Kalkscheune

Kalkscheune stands in Berlin’s Mitte district as a historic building with an industrial interior. Exposed brick walls, tall ceilings, and wooden beams preserve its original character. The building began as a nineteenth-century storehouse for building lime, before serving as a dance hall and storage space. A travelling funfair also once occupied the site.

Johann Caspar Hummel established Berlin’s first machine factory here in 1804, linking the grounds to Berlin’s industrial history. A Berlin fire insurance policy first mentioned the building in 1831. The factory hall later housed the first Prussian bicycle factory, inaugurated by Queen Augusta, and eventually assembled fire extinguishers. A bomb hit during World War Two destroyed the top floor. After expropriation in 1953, monument-appropriate renovation began in 1996 and Rainer Seiferth completed it in 2006.

Today, the complex hosts conferences, parties, exhibitions, performances, and other cultural events. Since 1995, business clients have used its rooms for gatherings that place contemporary work inside a preserved industrial setting.