Heilstatten Grabowsee, Oranienberg, Germany. - Image intensive!

Derelict Places

Help Support Derelict Places:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

TeeJF

Super Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Feb 25, 2011
Messages
2,815
Reaction score
3,037
Location
Sao Bras de Alportel, Algarve, Portugal
This is the second explore from our Christmas away in Berlin. We were unable to do anymore than two because we were both sick as dogs and had to spend a couple of days in bed watching the BBC's Christmas output. Is it just me or was the schedule singularly cr*p this year??? We enjoyed Ratatouille thouigh! :)

But I digress :p A big thank you once again to Red Dave for his help with this site visit before we went!



The report...


Grabowsee_aerial.jpg


Some 25 kilometres or so to the north of Berlin as the crow flies, is the small town of Oranienberg. A little further still into the Brandenburg countryside, passing the infamous Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp on the way, is the beautiful lake of Grabowsee, surrounded on all sides by dense pine forest and bordered to the south west by the deep, wide Berlin - Stettin canal.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries the newly emerging nation of Germany was desperate for man power to drive its exponential industrial expansion however the world Tuberculosis epidemic of the time meant that the nation was struggling to maintain a sufficiently large workforce. As many as 1 in 3 deaths at that time were directly attributable to the disease which proliferated in the highly populated and insanitary accommodation of the poorer people in society; the very people so necessary for the industrial growth. In order to fight the disease state of the art treatment sanatoria were built all over the country and Berlin, being as large as it was, needed more than one.

Surgeon Gotthold Pannwitz from the Imperial Health Office began planning the construction of a Lungenheilstätten - literally a “lung sanatorium" - in 1895 with architect Arnold Beschoren taken on to design and oversee the work. In 1896 work began on a 35 hectare site and by completion there were a total of 34 buildings in the complex, the main ones linked by corridors to form a layout along three sides of a square. The wards were aligned to the south in order to make best use of the sun. An underground railway linked the buildings at the front of the site to those directly opposite in order to facilitate the rapid movement of stores etc. from area to area. The underground railway also had two separate branch lines running at right angles off the main tunnel. As with all German architecture of that period functionality was combined with beautifully aesthetic architecture.

Before the advent of antibiotics the treatment of TB was very experimental in nature, and if you would like to learn more about how the problem was tackled at that time then please visit our Beelitz Heilstätten page by clicking on this highlighted word link. Suffice it to say that despite advances in surgical intervention the main treatment was, and would remain for at least another 40 some years, prolonged bed rest in quiet, peaceful surroundings, with above all, lots and lots of fresh air. To that end the sanitaria of the time were always constructed in the countryside away from the city in order to avoid exposing the patients to air born industrial pollutants. Beelitz Heilstätten was built in a similarly isolated forest area for the same reasons, and whilst Lungenheilstätten Grabowsee is much smaller than its brother sanatorium on the other side of the city, it still has many similarities. The principle difference is the fact that Beelitz’s buildings tended to be completely separate from one another in a four quadrant layout, whilst Grabowsee’s are almost all joined together with communicating corridors to form in effect one large and sprawling building. Heating and ventilation was achieved at both sanitaria in a remote plant situated away from the ward blocks. Steam was raised in huge boilers then piped to each building where the heat from the steam was used via calorifiers to heat water for washing etc. and to warm filtered air for the heating of the buildings. Grabowsee has a unique arrangement where the water tower, built to maintain a sufficient head of pressure for domestic water supply, had a hollow core which is the chimney for the boiler room. The immense height of the Grabowsee tower ensured the boiler fumes were adequately dispersed.

Exercise was very important for patients once they were sufficiently over the worst of the disease, and as at Beelitz, a large exercise hall was built. This is situated in the main block which faces the access road running down to the hospital. In addition to being an exercise hall it doubled as a function hall with a large stage, and even a cinema projection booth. Forward of the exercise hall is a large kitchen complex and it is here that the primary access to the underground railway can be found. A large dumb waiter communicates with the railway loading bay directly below the kitchens; thus the food cooked in the kitchens could be moved across to the wards on the south of the site very quickly.

