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July 11, 2007
Brownstoner in Berlin: Part 1
We landed in Berlin this morning at 8 a.m. and, since we couldn't check into our hotel until noon, went straight to our friends' apartment in Mitte off Prenzlauer Allee. It's in a traditional six-story stucco-style building with wide floor planks and beautiful plaster ceiling moldings. The place has six large rooms off a central hallway with ten-foot ceilings for a total of, we'd guess, about 1,200 square feet. The rent? 675 euros. We'd appreciate recommendations for neighborhoods for us to explore over the next couple of days. Ideas? GMAP
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Comments
Interesting, cheap rent.
But it's a long way from DeKalb.
I thought about 95 percent of the old buildings in Berlin were bombed to lint by the allies in '45.
I guess some neighborhoods were spared?
Posted by: Anonymous at July 11, 2007 10:03 AM
I heard the weather wasn't great right now, but if it gets sunny, explore one of the lakes outside of the city where people swim and hang out, or just park yourself on some nice terrace somewhere, where the Alte Schoenhauser Allee turns into something else. You'll find beautiful brick buildings anywhere in Mitte, but if you walk towards the Sophiesaele (Sophienstraße 18, 10178 Berlin-Mitte) alternative film theater and workshop spaces) you'll find a lot of great Art Nouveau brickwork and terracotta details. Have fun and try to enjoy the city!
Posted by: dropjes at July 11, 2007 10:03 AM
I heard the weather wasn't great right now, but if it gets sunny, explore one of the lakes outside of the city where people swim and hang out, or just park yourself on some nice terrace somewhere, where the Alte Schoenhauser Allee turns into something else north of a big intersection. You'll find beautiful brick buildings anywhere in Mitte, but if you walk towards the Sophiesaele (Sophienstraße 18, 10178 Berlin-Mitte) alternative film theater and workshop spaces) you'll find a lot of great Art Nouveau brickwork and terracotta details. Have fun and do the European, properly- enjoying-your-vacation thing, without checking back with Brooklyn too much.
Posted by: dropjes at July 11, 2007 10:07 AM
kreuzberg is cool as is prenzlauer berg. tiergarten is nice too.
Posted by: brooklynbuyer at July 11, 2007 10:11 AM
i didn't intend a double post, I only hit the 'post' button once. Honest.
10:03:
Cheap rent: yes, and Berlin also has a huge unemployment problem and no industries to speak of. That means there's a great expat scene of people marveling about the cheap rents, which creates a nice mix in the city.
Not everything was bombed. It's just that in East Berlin the commies didn't destroy everything in the name of modernization. like West Berlin did.
Posted by: dropjes at July 11, 2007 10:23 AM
All of Mitte is very amenable and you could comfortably never leave and have a really nice time. But if you do wanna move out in wider circles,
Bergmann kiez (in Kreuzberg) is nice, as is Akazienstrasse in Schoeneberg. In VolksPark Friedrichshain there's a nice beer garden and next door a nicer restaurant with a nice terrace (if it ever stops raining).
Also, drive down Karl Marx Allee: The Stalinist apartment blocks are something to see. (Less impressive inside though). Then turn right and swing through Boxhagener Platz to be reminded of Thompson Square Park. Take Warschauer strasse over the Oberbaum Brucke - which is a beautiful piece of masonry. Go to one of the 'Beach Bars' lining the Spree. Again, if it ever f'ing stops raining.
Another not terrible idea (it'll take a little more than an hour) is to take the 'Ring' S-bahn all the way around.
Charlottenburg is like the upper east side and unless that is where you want to be, good to pass through - just so you can see it. The 'Paris Bar' might remind you of Odeon if you were at the Odeon in the early 90's (and Odeon were smaller).
And going out to the lakes, and/or Potsdamm is a nice way to spend a day.
Eat schrippen, drink Berliner Kindl from the tap. Eat a Currywurst from '61' on Mehringdamm in Kreuzberg.
