle-geschichte-fotoausstellung-im-deutschen-technikmuseum/
https://berlingeschichte.de/lexikon/mitte/f/friedrichstrassen_passage.htm
https://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/denkmal/liste_karte_datenbank/de/denkmaldatenbank/daobj.php?obj_dok_nr=09035146
http://www.bushtrash.de/bilder/tacheles/tacheles.htm