After the fall of Germany in World War II the Russians occupied much of Berlin and this hospital went the same way that Beelitz did becoming a military hospital. It was finally abandoned after the reunification of Germany in the mid 1990’s and has rotted away quietly amongst the forest ever since with no maintenance what so ever upon the site.

Fairly recently some of the outlying buildings at Grabowsee were used for an urban street art project. Rooms within these buildings were allocated to individual “artists” and they are now festooned with spray paint graffiti of an extremely high quality and not inconsiderable artistic skill. There is also evidence that parts of some of the buildings have been used as film sets, not least the main hall where the carcass of a baby grand piano sits upon a square of red carpet on the stage and deep scarlet curtains frame the pros arch.

Access to the site was relatively easy despite the use of steel temporary airfield runway sections arranged on their edges to form a wall. Once within the complex we were able to wander freely as there did not appear to be any form of security – indeed we were not alone in our exploration, meeting two girls filming some sort of project/production on a Handicam, and two other small groups of explorers! We shot round the place fairly quickly and as a result we must have missed some areas, however the level of dereliction at Lungenheilstätten Grabowsee means that the interior is very much of a much ness, so our visit was probably of a suitable duration and intensity. That said we would not hesitate to return!


The pix...​



Just inside the perimeter we wandered past the first of the buildings turned over to the urban art project...

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-2.jpg




We are sure we saw the work of this artist in the Brauerii Barenquell too!

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-3.jpg




Stencilling just doesn't do it for me but this is pretty impressive!

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-5.jpg




We were NOT alone! First view of the magnificent water tower. Sadly access has been well and truly barred now.
Have a look at Red dave's report from earlier last year if you want the views from the top.


Hielstatten_Grabowsee-6.jpg




Yes, it really was THAT easy! This is the entrance to one of the interconnecting corridors.

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-7.jpg




Peely paint and loads of doors!

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-9.jpg




A very picturesque staircase but it was oddly difficult to gain access to it!

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-12.jpg




Our further progress had already been blocked by an interior gate but this one was open.

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-17.jpg




The first of many gratuitous dollops of stair porn! :)

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-19.jpg




Quite a drop and no ballustrades!

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-22.jpg




Just like Beelitz!

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-24.jpg




I don't know about you but I think this is rather classy!

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-25.jpg




Ornate triangular lights in the upper story windows...

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-27.jpg




Today children we will look through... the triangular window!

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-35.jpg




Grabowsee is less about coloured bricks creating the colour scheme, more about paint washes.
And as such it tends to be a little bit gaudy compred to Beelitz.


Hielstatten_Grabowsee-28.jpg




Off we go down again!

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-38.jpg




What's that following Tonto? It's a rat in a gas mask!!!

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-40a.jpg




Out front!

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-72.jpg




...and around back! This is the back of the recreation hall.

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-42.jpg




It's almost certainly a film prop but doesn't it look great!

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-43.jpg




I couldn't resist it!

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-45.jpg




The kitchens are immediately behind the recreation hall.

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-46.jpg




The cellar and railway access. A large dumb waiter brings food down to the railway loading bay from the kitchen above.

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-48.jpg




A truck still sits on the rails part way in to the tunnel.

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-50.jpg




There is an odd little room just off the tunnel with two steel cabinets in it. One still has what looks like specimen jars on the shelves.

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-51.jpg




Here comes Tonto up the tunnel!

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-53a.jpg




Back in the south wing now after travelling through the tunnel. More stair porn!

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-54.jpg




This building was a classic TB ward block with lots of natural light from the south facing aspect.

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-55.jpg




Grabowsee Lake in the distance from the first floor of the ward block.

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-59.jpg




There's light at the end of the tunn... erm, corridor!:p

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-61.jpg




Another really low bed just like the ones we saw at Beelitz.

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-62.jpg




A B & Q ski self assembly bed...

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-64.jpg




Soviet style backing paper! This is one for Lilli :)

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-65.jpg




We've seen this guy's work before at Beelitz.

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-66.jpg




We have worked our way back round to the north end of the site again now.

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-68.jpg




Embellishment on the door jam.

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-76.jpg




Another film prop? ( not Tonto, the couch :lol: )

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-77a.jpg




The centre of the site was a large garden area, now sadly very overgrown.

