On 8 January 2018 the Bürgerverein Hansaviertel e.V. received the Ferdinand-von-Quast medal from the hands of Senator of Culture Klaus Lederer. This medal has been awarded since the 750th anniversary of the city of Berlin in 1987. It is named after Ferdinand von Quast, the architect and employee of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, who was born in Neuruppin in 1807 and died in Berlin in 1877. In July 1843, King Friedrich Wilhelm IV appointed von Quast as curator of the monuments in Prussia.
The winners are many private house owners, but also the architectural historian Julius Posener, Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, the painter Manfred Butzmann, many civic associations, the Association of Architects and Engineers.
In 2018, the Bürgerverein Hansaviertel e.V. and the Rockband Rammstein received the award for the careful renovation of a large industrial hall in Pankow. The stage and concert equipment will be stored in this hall, as well as the band’s offices. The senate praised the area surrounding the hall for having been saved from further deterioration.
Barbara and Hans-Dieter Jaeschke received the Quast Medal for the renovation and conversion of the Prenzlauer Berg public swimming pool in Oderberger Straße. This monument to the bathing and hygiene culture of the imperial era was inaugurated in 1902 according to the plans of Ludwig Hoffmann, a municipal building inspector. It was shut down in 1986 and stood empty for decades. Barbara Jaeschke, head of the language school located directly next to the swimming pool, and her husband took over the building in 2012. It was converted into an extension of the school, a hotel and an event venue. And now you can swim there again.
The Bürgerverein, founded in 2004, is committed to the preservation of the Hansaviertel, which was built in 1957 as part of the International Building Exhibition and as the flagship of West Berlin. In the 90s, the Senate Building Administration was convinced that the Hansaviertel had to be densified in order to lead it back onto the tracks of “European” urban development. The fact that this did not happen can also be attributed to the commitment of the residents and their association. Above all, however, they made the general public and politicians aware that the Hansaviertel is a gem of Berlin and belongs on the World Heritage list.
translated with deepl
