Experience 'Babylon Berlin': Tracing the Weimar Republic

Thanks to the TV series 'Babylon Berlin', the 1920s are more interesting than ever for Berlin travelers. The capital city features many architectural gems from this decade. Those who want to explore them should do so by bike.

Sightseeing and adventure tours following the trails of Berlin during the Weimar Republic have been more in demand than ever since the TV series 'Babylon Berlin'. Many travelers have already let 1920s experts like Arne Krasting show them the preserved buildings of this era in Berlin. The pandemic-induced pause allowed Krasting to write the book 'Whispering Facades'.

His scenically-informative texts and photos help visitors to Berlin trace the spirit of those times on their own. The book also includes four bike tours that Krasting and guest author Christian Tänzler designed together. They traverse through the capital. We present their highlights.

The tour covers a 17-kilometer route from Dahlem to Nikolassee. The first stop is the experimental Schorlemerallee settlement: Here, architects Alfons Anker, Hans, and Wassili Luckhardt tried out new architectural styles in the 1920s - without building owners and their design wishes. The cubic, often white residential houses initially shocked many Dahlem villa owners; later, director Fritz Lang (house number 7) was among the residents.

Also a point of contention and even the subject of the so-called roof war was the woodland settlement in the Zehlendorf district (Onkel Toms Hütte subway station): The modern flat-roof houses by architects Bruno Taut, Hugo Häring, and Otto Rudolf Salvisberg were considered an eyesore by neighbors and architects of an adjacent steep-roof house settlement; some compared them to 'oriental prisons' or called the architectural style 'cigar box art'.

After further exciting stops, the tour ends at the Wannsee beach resort (Wannseebadweg 25) in Nikolassee: The yellow brick buildings - also partly in the style of New Objectivity - were built between 1927 and 1930 after the old beach had become too small. Under the aegis of city building officer Martin Wagner, Berlin received its famous bathtub - including a 1,300-meter-long shoreline with sand from Timmendorfer Strand.

Also worth seeing is the building of Wannsee train station, which was opened in 1928. The expressionist brick building impresses with its octagonal dome - the ticket hall - and pointed arch windows that resemble arcades. According to preservationists, the three entrance arcades with their lights and ceramic reliefs are original in every detail.

The 22.7-kilometer route leads between Friedrichshain and Köpenick past numerous buildings from the Weimar Republic. It starts at the Spree at the egg refrigeration house (Stralauer Allee 1). The nickname egg warehouse was spot on: Up to 75 million eggs were stored here. Built in 1929, the building, with its yellow brick facade with diamond patterns, contrasts with the neighboring red-clad Oberbaum Bridge.

In the neighboring district of Kreuzberg, cyclists will find one of three gas stations from the 1920s in the urban area on Lohmühleninsel: The white building reminiscent of a ship's superstructure (Vor dem Schlesischen Tor 2) is only the remaining part of a former large tank and garage facility with 104 car boxes, a café, and shops. Today, a modern gas station uses the premises.

The tour also leads to a monumental building from that time: Rummelsburg saw the construction of the Lichtenberg Schools between 1929 and 1932 (Schlichtallee). The area, with a secondary school, middle school, community school, and vocational school, was supposed to become Germany's largest school complex with, among other things, seven gyms. Although today's Max Taut School - named after its architect - never reached the planned scale, the building impresses with its length of half a kilometer.

Further highlights of the tour include the Klingenberg power station built in 1925/26 in Rummelsburg (Köpenicker Chaussee) and a police training school built in 1930/31 in Köpenick (Seelenbinderstraße 91). The latter was used as a prison by the Russian secret service after World War II. The bike tour never strays far from the Spree and Dahme rivers and partly leads through the Wuhlheide city forest. It offers plenty of beautiful resting places.

The approximately 15-kilometer-long West tour takes interested people starting at Lietzensee through one of the most known corners of West Berlin - passing by very different buildings in the districts of Charlottenburg and Westend. Worth seeing are, among other things, a park gatekeeper's lodge built in 1925 in the so-called Heimatstil (Wundtstraße 39) in Volkspark Lietzensee, but also an upper post administration built between 1924 and 1928 (Dernburgstraße 48).

The latter appears almost playful: The snow-white building has window and building embrasures in red terracotta and an extension with battlements. The tour also passes the Berlin Radio Tower (Hammarskjöldplatz) - the 146.7-meter-high steel lattice tower was put into operation in 1926. From it, the Witzleben transmitter broadcasted the first still-silent television images in 1929. The Funkturmrestaurant at 50 meters height was restored true to the style of the 1920s.

Just a few meters further, cyclists can take a stop at the broadcasting house built between 1929 and 1931 (Masurenallee 8-14). The building, designed by Hans Poelzig, is worth seeing both inside and out. While the facade appears almost austere due to the dark bricks and red-brown ceramic tiles, the interior impresses with a five-story-high atrium with a glass roof and two massive, octagonal light fixtures. The latter were designed by Poelzig's wife Marlene. Visitors can also see an original preserved broadcasting hall on guided tours (registration required).

Among the other stops on the bike tour are several residential buildings in Westend as well as the Olympiastadion U-Bahn station built in 1929 (Rossiter Platz).

Cyclists taking the 20-kilometer-long North tour can explore the districts of Wedding, Gesundbrunnen, Weißensee, Prenzlauer Berg, and Alt-Hohenschönhausen for traces of the Weimar Republic. Notable sights include the Wedding City Hall (Müllerstraße 146/147), which is simple on the outside and colorful on the inside, as well as the Groterjan Brewery on Prinzenallee 75-79. The latter was Berlin's largest malt beer producer at the time. A 1928/29 constructed administration and bottling building remains; an old Groterjan company sign on a short side of the building recalls the time when caramel beer was a bestseller.

A stop at the former silent film cinema Delphi (Gustav-Adolf-Straße 2) is a must. The outwardly plain and weathered building was opened in 1929 as the last of its kind. Today, Delphi is an art and cultural venue with a dance and music theater and space for rent as an event location. 'Babylon Berlin' fans are familiar with the hall with its vaulted ceiling and shell-shaped stucco arches: It was the filming location for the infamous Moka Efti.

Other stops and possible detours on the Northern bike tour lead cyclists to the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Carl Legien housing estate (Erich-Weinert-Straße), the substation Humboldt in Prenzlauer Berg appearing as a fortress (Kopenhagener/Sonnenburger Straße), and the Dutch Quarter built from 1925 to 1929 in Weißensee (Woelckpromenade/Amalienstraße/Schönstraße/Paul-Oestreich-Straße). The red brick houses with their stepped gables and battlement-like finishes resemble Dutch architectural styles of the 18th century.

Arrival: Train connections to Berlin are available from every major train station in Germany. After a pandemic-imposed break, Flixbus resumed operations in March and offers first long-distance bus connections to Berlin. Those traveling by car can reach the capital from the north on the A 20, A 24, A 11, and A 10, from the east on the A 13 and A 113. Travelers from the south can reach the city on the A 9 and A 10, while from the west, the A 2 and the A 10 are the main routes.

Book: 'Whispering Facades, Berlin Buildings of the Weimar Republic, Time Travels with Arne Krasting', 272 pages, 20 euros, ISBN 978-3-948052-00-3, Regional and Contemporary History Publisher.

Attractions: Author Arne Krasting is co-owner of the city tour provider Zeitreisen. The company is an official cooperation partner of the TV series 'Babylon Berlin' and offers various tours around the series and 1920s Berlin under the name Babylon-Berlin-Tour. The spectrum ranges from city tours in a video bus with film scene presentations to iPad-supported tours to filming locations and original sites to historical special tours.