TARGET 160921

THE BEER BRUSH TOWER

According to the designer of this building in Berlin, Germany, it was supposed to look like a tree. It doesn't. To the populace of the city, it quickly became known as "The Beer Brush" ("Bierpinsel") building. Why? Because it has roughly the same shape as a brush that sits beside the dish sink in Bierstubes (bars) and at Bierfests (beer festivals).


Not to be confused with a beer "bottle brush", used for cleaning out beer bottles, a "beer brush" is a brush that stands upright beside the dish sink so the used Biersteins (beer glasses) can be shoved down onto the brush, quickly cleaning the glass and getting it ready for the next customer.


The building was originally called the "Tower Restaurant Steglitz". It was built over a four-year-period in the 1970s to house a very fancy restaurant, shops, several pubs and a discotech. The novelty of the building and its elevated (46 meters/151 feet) view of the city around it were supposed to draw customers..


It didn't. Businesses that started there quickly went broke and the building was eventually sold in 2002. By 2006 no businesses wanted to be located there and it stood closed and empty. The new owner bought it for its location and wants to rebuild the entire area, which means demolishing the iconic structure. But humans have a certain love for the downtrodden, so its destruction has been met with enough criticism to stop it from being demolished. It has become a sort of historic part of the city and is also an extremely well-know reference point ("Our store is just three blocks from the Bierpinsel.").







It has now become a favorite place for advertising billboards and grafitti, but is kept lit at night as a notable reference point in the city. At the time of the writing of this Target of the Week, though, its future is uncertain.

FEEDBACK MAP



If you got impressions for which this feedback is insufficient, more information,
pictures and videos can be found at the following web sites:

AmusingPlanet.com
AtlasObscura.com
Wikipedia.com
UrbanGhostsMedia.com
Alamy.com (copyrighted pictures from all angles)
DesigningBuildings.com
AbandonedBerlin.com (full history of the building)