formely AOK Building

This building was constructed as the central administration building for a public health insurance provider, the Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse Berlin. The structure, whose sculptural, richly articulated brick façade is an untypical (for Berlin) example of late Expressionism with an almost Gothic verticality, is at its core a steel-frame construction. Very modern for its time, and used by some 800 employees, this was a characteristic and influential Weimar Republic social service building. It stands on the southern edge of Köllnischer Park, a historical outdoor enclosure created when baroque fortifications were constructed at the end of the 17th century. In the GDR period the building was used as a district school by the SED [Socialist Unity Party]; after 1989, it reverted to use as the AOK headquarters. A few years ago it was vacated by the AOK and sold. Current plans are to convert the building into apartments.