Studiobühne Alte Feuerwache

Studiobühne Alte Feuerwache is a 100-capacity performance room in Berlin’s Friedrichshain district, on the second floor of the municipal Kulturhaus Alte Feuerwache. Its defining feature arrives before the lift: this is a working cultural venue inside the surviving fabric of Feuerwache Memel, an 1884 fire station whose brick ground floor, arched vehicle gates and terracotta details remain visible. The result is a compact, civic-scale room with an unusually tangible connection to the building below it.

From fire engines to the Studiobühne

The building entered service in 1884 as Feuerwache Memel, designed by Berlin city architect Hermann Blankenstein for the city and the Royal Police Presidency. It stored hand-pumped fire engines, ladders and water wagons, part of the expanding professional fire service’s network of satellite stations.

Incendiary bombs set the site ablaze in 1945, leaving only the ground floor. An emergency roof went up in 1946, and the repaired shell operated as the Weberwiese fire station from 1948 until 1955, when the new Friedrichshain station opened on Rüdersdorfer Straße. The premises then became storage and a veneer workshop for VEB Edelholzbau Berlin.

A heritage-led conversion by Wörle & Partner ran from 1995 to 1998: the historic ground floor and its arched exits were restored, two upper levels returned, and a barrel-vaulted roof completed the altered silhouette. The Kulturhaus opened on September 5, 1998. Upstairs, the former Theater Schmales Handtuch became the Studiobühne in early 2003, establishing the present room for theatre, dance, music and readings.

The room today

This is a municipal guest-performance venue: Berlin-area independent groups, associations, inclusion organizations and individual artists use it under professional production conditions. The programme spans cabaret, dance, readings, children’s work and concerts, with jazz jam sessions every two weeks providing a clear musical thread. Expect a 6-by-4-metre stage, professional sound and lighting, a Petrof grand piano, backstage space and an open bar. Seating shifts between conventional rows and table-and-chair layouts, while lift access makes the second floor barrier-free.