| Steglitzer Kreisel | |
|---|---|
 Steglitzer Kreisel in 2012 | |
| General information | |
| Status | Completed |
| Type | Office (originally) |
| Location | Steglitz, Berlin |
| Construction started | 1968 |
| Completed | 1980 |
| Opening | 1980 |
| Cost | 323 million DM |
| Owner | Consus Real Estate (since 2020; previously CG Group in 2017, before that Becker & Kries and Land Berlin) |
| Height | |
| Roof | 119.00 m (390.42 ft) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 32 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Sigrid Kressmann-Zschach |
The Steglitzer Kreisel is a building complex with a high-rise building from the 1970s in the Berlin district of Steglitz in the southern area of Schloßstraße diagonally opposite the Steglitz town hall.
The main part of the complex is a 120 m high former administration building with 30 floors, one of the highest skyscrapers in Berlin, which housed the Steglitz-Zehlendorf district office until the end of 2007 and which has been empty since then. The base building also houses a BVG bus station with access to the Rathaus Steglitz subway station, a hotel and numerous shops; a parking garage adjoins it. The building is being converted into a residential high-rise as of 2015.
Planning and construction
Construction of the complex began in 1968 according to plans by the architect Sigrid Kressmann-Zschach. The estimated costs of 180 million DM were borne partly by the Berlin Senate and partly by the architect's property development company Avalon. Construction work was stopped again in 1974 ( see below ).
After demolition of the ruins had already been considered, the building was bought at auction in 1977 by Becker & Kries, who completed the roundabout for 95 million marks. After its completion in September 1980, the construction costs for the complex amounted to 323 million DM (adjusted for purchasing power in today's currency: around 395.9 million euros). Until the base was sold in 2015, the Steglitzer Kreisel was owned by the Becker & Kries community (owner of the base) and the State of Berlin (owner of the tower).
Since no tenant could be found for the offices after the high-rise was completed, the Steglitz district office finally moved into the complex. The consortium (Arge) BV: Steglitzer Kreisel consisted of the companies Anton Schmittlein Bauunternehmung, Wiemer & Trachte, FC Trapp, Siemens-Bauunion, Heibus Bauunternehmung, and Sager & Woerner.
It is rumored that a civil defense system was installed in the parking garage for some members of the American armed forces. The architect Ms. Kressmann-Zschach also created such a system in connection with her Ku'damm-Karree project.
History of the site
The current site of the Steglitzer Kreisel used to be the southern part of the estate village of Stegelitz, which was in a remote peripheral location until the construction of the first paved street in Prussia, later Reichsstraße 1 (afterwards: Bundesstraße 1), in 1792. There were four houses here. In 1801, Carl Friedrich von Beyme bought the estate village and in 1806 abolished the hereditary subservience of the farmers, so that the area became farmers' land.
In 1828 or 1831, Carl Stephani founded an inn on Albrechtstrasse. In June 1840 the Steglitz Railway Theater was opened on its premises. Comedy and musical plays were performed on the stage set up in an octagonal wooden house, including the then famous Karl Unzelmann . The theater only existed for two years.
The inn was taken over by Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Albrecht in 1863 and continued to operate under the name Albrechtshof. According to one source, “a multi-purpose building with a hotel, restaurant and theater” was said to have been built that year, but the first construction work was probably limited to the garden hall and orchestra stage. In 1871, Albrecht planted an oak tree that still stands today. The Albrechtshof was only significantly expanded in 1904/1905 with the construction of the multi-storey house at Schloßstrasse 82/83. The Albrechtshof-Lichtspiele cinema with 700 seats has also existed here since 1912.
The remaining part of the site remained agricultural. A photo from 1904 shows the Berlinickes' simple farmhouses on Schloßstrasse, while behind the railway line in the Berlinickestrasse area there are already multi-story residential buildings. As late as 1936, the restaurant kept twelve pigs and 500-600 chickens in the Albrechtshof, and residents of the houses directly opposite at Kuhligkshofstrasse 3-5 complained about the noise and the “stench”. After severe damage in the Second World War, the cinema was rebuilt in a simplified form in 1948 with only 480 seats and existed until 1967. After that, all buildings on the site were demolished.
The Steglitzer Kreisel was built on the block of the former properties at Schloßstrasse 71-85, Albrechtstrasse 1-6, Kuhligkshofstrasse 1-25 and Birkbuschstrasse 96-98, minus a southern section on which the west tangent was built. Albrechtstrasse and Kuhligkshofstrasse were widened and pivoted towards the block, creating some space for Hermann-Ehlers-Platz and the motorway to be enlarged. Schloßstrasse was also widened. Only the peace oak planted by Albrecht in 1871 in front of the property at Schloßstrasse 81 remained standing and is still there today. The other house numbers, Schloßstrasse 78-82, Albrechtstrasse 1-3 and Kuhligkshofstrasse 1-4, that are used today for the building complex were completely redistributed.