Past and Present No. 13: Berlin Bülowstraße Bhf

The station at Bülowstraße was on Berlin’s first U-Bahn line and opened in 1902.  It is now on line U2 on a short section of elevated track that runs from Gleisdreieck as far as Nollendorfplatz after which it continues underground. Despite heavy war damage and a 20 year period out of use (1972-1993) due to geo-politics, the building exterior is as close to original condition as any other example of its age.  Comparison with the period postcard shows that little has been lost other than ornamental flourishes on the train shed and some decorative ironwork.  Bruno Möhring (1863-1929), Jugendstil specialist and skyscraper enthusiast, was the architect - elsewhere in the city he designed the Swinemünder Brücke (1902-1905) that crosses the railway tracks to the east of the station at Gesundbrunnen. Another of Möhring’s notable achievements - the Jugendstil Machine Hall at Zeche Zollern colliery in Dortmund - was featured in this blog in 2017 and can be seen here.

 

Past and Present No. 12: Hamburg Hochbahn

The postcard is captioned – Hamburg, Hafen mit Hochbahn. It dates from 1905-10 and shows a train departing from Landungsbrücken station. Over a century later the details have changed but the topography is easily recognisable. I took the contemporary photo on June 6th. and got as close as possible to the viewpoint of the postcard. To enable a closer comparison, the photo had to be cropped, which all but eliminated the latest addition to Hamburg’s river frontage. The uncropped original shows the elevated railway follows the same path but the skyline is now dominated by the Elbphilharmonie, designed by Herzog and De Meuron and completed in 2017. It’s a remarkable building – the glass walled wedge with pointy roof has been constructed on top of a brick built warehouse dating from 1963. There’s a public observation deck at the point where the two elements meet – as well as fascinating views over the port, it offers the visitor a chance to wander through some of the strange interiors where rippling curtains of curving glass confuse the eye.

Past and Present No. 11: Berlin Elektrische Hochbahn

The waterway is the Landwehrkanal and the lower bridge carries rail traffic to and from the Anhalter Bahnhof some 400 metres to the left. The higher bridge carries the Hochbahn (now U-Bahn 1) between the stations of Gleisdreieck and Möckernbrücke. The vintage postcard shows a distant pitched roof building with an arch. These were the offices of the Berlin Railway Administration and the Hochbahn was routed directly through the archway. The contemporary buildings on the same site are occupied by today’s equivalent – the BVG. On the left of the old card are the offices of the Anhalter Goods Station – this is now the site of the Deutsches Technikmuseum, distinguished by the plane that rests on top of it. The U-Bahn bridge has been stripped of its decorative elements and the Anhalter rail bridge has been replaced by a modern approximation reduced to the status of a footbridge. To see a post from 2011 about the Anhalter Bahnhof, please follow this link.