Posted by: frombklyn at July 11, 2007 10:51 AM
Such beautiful windows/doors.
Posted by: lizzy at July 11, 2007 10:56 AM
"Cheap rent: yes, and Berlin also has a huge unemployment problem and no industries to speak of. That means there's a great expat scene of people marveling about the cheap rents, which creates a nice mix in the city."
I think you are out of date.
"The sharp fall in German unemployment brought the number of jobseekers who have found work in the past year close to 1m, highlighting the robustness of growth in Europe’s largest economy, even as uncertainty about the US outlook increases."
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/675dde32-ddd3-11db-afa7-000b5df10621.html
How comforting it must be to assume new york is the only city that has things right.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 11, 2007 11:13 AM
German unemployment rate is still 8.8 percent, on AVERAGE, and yes Berlin has one of the highest rates in Germany
. Of the companies listed in Germany's benchmark DAX stock index not one is based in Berlin.
Posted by: A German at July 11, 2007 11:29 AM
We definietly welcome you to the stuy. you'll get alot of space without soending alot of cheese
Posted by: anon at July 11, 2007 11:41 AM
Mein Gott, the man lands this morning in a city he's never been in, makes a couple of observations on his blog, and people are upset that he isn't up to date on his geopolitics. Some of you expect an awful lot from people.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 11, 2007 11:44 AM
"German unemployment rate is still 8.8 percent, on AVERAGE, and yes Berlin has one of the highest rates in Germany"
no,
according to the same ft article
"the latest internationally comparable figures released by the Federal Statistical Office put February’s rate at 7.5 per cent."
a few percentage points in difference isn't much. Berlin is a vibrant city, just like new york, and the german economy is no slouch either. Some unemployed east germans does not say anything about relative rents, city to city.
New york real estate values, and rents, are far above their underlying economic value to the owners.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 11, 2007 12:02 PM
To see stark architectural contrasts, take a day trip (or half-a-day, its that close) to Leipzig. A good portion of the City was rebuilt in the socialist-bunker-style school of architecture. However, there are still a few gems that survived the bombings as well as some interesting modern structures.
Posted by: crouchback at July 11, 2007 12:12 PM
i love berlin. i was there 2 weeks ago. kreuzburg is amazing. get off at kottbusser Tor U stop - lots of bars, food and good people watching. or ride a bike - which is the best way to see the city.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 11, 2007 12:38 PM
Ugh! Leipzig is uber-depressing.
Potsdam is nice. Leafy. Nice villas.
The museum island is nice too, some of the galleries are almost empty as most of the art is now in Russia somewhere. Putin's office? Interesting city. Very green, everything is government-subsidized and regulated. The urban planning is very strict as you would expect from the Germans.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 11, 2007 12:41 PM
It is true that the vast majority of the city center was destroyed during the war, but mnay of the outer residential areas survived. Lots of areas, specifically in the east, were actually spared of the Allied bombing. However, much of the area suffered tremendous damage in the actual Battle of Berlin (April 1945). Since the Germans committed such horrible acts in Russia during the war from 1941 until 1944, many Russians were out for revenge when the entered Germany and went about destroying as much of they could.
I've been to Berlin twice. The first time, during the mid 90s, I saw quite a bit of actual damage from the battle. Most of the limestone facades still showed substantial damage from bullets and shrapnel. During the Communist years, most of this damage was never fixed. I'm pretty sure there was a law passed that the facades had to be repaired by the year 2000. When I went back in 2003, it appeared that everything had. Berlin is an intersting place in that it is primarily a modern city since very little of the old architecture survived. However, there still is a lot of great stuff to see.
I'm jealous, I wish I was there now.
Posted by: Brian at July 11, 2007 12:48 PM
I understnd that the Germans are planning to demolish the old Communist People's Hall, which is a bargain-basement Mies knok-off, and rebuild the old Royal Palace in its place. Wild.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 11, 2007 1:27 PM
Check out Friedrichshain/ simon dach strasse, it's what I imagine the east village was like back in the day.