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-78.jpg




Not quite roof topping but pretty close!

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-84.jpg




One of the better roofs at Grabowsee!

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-85.jpg




Stair porn!

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-86.jpg




Another ward block corridor.

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-87.jpg




It would have been nice to get up there. For the photo nuts amongst you I pulled the blue sky back into the picture with Adobe Litetable as it was practically lost on the original pic.

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-91.jpg




Whilst it was admittedly a bit dark I loved this colour scheme.

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-94.jpg




Inside one of the buildings turned over to the urban art project.

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-97.jpg




Some of the art is quite creepy.

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-100.jpg




The natural light streaming in through the south facing window made this room positively dance with colour. Sadly the camera just doesn't do it justice.

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-102a.jpg




Not sure what to say about this one! :p

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-104.jpg




Isn't she just gawjussssss! :sick:

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-105.jpg




Again the camera fails to do it justice - this room makes your head swim!

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-106.jpg




Beauty in decay?

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-114.jpg




A hairy lighthouse? A swimming leg of ham and a gay sailor smoking wurst? Hmmm...

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-109.jpg




...and a 3D fish!

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-110.jpg




The mozzies in the forest around Grabowsee are huge...

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-111.jpg




Here pretty kitty kitty...

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-112.jpg




...and finally. I almost missed this one it was so small. But isn't it super!

Hielstatten_Grabowsee-113.jpg




:) That's A-A-Allll folks! Hope you enjoyed the report and pix. Thanks for stopping by. :)
 
That's cracking mate, great read and smashing pics, sorry to hear you were both crook :( It amazes me the amount of graff out there. Lilli and I are contemplating taking scrap paper and crayons and setting up some sort of arts and crafts aid station for the poor little buggers!!
 
Lilli and I are contemplating taking scrap paper and crayons and setting up some sort of arts and crafts aid station for the poor little buggers!!

Sounds like a good scheme! I don't mind the urban art, it's tagging that does my head in, and there's way too much of that in Berlin, especially on some of the really beautiful buildings.

Grabowsee has been done officially though with individual graf artists being allocated a room each in the numerous peripheral buildings. And some of it is really stunning isn't it.

Did Lilli enjoy the Soviet newspapert?

Cheers...
 
Nice photos, shame the water tower wasn't accessible, but you found a railway tunnel I didn't know existed.
 
Thanks everyone for your kind comments - this was a great explore!

you found a railway tunnel I didn't know existed.

Only by accident matey. Having said that the info was there on the net, but I never saw it until late this evening! Yeah to the water tower. they've wired heras to bolts set in the wall over the doorway so nothing short of tools would get you in now sadly. :(

Thanks again for your help, it saved us a hell of a long walk! :)

Thanks for the newspaper shot :D

You are welcome. Beelitz is full of it too, seems they never used "normal" backing paper on walls! Can you read it at all?
 
You are welcome. Beelitz is full of it too, seems they never used "normal" backing paper on walls! Can you read it at all?

No ... But they are pretty to look at :D

In some locations if you look closley you will see that they used the same pages of a newspaper over and over again! In the dont 'waste anything' communist viewpoint I think that old copies where shipped out and then used espically as backing paper for wallpaper!
 
It makes sense Lilli.

So what's with this Soviet fascination of yours then? I find it all a bit wierd when I'm wandering around their buildings simpoly because I had it drummed into me for years of the cold war that they were our enemy and was taught armoured vehicle recognition etc in the TA and which bit was best to shoot at with a Cark Gustav! Seeing DDR children's murals in Beelitz was rather odd as a result.
 
It's about 34 acres or so I think Tank, but the actual sanatorium is not really very big at all. We were in abit of a rush admittedly and we did miss odd bits here and there but we did the explore in about two hours tops which is not like us at all. I'd say it's a good half day + to do fully unlike say Beelitz where we spent 3 full days and still didn't cover it fully. It's a nice site though.

Cat - yeah, some of that graf is totally awesome. The situation right by the Grabowsee Lake is super but the woods are laden with mozzies in the warm months and worst of all encephelitus carrying tics so I'd be wary about living there!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top