Gasometerbunker Fichtestraße

The Gasometer Bunker on Fichtestraße in Berlin is a historic structure that originally served as one of four gas holders at the city's gasworks. As the oldest surviving gasometer in the city and the only brick-built witness to this technology, the structure dates from 1883 and 1884. Its architecture is defined by orange-yellow facing bricks with red decorative elements, while the cylindrical wall features two rows of round-arched windows and a diamond-pattern frieze of glazed bricks. The roughly 27-meter-high structure is crowned by a distinctive steel-framework dome based on the standard design by Johann Wilhelm Schwedler.

During World War II, the gas holder was converted into a high-rise bunker to provide protection from air raids. The brick facade served as formwork for the massive concrete pour, with the walls reaching a thickness of 1.8 meters and the ceiling three meters. Inside, numerous small shelters were created across six floors, accessed by ring-shaped and radial corridors. The bunker was equipped with an elaborate ventilation system and a Deutz marine diesel engine for emergency power, which is still there today. After the war, the building served a variety of purposes, including as a refugee home, a nursing home, and a homeless shelter, before it stood empty from 1990 and was placed under landmark protection.

Today the bunker is best known for the rooftop apartments completed in spring 2010. High-end condominiums were built beneath the steel dome and are reached via a newly constructed elevator tower on the north side. You can explore the bunker's historic interior on guided tours run by the Berliner Unterwelten association. The tours give you a chance to experience the original bunker structure and see the surviving diesel engine in operation, offering an impressive glimpse into the building's military use during the war.