Stralau Bottle Factory Workshops (1921)

Co-op in a Classic Location – Bottled beer was the latest thing when the factory was built in 1889. Until 1909 hundreds of workers produced 20 million bottles a year in all shapes and colors, first by hand and later using fully automated machines. During WWI, prisoners of war made containers for poison gas grenades here. Massive damage was done to the factory during an air raid in 1945. Under East German rule, the Stralau Glass Works inhabited the historic building. Beer bottles continued to be made after German reunification, for Beck’s and other companies. The factory only closed in 1997, when a melting tank was damaged. A housing cooperative saved the industrial structure. Now it contains apartments, a hair salon, and a showroom for classic cars.