Superb restoration
Impressive Berlin residential building repaired and modernised
The impressive rental house in Berlin's Oranienburger Straße with the number 16, which was constructed in 1880 and was recently carefully restored in detail, is subject to heritage protection. The modernisation received one of four distinguishing acknowledgements in the competition for "Germany's most attractive restoration". The competition is held every two years and is promoted by Caparol Farben Lacke Bautenschutz. The jury is composed of chief editors of the application-worker and housing industry press.
In Spandau's suburbia
Today the Spandau suburbia presents itself to visitors from all over the world as a model example for municipal heritage protection in contemporary urban revitalisation. It is a district with attractive, unmistakeable charm and lively, mixed usage. The building in Oranienburger Straße 16 is located directly opposite Monjibou Park with a visual link to the Museum Island and the former castle square.
The close visual link to the impressive civic architecture was taken up and addressed during the planning at the end of the 19th century. Under the motto "Living as in a castle", high quality apartments with spacious four and a half metre high rooms were created which were fitted with panel parquet and wide double doors. A further special feature are the large maid's rooms which extend above the corridors and bathrooms. Within the scope of the reconstruction they were restored for contemporary utilisation.
The apartments at the rear look out onto spacious green areas and are equipped with balconies. Bright, sunny apartments for people with mobility problems have been created in the basement. During the restoration period the tenants moved into other apartments belonging to the residential property company.
The architect, Anne Lampen who was commissioned for the repair and modernisation, says, "The repair of the plaster, the stucco work and the decorative design of the street and courtyard facades was carried out in consultation with the architectural heritage authorities. The formerly richly decorated facade had been completely removed during earlier repair work and replaced with scraped rendering. After removing the scraped rendering the remainder of the original facade design with pronounced boss elements was visible up to the first storey. By exposing the boss elements the former grouping was recreated in a simple shape. In the upper storeys the profiling has been reduced."
The stairways
The impressive main stairway forms, by today's standards, the extraordinary hallmark of the building. It was restored carefully and with much love for detail. The wooden parts of the double-flight staircase with antechamber and through passage were largely in good condition, even though there was severe wear or damage in some parts.
All wooden parts were carefully cleaned. Damage was rectified. The original painting of the underside of the stairs with stencilled friezes was exposed and completed. On the walls the elaborate stucco-lustro coating was cleaned carefully. Small imperfections were touched up. The colour design corresponds to the historical painted coating which is documented in the expert restoration assessment. Also, the two other stairways in the wings were repaired. The modernisation work took almost two and a half years and required a financial outlay of 3,370,000 euros. An example of a former impressive lifestyle that is well worth seeing has been retained which also provides clear proof of the extent of hand-crafted art at the end of the 19th century.
Photographs: Anne Lampen
