Kant-Garage, also known in German as Kant-Garagen-Palast (Kant Parking Palace), is a

multi-storey car park A multistorey car park (Commonwealth English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistorey, parking building, parking structure, parkade (Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck, or indoor parking, is a building designed fo ...

on Kantstrasse in the

Charlottenburg Charlottenburg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a German town law, town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Kingdom ...

area of

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

that opened in 1930. The first multi-level parking garage in Berlin, and considered to be one of few existing examples of industrial

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...

architecture, it is registered as an historic building and is still used for car parking, although its future is in doubt.

Background and design

Kant-Garage was designed by architect Hermann Zweigenthal (also known as Hermann Herrey) and Richard Paulick in collaboration with entrepreneur and engineer Louis Serlin. The engineering of the design was the creation of the firm Lohmüller, Korschelt & Renker. It is a six-storey garage with 300 parking spots, 200 of which were designed as boxes with steel doors to meet fire regulations. The back of the building is covered with a curtain wall. The ramp-system of the garage – a double-helix ramp, also known as a double-spiral ramp – was the first of its kind in Germany. Today, it is considered unique as the oldest garage with this style of ramp in Europe, and the second oldest in the world. The garage was registered as an historic monument in 1991, and is considered an important example of inter-war automotive architecture. Its future is uncertain as its owner has applied for it to be demolished.

References

External sources

* ''Bauwelt'', 1930, Heft 42, S. 1350–1351. * ''Die Form'', 1932, Heft 8, S. 247, 251–254. * ''L’architecture d’aujourd hui'', 1932/1933, Heft 5, S. 42–44. * Jan Gympel: ''Schrittmacher des Fortschritts – Opfer des Fortschritts? Bauten und Anlagen des Verkehrs.'' (Schriftenreihe des Deutschen Nationalkomitees für Denkmalschutz, Band 60). Bonn 1999, S. 34. * ''Bauwelt'', 2004, Heft 17, S. 14–19
''Parkplätze Dreihundert''. In: ''Baunetzwoche'', Nr. 239, 16. Sept. 2011, S. 8–10 PDF in German

* [https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/20/world/europe/uncertainty-surrounds-a-palace-of-parking-in-berlin.html?src=me ''Uncertainty Over a Palace of Parking'' - Berlin Journal, The New York Times, August 20, 2013, by Melissa Eddy]

Gallery

Bundesarchiv Bild 102-10459, Berlin, Garagenhochhaus.jpg, Interior, 1930 Kantgarage Berlin Wendelrampe Abfahrt 2007.JPG, Interior, 2007 Bundesarchiv Bild 102-13123, Berlin, Auto-Hotel.jpg, Glass curtain wall, 1929/30 Kantgarage Berlin Vorhangfassade 2007.JPG, Glass curtain wall, 2007 {{coord, 52, 30, 21, N, 13, 18, 43, E, region:DE-ST_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Buildings and structures completed in 1930 Buildings and structures in Berlin Garages (parking)