And for today another station on the line U3 that I want to present. Hohenzollernplatz. As you know from the last post it is another station designed and constructed by Wilhelm Leitgebel in 1913.

The seiling is very low, yet it doesn´t feel opressive as its structure is perfectly accentuated due to the use of light and shadow.

take a close look to the seilings

Who is Wilhelm Leitgebel? That is a question that I was not able to answere even after unbelieveable 20min of internet research. So why do I care? Well, after I found out that he was responsible for many classy underground stations in Wilmersdorf, I wanted to pay tribute to him by presenting him to you. But…no way.

underground owl

All I can tell you is that he was a Wilmersdorfer functionary and architect in 1913, who has designed U Bahnhof Hohenzollern Platz, Fehrbelliner Platz , Heidelberger Platz, Rüdersheimer Platz and last but not least Breitenbachplatz.

All those stations have some really special details to discover. While taking the pictures I didn´t even notice how time passed by.

So, that´s it… tribute paid. At leat for as much as I could…

almost cathedrallike

Visiting a friend last week I had to go all the way to Onkel Tom´s Hütte (U3). It´s been a long way, but some of the underground stations totaly made up for it! As you might have noticed I´m kind of into design and thus interested in everything concerning architecture, lights, colours, proportions, patterns, material, surfaces,…simply everything that makes my eyes happy. And one of those stations was Heidelberger Platz. 1913, architect Wilhelm Leitgebel, who is also responsible for some more classy stations of the U3, wanted to design a station looking like a cathedral using stone and tiles.

look out for details

The entire construction is pretty impressive, especially those big lights hanging from the seiling. Everything kind of gives you the feeling like you were in the middle ages. And if you are bored waiting for your train, just take a look at the walls and find out about the city after which the station has been named: Heidelberg.

Entrance Klosterstraße

So here beautiful Klosterstraße:

Klosterstraße is one of my favorite stations in terms of  art and design. The ArtDéco Style and the yellow light which makes you feel like you were in some public space design exibition in the 1920, are perfectly capturing the time in which it has been build up. U Bahnhof Klosterstraße has been built in 1913 shortly before world war 1 and is today part of the line U2. It has sustained some damage during the two world wars, but fortunately it has been reconstructed in 1987 and thus became a tangible museum.

history of S-Bahn and BVG trains

Presented are trams and S-Bahn trains which have been used throughout the time.

The yellow light makes everything appear to have a very soft contour and even makes trash look arty. When you enter the station the ArtDéco designs made of blue and yellow tiles always make me feel like I´ve stepped back in time.

So if you ever pass it, take a minute and have a look. It´s worth it!

LISTEN

And as I have found lots of beautiful stations during the last days I wanna show you some of those as long as they still exist, because you never know were the next vitreous monster settles…(see Ostkreuz)

• U-Bahn Museum: Here you can see stuff like “the original ball from the top of a tower on the Oberbaum” – fished out of the Spree River- Awesome!! But, hä?? Nobody knows what that´s supposed to be, I guess that´s how they catch interest for it…

  

  don´t lose yourself underground

• Tunnel Walking Tour: This is where you should watch yourself, because I don´t know how a guide has an eye on 45 people at a time down there. I´m sure he/she does! But yet they assume no responsibility for “lost” people. Better train your orientation before you go in there.

• Street Car Simulator: Here in Lichtenberg you have a great chance of driving a Tram through virtual Berlin for only 60€!! If you can manage to get there on one of the two Thursdays they have opened  in a month between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Oh, and by the way a tour lasts 30 min. They have one simulator. Make the math yourself…what an offer… (I still prefer to take a ride on Berlin´s Party Tram, M10, on a Saturday night)
  

  go try to get a ride

  • Renting Historical Vehicles: Now this is cool for grandma´s birthday! Let´s just hope grandma´s got lots of friends to split the 260€ an hour (without taxes) with them.

  So, if you make a short trip to Berlin, make sure you´ve gotten the right timing to experience all this! But remember: The museum is open every second Saturday of the month, the tunnel walking tour is usually booked up and there are no advanced reservations (?!), the street car simulator opens its doors every second and forth thursday of the month and make sure that you are one of those eight lucky people a day, for the night time tunnel ride ensure that you are full of coffein for catching this wonderful impression of Berlin´s night light missing out the underground tunnels and at the end don´t forget to time your trip at grandma´s birthday and start saving now!

To my right there was a young couple sitting, heading home I guess. In front of them sat a guy, dressed all in black, talking on the phone extremly loud. But that was ok, since I was listening to music and just turned it up a bit. Then far in front of me was another guy, old, creepy and mubling and starring at all the people. But ok…far away…

After the first station though everything started. The mumbling guy was not mumbling anymore, he was actually holding a clearly understandable monolog. Because I wanted to better understand him (just in case…) I turned down the music. Now I figured that I still can´t understand him, because the guy in black was still talking on the phone. And what I heard didn´t really help the situation: “I know that he is in trouble because he didn´t contact his probation officer. I didn´t do it either, but…” and the conversation went on like this. And the guy far away: still talking and starring, talking and starring.

Yet I thought, ok, there´s still the couple. I´m not all alone… Then the mumbling guy got up walking straight towards us other people saying out loud something like: “The OPUS E has the best people! They have the best priests! Working with the CIA…”. The guy in black still busy with his friends and his own legal problems. After another station the couple got off. I was alone. Well, good, I thought. Only three more stations for me.

Greifswalder Straße: Finally, I thought as the door opened and I expected someone to get in to share my uncomfortability. But then an old guy with pit bull and six pack entered, welcoming everybody with a loud burp. Guy in black still on the phone, mumbling guy walking back and forth: “They´ve fought Saddam three times!…and they won…the OPUS E…”

So there we were: A criminal on the run, a schizophrenic, a drunk guy with his pit bull and me. Brilliant. One station to go. Luckily only one. As we approached Schönhauser Allee the guy in black hung up and could focus his full criminal attention on the mumbling guy. There was a “Shut the fuck up”, there was a “What did you say??”. Guy in black got up and hustled the mumbling guy. Pit bull started barking. Mumbling guy hustled back. Door opened. I was out.