art:berlin - Rummelsburg: From orphanage, prison and reform school to townhouse and studio quarter on the waterfront for high earners

Opposite the Stralau peninsula is Rummelsburg Bay. On the banks of the Spree - just outside Berlin - market gardens, fisheries and a dairy were built. The latter was converted by the wine merchant Rummel into the Rummelsburg inn. In the second half of the 19th century, the Friedrich orphanage, the municipal workhouse and the Rummelsburg prison were built here alongside industrial enterprises. On this tour you will learn about the different uses/conversions of these institutions for marginalised groups of society during the Empire, the Weimar Republic and the GDR. The many buildings that still exist were modernised after 1989 and are now available as private flats, offices and studios on the banks of the Spree. The prison where Honecker and Mittag were briefly imprisoned is now an apartment hotel. Numerous apartment buildings and townhouses have been added. Part of the bank was named after the famous DEFA film lovers "Paul and Paula". Opposite the Klingenberg power station was the Lichtenberg municipal river baths, which were heated with the waste heat from the power station in the colder months.