The Bötzow Brauerei (Boetzow Brewery) in Prenzlauer Berg has been in the local Berlin news recently due to the unveiling of its plans for redevelopment. Now owned by prosthetics company 'Otto Bock', the plan is to renew the complex into a mixed used development, including retail, arts, a small brewery and a 'future lab' for the Otto Bock group.
We had gone along to an open day to see the plans several weeks ago, which was frustratingly tantalising as there was only limited areas of the buildings accessible at that time.
Later on I looked into the site and found that semi-regular tours are run, which fascinating to me, provides access to the underground storage areas of the former brewery.
A brief history:
Berlin is a flat city built on swampy land, however Prenzlauer Berg is one of the few areas in the city that has some decent elevation. This meant that the area became popular with brewers as they could dig underground and create large climate stabilised storage areas for their beers.
The Bötzow Brauerei, on Prenzlauer Alle, was established in 1864 and had a relatively short operating life, closing due to damage caused by the scuffle of the Second World War.
One of the most fascinating things about this brewery was that in its day it had a beer garden with a capacity for 6,000 people (yes, 6 THOUSAND)! It must have been an amazing place to be. To put that into perspective for those that live in Berlin, the Prater Biergarten (Berlin's oldest beer garden) has a capacity of 'just' 600.
The tour:
Guided tours are offered for free by the current owners of the brewery. Participants are guided by art history Dr Albrecht and over two hours are given information about the site, its history as a brewery, its postwar use as storage and kindergarten spaces and its post-fall of the wall used as underground techno clubs. About 1 hour of the tour is spent above ground and you are only lead briefly through the buildings before receiving a bit of a lecture from Dr Albrecht. The second part of the tour is a fascinating descent several levels underground to the cold cold (freezing!) world of the storage areas. You will want to bring a warmer coat than you think you need!
Remnants of the past are everywhere, horse stables, beautiful & busted architecture, post brewery indications of club and art use (a boat and a tree deep underground?) and some other remnants on the surface of bygone clubs and former uses- as well as the current use as art gallery and restaurant prior to the sites full redevelopment.
Tour Language Note:
For some reason I thought the tour was in English, but it it 100% in German (looking on the website it doesn't say anything about which language the tour would be in, though the site can easily be switched from German to English. They do run special tours, so perhaps it is possible to request a tour in English, as Dr Albrecht did speak at least a bit of English.
More history, development plans and tour booking information at the Bötzow website.
Photography Note:
At the start of the tour we were given an induction by Dr Albrecht of what was going to happen and hard hats for safety. He mentioned something about photography, which I clarified with him later that taking photos was fine though he implied that the photos could not be used for commercial reasons. With these instructions being in German and Denglish, I present the below photographs with no copyright or other infringement intended!
Bötzow Brauerei
Prenzlauer Allee 242 - 247, Prenzlauer Berg (between Saarbrückerstraße & Metzerstraße)
www.boetzowberlin.de/
We had gone along to an open day to see the plans several weeks ago, which was frustratingly tantalising as there was only limited areas of the buildings accessible at that time.
Later on I looked into the site and found that semi-regular tours are run, which fascinating to me, provides access to the underground storage areas of the former brewery.
A brief history:
Berlin is a flat city built on swampy land, however Prenzlauer Berg is one of the few areas in the city that has some decent elevation. This meant that the area became popular with brewers as they could dig underground and create large climate stabilised storage areas for their beers.
The Bötzow Brauerei, on Prenzlauer Alle, was established in 1864 and had a relatively short operating life, closing due to damage caused by the scuffle of the Second World War.
One of the most fascinating things about this brewery was that in its day it had a beer garden with a capacity for 6,000 people (yes, 6 THOUSAND)! It must have been an amazing place to be. To put that into perspective for those that live in Berlin, the Prater Biergarten (Berlin's oldest beer garden) has a capacity of 'just' 600.
The tour:
Guided tours are offered for free by the current owners of the brewery. Participants are guided by art history Dr Albrecht and over two hours are given information about the site, its history as a brewery, its postwar use as storage and kindergarten spaces and its post-fall of the wall used as underground techno clubs. About 1 hour of the tour is spent above ground and you are only lead briefly through the buildings before receiving a bit of a lecture from Dr Albrecht. The second part of the tour is a fascinating descent several levels underground to the cold cold (freezing!) world of the storage areas. You will want to bring a warmer coat than you think you need!
Remnants of the past are everywhere, horse stables, beautiful & busted architecture, post brewery indications of club and art use (a boat and a tree deep underground?) and some other remnants on the surface of bygone clubs and former uses- as well as the current use as art gallery and restaurant prior to the sites full redevelopment.
Tour Language Note:
For some reason I thought the tour was in English, but it it 100% in German (looking on the website it doesn't say anything about which language the tour would be in, though the site can easily be switched from German to English. They do run special tours, so perhaps it is possible to request a tour in English, as Dr Albrecht did speak at least a bit of English.
More history, development plans and tour booking information at the Bötzow website.
Photography Note:
At the start of the tour we were given an induction by Dr Albrecht of what was going to happen and hard hats for safety. He mentioned something about photography, which I clarified with him later that taking photos was fine though he implied that the photos could not be used for commercial reasons. With these instructions being in German and Denglish, I present the below photographs with no copyright or other infringement intended!
Bötzow Brauerei
Prenzlauer Allee 242 - 247, Prenzlauer Berg (between Saarbrückerstraße & Metzerstraße)
www.boetzowberlin.de/
