In this second walk about the Berlin tenements, we will look at the special case of Kreuzberg, in particular at Luisenstadt. Luisenstadt was the name of a former district that corresponds today to the north of Kreuzberg and the south of Mitte. What was very special here was that, alongside the tenements, there was an extraordinary industrial development in the second half of the 19th Century. Thus, to understand the tenements in their context, it is crucial to look at the factory buildings behind them. This urban mixture of buildings and uses was later called Kreuzberger Mischung and, to a limited extent, still survives today.
Because Luisenstadt was developed a couple of decades before Prenzlauer Berg, there is more to explore than factories. The architecture of the houses is subtly different, and the urban design is distinct in Berlin. The quality of the urban form goes back to the approach of the landscape architect that made the design: Peter Joseph Lenné. The Luisenstadt was also much more subject to re-developments than Prenzlauer Berg, so we will see how to make sense of this more heterogeneous city part. The focus is on the period from 1860 to 1915. The developments after the second world war have to stay for a future tour. This walk is more specific and historical than in Prenzlauer Berg, but its contents are enjoyable on their own.
For more details, dates, and availability, please visit the calendar with its event pages. The flyer is available for download here.