Centenaries 2007 - Moosdorfstraße in Berlin-Treptow
Posted on October 2, 2007
This coming 15 November is the centenary of the naming of Moosdorfstraße in the Berlin Borough of Treptow-Köpenick.
Treptow is a part of Berlin that until earlier this year, apart from occasionally driving through, I never really had much connection with. But from the first of my now regular visits in September, I noticed straightaway what a real “architectural gem” Moosdorfstraße is. 
Map showing the location of Treptow and the 1896 Industrial Exhibition Grounds.
Map 1896.
A 2007 comparison map can be seen by clicking here!
The street, originally known as “Straße 12″ was re-named on 15 November 1907 after Otto Moosdorf (1864 - 1932), a factory owner who
had moved his Bathroom & Sanitary Ware factory “Moosdorf & Hochhäusler” to Treptow in 1896. From 1904 onwards, Moosdorf was also a member of the local Board of Works and was later decorated by the district for his contributions to public life.
Todays’ Moosdorfer Straße was laid out in 1907 as a means of hiding the “Moosdorf & Hochhäusler” factory buildings from the
neighbouring Treptower Park and the surrounding area, which was inhabited by reasonably well-to-do families.
The park had been the location of the successful 1896 “Gewerbe Austellung”, an Industrial Exhibition on the lines of Britain’s Great Exhibition of 1851, which was
used as a showcase for Germany’s growing industrial might. The site is now the location of the main and very impressive Soviet War
Cemetery in Berlin.
Every house on the street has different design.
I really do love houses like this.
Moosdorfstraße 12.
For my part, it’s not the monumental Stalinist architecture of the War Memorial that I’m interested in, but the architecture of the houses on Moosdorfstraße. 
The changes in the style of the buildings, more rounded than the earlier 1880s and 1890s Berliner Apartment houses,
clearly demonstrates the change of thought that was taking place in the Architectural World at that time.
The window frames have also taken on a much more modern appearance. The transition to the modern post First World War “Art Deco” orThis period, between about 1904
until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 is often glossed over as not being a self-contained epoch, being sandwiched in by the
“Art Nouveau (Jugendstil)” and “Art Deco” (Neue Sachlichkeit) periods, although it is sometimes referred to in German Architectural Circles
as the “Stahlzeit”.
Klaus Schölzel wrote in the 1992 book: 1910 Halbzeit der Moderne:
In diesen Jahren werden die Keime der Moderne gelegt, gleichzeitig sind es die letzten Jahre einer alten Welt, die in der
Katastrophe des Weltkriges untergehen sollte.
During these years, the seeds of the Modern (Architectural) Style were sown. At the same time they were the last years of
the Old World (Order), that would disappear with the catastrophe of the coming of the First World War.
All in all, a wonderfully complete ensemble of houses (not that common in worn-torn Berlin) that have survived, enabling us to see how
developed the ideas in Apartment House design and style were around 1907. Well worth a visit!
Due to changes to the blog server, comments added to this entry before 1 January 2008 have unfortunately been lost.
» Filed Under Berlin, Centenaries, Streetsigns
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