Villa von der Heydt – Classicist Survivor of Nazi Plans

When I got off the M29 at Köbisstraße to visit the Bauhaus Archive, I spotted a beautiful, beautiful classicist mansion right across the street. I only took two quick shots and googled the place later on, as I was curious about the mansion's history.

Turns out it is named "Villa von der Heydt" and it is one of the few remaining villas in "Tiergarten" (name of this area of the city) to survive Nazi urban planning, as well as World War II.

Not particularly well-versed in German history, I was, up to the present day, totally unaware of the Nazi plan to transform Berlin into a Welthauptstadt Germania (World Capital Germania).

According to the Nazi perception, Berlin's architecture was much too provincial – as compared to Paris' splendor, for example – to become the desired World Capital after a no-doubt-soon-to-be-gloriously-won World War II.

So, a word and a blow: Along the lines of Haussmann's redesign of Paris, Albert Speer, the designated architect, wanted to demolish no less than 52,000 homes in order to make room for the ginormous project.

The surviving "Villa von der Heydt" looks back on a, so it seems, quite turbulent history.

Nowadays the seat of the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation), it was built in neo-renaissance style in 1862, by architect Hermann Ende, for Baron August von der Heydt.

After the Baron's sad demise in 1874, his heir rented the mansion out to a Chinese ambassador who – as word has it – used the location to run some kind of rather rambunctious tavern.

Oh, how I wish, I could travel back in time to take some wildly vicious shots of the sappy scenery ...

Afterwards the building was regained by one of the erector's grandnephews who transformed the site into one of Berlin's most brilliant salons.

After World War I the family sold the house to the "General German Sports Association" who, truth be told, didn't care much for work outs, but secretly established an illegal gambling den for its members.

In 1938 the house was bought by the Nazi regime and used as official residence for one of their ministers.

World War II put the beautiful house into ruins, leaving behind only the outer walls and the basement, where candy and chocolate was produced for a while, until the mansion was officially declared a landmark in the late 1960s, which finally led to its reconstruction in 1979.

Bleibtreustraße Berlin

Yesterday I strolled down "Bleibtreustraße" between Kurfürstendamm and city train station "S Savignyplatz", one of my favorite streets in Berlin, because of the gorgeous house fronts and charming little stores, bars and restaurants.

It was a little cold, though, and annoying slips of paper spoiled almost each of the beautiful doors, announcing that some filming will take place there next week and blabla.

So my hands got quite stiff from all the paper slip removal and shutter release button pushing work. "Bleib treu" means "stay loyal" in English and "reste fidèle" in French. The name stems from the German - I believe not so famous - painter of battle scenes "Georg Bleibtreu" and a lot of the shops incorporated his name into their business names.

This must be Rapunzel's Tower

The street won notoriety when – 40 years ago – in a Chicago-style shoot-out by a German gangster group one Iranian pimp was killed and several wounded.  Subsequently the street was nicknamed "Bleistreustraße" which is kinda hard to translate (I need some help here). So, please learn German to figure out what it means.

Sundown over Berlin – View from the Daimler-Chrysler Building

Skyrocket to dizzying heights with Europe's fastest elevator. Soar up to the top of the Daimler-Chrysler building at Potsdamer Platz with a maximum speed of 8.4 meter per second to enjoy the really great view from the platform in 93 meters height. Concerning the fastest elevator ever ridden in Europe, there is a catch, though. Isn't there always a catch? ;)

Due to acceleration and deceleration, this fancy machine needs 20 seconds to reach the platform. Now, this is not as fast as the elevator in Berlin's TV tower "Alex" (needs 40 seconds for 203 meters!), but it is fun anyhow and the platform has no glass barrier, so you can breathe fresh air!

Holy Martha!

This very beautiful red brick house (built in 1912) in Kreuzberg, a stone's throw away from the border of northern Neukölln, holds a very special secret: It covers a backyard Church! Who would have guessed that?

Walk through the gateway and you will be standing right in front of St. Martha, the church of a protestant parish. Built in renaissance style in 1904, the church bears a striking resemblance to the U-Bahnhof "Schlesisches Tor" (one of the first Berlin subway stations). U-Bahnhof

In the seventies the church was split horizontally to make room for indispensable community work: If you enter the church through its main entrance you will find a large hall reserved for inter-cultural and inter-religious open youth work and a kindergarten. Use the stair to get to the room where religious service takes place.

Martha-Gemeinde
Picture of Martha Church in 1904

Get your passport stamped!

You can find that tourist shop at the East Side Gallery. I thought it was a funny idea, until I learned it was a felony ;) in this forum: Beware of criminal passport stamping!
Hilarious! Please read the answer written by "klaush" - it is the third post on the page.

International Boat Party - Weekly Language Party

 Every Wednesday, if you are up to it, you can spend a diverting evening on the "Eastern Comfort", a lounge floating on the river Spree only a stone's throw away from the Oberbaum Bridge.

In addition to meeting people, and hearing (or speaking) a great variety of languages, you can just relax and enjoy the cozy atmosphere close to the fire place while sipping on your drink. A different band is performing every week - starting around 10 p.m.

For details visit Charles Clawson's website: International Events in Berlin

Café Dritter Raum - Parlor with WLAN

Today I visited "Café Dritter Raum", Hertzbergstraße 14 in Neukölln. In addition to the friendly sofa-ish atmosphere and inspiring conversation possibilities, they offer extensive, very reasonably priced breakfast and unlimited WLAN.

Lots of books and newspapers are available for the common and uncommon reader. Visit their website and register for the newsletter to get updated on the weekly program.

I greatly enjoyed my stay and will be back for sure!

Website Dritter Raum