Eisfabrik
Achtung! The Eisfabrik is no longer chilling. It was killed and sanitized, sanitized and killed, to make way for offices or apartments or some other shit. The original post with updates remains below for documentation purposes.
FROZEN OUT ICE FACTORY
An abandoned ice factory sounds cool but I’m sorry to say it’s not. It’s not, because no factory making ice should ever be frozen out, especially if the damned thing is of historical importance, under Denkmalschutz as a protected or listed building. Now they want to destroy it altogether!
The Eisfabrik on Köpenicker Straße had been churning out ice for the inhabitants of this morally-challenged city since 1896 but its chilling activities were halted 99 years later, and it’s been simply chilling since then.
One of the oldest in Germany, it began under the stewardship of Carl Bolle – known affectionately as “Bimmel-Bolle“ (Bell-Bolle) because of the little bells on his dairy trucks – who founded the Norddeutsche Eiswerke (North German Ice-works) in September 1872. He acquired Köpenicker Straße 40-41 in 1893 and began producing ice here three years later.
The Norddeutsche Eiswerke became Germany’s biggest natural ice producers, and Herr Bolle had a larger factory and residential housing built here in 1909/10. More works between 1913 and 1922 saw the building of the boiler house, engine room and three cooling houses, which were insulated with 15cm of cork between the walls.
A great big ice machine from Linde AG was installed in 1914 to make blocks of ice 1.5 meters long. In times without fridges, these were delivered all over Berlin to breweries, pubs, households, fishmongers etc., apparently until the late 1970s at least.
After “The Emergency” (as we Irish like to trivialize World War II) and subsequent partitioning of Germany (which should never to be trivialized), the factory continued in GDR times as the VEB Kühlbetrieb before being heartlessly abandoned by the Berliner Kühlhaus GmbH in 1995. I guess most people had fridges by then.
One of the residential buildings had been destroyed by bombs at the end of the war, but the rest somehow survived the various bombs and several fires – until 2010 that is, when under its “protection” the old cooling houses were ripped down by the Treuhand Liegenschaftsgesellschaft.
The original Treuhand was the state company responsible for the privatization of East German enterprises once the Wall came down, generally responsible for the closing of factories, loss of jobs and selling of assets.
The Eisfabrik is now caught in the web of the huge Mediaspree project which wants to allow corporate greed corrupt Berlin’s riversides with apartments, office spaces and gold mines for investors. I guess this is how they can demolish a listed building.
According to those who want to save Berlin’s Eisfabrik and Wikipedia, the cool houses torn down in 2010 were Europe’s oldest. The rest of the factory is also to be destroyed, except for the apartments currently undergoing modernization (no doubt before the inhabitants are paid to leave so they can be sold at wildly inflated prices).
The ice factory will be replaced by a building made of glass. Berlin is going to the dogs. Not cool.
UPDATE: Monday, December 30, 2013
Der Tagespiegel reports tonight that there is security in place at the Eisfabrik as of today (Monday) and that 50 squatters have been evicted. Of these, 20 Bulgarians with nowhere else to go are to be housed in a hostel in Kreuzberg until January 6. I’m not sure what happens to them after January 6 but apparently the city is working on “a speedy and non-bureaucratic solution.
”The owner of the property, Bochum company Telamon GmbH, is paying the cost of security. Tagespiegel didn’t say whether security was 24 hours or not, but obviously part-time security would be cheaper for Telemon, which was loath to pay for security before…
I suspect all this unwanted attention is a result of the attack on the 20 youths (age 15 to 23) on October 7 last, when they were confronted by two women and two men, one of whom wielded an iron bar. The victims were dragged onto the roof where they were struck by the guy with the iron bar, while the others merely kicked and punched the youths. The perpetrators were not squatters, apparently.
Seven youths were injured, two needed hospital treatment, three of the assailants were arrested, the guy with the iron bar got away, and suddenly the city was aware of the old abandoned ice factory.
There will, of course, be further developments.
UPDATE: Saturday, March 8, 2014
The Eisfabrik is dead, long live the Eisfabrik. I popped down there last Friday, only to have my worst fears confirmed – the Eisfabrik is all bricked up and patrolled by security inside a wire fence. The wire fence is not a problem but the bricks and security are.I’ve updated the guide points below.
There were non-German people still living in tents and teepees beside it – whether they were former evictees who returned is a question I cannot answer – but they were friendly, telling their dog to stop barking at me and beckoning me to proceed.
The security was friendly too. I suppose I was just taking pictures and they didn’t see me as a threat. I asked your wan what the story was. She said security’s been there since Dec. 27, and I guess the brickwork started then too. She pointed out the whole thing was under Denkmalschutz, not that that means anything, and that it was very dangerous – bits of the wall could collapse on your head at any moment, so really, it’s all for my/your own good. She added there were plans afoot to convert it into a conference/exposition center.
Plans tend to be lured astray into lucrative apartments in Berlin, and I’d be surprised if the Eisfabrik didn’t end the same way.
She didn’t know what had happened the former squatters, where they ended up. I thanked her for her time and moved on.
I’d say the rats can’t believe their luck. A whole former ice factory all to themselves, nicely secured and patrolled by security so they’re not bothered by anyone. They’ll get a shock when the investors move in.
LOCATION AND ACCESS (HOW TO FIND GUIDE)
What: Berliner Eisfabrik. Abandoned ice factory, one of Germany’s oldest, which managed to survive two world wars, several fires and countless parties but then met its fate at the hands of developers despite being a protected building. There’s a nice view of the river and my beloved Fernsehturm from the roof, and it’s also home to some fine street art.
Where: Köpenicker Straße 40/41, 10179 Berlin, Germany.
How to get there: It’s very central. Berlin Ostbahnhof is a two minute walk away. Here’s a map to make it even easier.
Getting in: No longer possible. The security is back and all the bottom windows and entrances are bricked up. I mean, maybe it is possible, at night, with a grappling hook and/or a sledgehammer but you’ll either kill yourself or make an almighty racket so it’s probably best just to go to the pub. It used to be a case of simply strolling in past the offices to the left of the factory, ignoring any busybodies on the way, and past the loose fence at the back, but I’m sorry to say that’s no longer the case.
When to go: Nothing stopping you from going any time you want. It used to be a good place for parties – maybe too good. That’s probably why the authorities cracked down and ordered the place closed.
Difficulty rating: 10/10. See the latest update.
Who to bring: It used to that you should bring all your friends and have a party! Or your boyfriend/girlfriend/hermaphrodite-friend for the view from the roof. But now I’m not so sure. You could still have a few drinks beside the river I suppose…
What to bring: Dynamite, bribes for guards, or so much dynamite that you won’t need to bribe them – though that might attract the Polizei’s attention. Use your own discretion.
Dangers: Guards, bricks, Polizei. Otherwise, if you somehow get in, you have the usual ones that come with wandrin’ around a deserted, decaying, crumbling building. Best not to be too averse to the smell of piss. There used to be an abundant supply of lunatics and casual screamers here, though I suspect they’re elsewhere now.
Filed 11/20/2011 | Updated 8/3/2014