KulturBrauerei
Where once beer was produced, "culture" is being brewed now. In the former Schultheiss Brewery we find today a museum, clubs, concert halls, restaurants, theatres, publishers and other commercial, charitable and cultural institutions
Jobst Schultheiss (1802-1865) bought the store rooms with connection to a pub on the Schönhauser Allee from the chemist and pharmacist August Heinrich Prell. It was Schultheiss who gave it his name, which later became world famous beer and brewery. In 1864 he sold the firm to the merchant supplier to the court Adolf Roesicke who gave the brewery business to his son Richard. Richard Roesicke became a very successful and also socially and politically engaged entrepreneur who always felt obliged to the welfare of his workers and employees. So the name Schultheiss was preserved. The production was switched from top-brewed to bottom-brewed beer. Business was good and the company was converted into a joint-stock company. In 1880 the Schultheiss brewery introduced the bottled beer. Between 1889 and 1891 Franz Heinrich Schwechten (1841-1924), architect to the court, brought the Romanticism style to the brewery. He created a monumental, industrial complex so typical for that period and enlarged the buildings by a prestigious pub with a beer garden, which became a much frequented destination for excursions of the Berliners. After amalgamations with other breweries, amongst others with brewery Pfefferberg, the Schultheiss-Brewery became the largest beer brewery with a world-wide sales net. During World War II prisoners of war and slave workers from France, Italy, Poland and the Ukraine were forced to work there. After 1945 the company was nationalized and the production stopped. The grounds were used first by a furniture market and after 1970 by the Youth Club "Erich Franz". Since 1974 the brewery buildings fell under state protection as a historic monument. In 1990 the area of 25,000 square metres was taken over by the "Treuhandanstalt" and a non-profit making association was formed to serve the public good with the aim to use the area for cultural purposes. Thus the name "Culture Brewery" was born. In 1995 the whole building complex was handed over to the TLG Immobilien GmbH and an extensive restoration work between 1997 and 2000 stopped the deterioration.
Today the area is the location for the Pankow tourist information and attracts daily various visitorswith versatile event offersto the site.Around the clock, visitors can access per QR CODE info-filmsabout the history of the historicbrewery on their smartphone.