Berlin doesnt have the most vibrant economy but still has a pretty decent quality of life given how cheap everything is there--probably a good half as expensive as London and a cooler city (IMHO).
Posted by: Anonymous at July 11, 2007 2:05 PM
10:23, the east germans just didnt have the money to rip everything down to build new buildings. Which is good, becasue the places where they did build a lot (Marzahn for instance) are really, really hideous.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 11, 2007 2:10 PM
I am liking that pendant light fixture in the dining room. Can you bring us home one?
Posted by: Anonymous at July 11, 2007 2:35 PM
I remember they had Great Flaffel from the street carts. Kreuzberg was nice. For history check out "check point Charlie", That was the gate between the East & west. Try some Bubweiser which has nothing to do woth the US Budweiser. Cheers !
Posted by: brewpez at July 11, 2007 3:05 PM
talk about not being able to take a vacation. brownstoner just changes locations but is still working.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 11, 2007 3:05 PM
Gee, if you hadn't posted that you were in Berlin, those photos could pass for a 2BR brownstone coop on Carroll Street.
Mr. B has a sickness many of us share. Having been through a reno or some other kind of Brooklyn RE trauma (or worse, for some, being in the business as a realtor, GC, architect, plumber, etc.) it is hard to look at the world the same way. I was just in Atlanta and I couldn't stop puzzling over things like why the brickwork on some of the new houses there looks so much better than here, or whether I liked how the wood or hardiplank siding met the corner pieces. Once you've been through it, this stuff sticks in your head like AM radio songs from when you were eight. Mr. B is doing the only sane thing by trying to make a living off his sickness. The rest of us are stuck reading and commenting for free.
So go ahead, Mr. B, enjoy your trip, spend a few minutes on art or music or food just to preserve the rpetense of sanity. The rest of us are salivating at the thought of more pictures of Berlin architecture.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 11, 2007 4:25 PM
I LOVE Berlin! Went there this past fall.. stayed in Mitte as well with some friends. The art scene is fantastic and the overall vibe is NYC circa 1980 without the crime. I would move there if I could...
Posted by: Anonymous at July 11, 2007 4:56 PM
Check out KREUZBERG for SUre!! that was Hipsterville in the 90's and still had buildings bombed out from 1945...lots of cool Turkish places...very interesting where the wall used to stand.
Posted by: Tom G. at July 11, 2007 5:00 PM
Berlin rocks...great place for artists, especially ones who actually make a little money. if you are earning 20,000 a year, doesn't matter where your market is, you can live well there. Try doing that in NYC.
Posted by: jvf at July 11, 2007 11:11 PM
Bomb Berlin and finish it off for gut!
Posted by: anon at July 13, 2007 7:19 AM
I lived in Berlin for 3 years. There are so many apartments, and the rent is so cheap that it kind of doesn't make sense to buy. There is not a huge ecomony there (try frankfurt or hamburg for that). Its a lot of students, punks and partying ex-pats. Germans who want to make money move somewhere else. Many live in Berlin just for their wild years and then move on.
That said, its not a little village and Germany has one of the largest economies in Europe. The gloom factor comes from comparing it to the ecomonic miracle up through the 80s.
The question is always: will the RE market go up and when ? Way too many open properties. Apts go unrented for months, some for years. Brokers look desperate and they don't make much money. Prime neighborhoods are going up slowly, but Berlin is geographically huge and has only 3-4 million people. The hipster neighborhoods are a very very small sector, so while Freidrichshain gets overrun by lame restaraunts, there is still Lichtenberg next door for the hipsters to move to.
for your vacation ? go to Panorama :) don't arrive before 5am.
Posted by: felix at July 13, 2007 3:40 PM
It's unoccupied bucause it is uninviting.
Posted by: anon at July 17, 2007 6:56 AM
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