Due to its diverse history, Berlin is a city full of oddities. The title of this article doesn’t intend to fool the reader. On the contrary, it refers to an architectural paradox in the German capital. At Dennewitzstraße 2, Berlin, the train runs indeed through a house. The iconic Berlin Ubahn passes several times per day through the building at Dennewitzstraße 2. One might rightly wonder: how is this even possible?
Of course, there’s a background story, which I want to share here. And I will also show you a couple of photos to give you a better impression of the area. Let’s start.
Dennewitzstraße 2, Berlin, Germany
The background
The yellow trains of Berlin’s underground are an organic element of the city. The so-called U-Bahn is the short version of Untergrundbahn, which translates to “underground railway.” It has a total of ten lines and stops at more than 170 stations. As its name suggests, the majority of stations are underground. However, a couple of them lie above the ground.
A typical case of an above-the-ground metro line is the one between Kurfürstenstraße and Gleisdreieck. And while the one at Kurfürstenstraße is an underground station, the one at Gleisdreieck expands into two levels: the U2 line is an underground one, but the U1 and U3 run above the ground. Now, to add a bit to the oddity, Gleisdreieck means “railway triangle.” However, there’s not a triangle there, just lines intersecting.
The name Gleisdreieck has survived mainly due to an old plan. At the beginning of the 20th-century, the plan was to create a central hub where three lines would meet. But, an accident in 1908 changed the whole approach: two trains crashed, one fell from the viaduct, and 18 people were killed.
The construction
Even though the name Gleisdreieck remained intact, the initial plans changed. However, the metro lines should expand further to cope with the passengers’ needs. In 1926, the new line opened -and indeed ran through the house at Dennewitzstrasse 2, at the border between Kreuzberg and Schöneberg. According to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, it remains unclear if this architectural paradox explains why the U-Bahn should travel through a house.
One can only speculate. Maybe the costs of demolishing the houses or creating new underground tunnels were too high. Or maybe, it was much cheaper to drive the metro line through the house. No one can tell with certainty.
Believe it or not, this wasn’t the only house that the Berlin U-Bahn went through. There was another building at the corner of Dennewitzstraße and Bülowstraße -and it was probably the prototype of this paradox. However, this house doesn’t exist anymore: it was bombed during World War II.
The Dennewitzstraße 2 today
As you can see in the photos, the house at Dennewitzstraße 2 is still intact. And, of course, people are living in it. How does it feel living in a house where the U-Bahn runs countless times per day? According to its tenants, it feels kind of normal. Yes, on the one hand, there’s always noise, despite the efforts of using noise-canceling materials. On the other hand, most tenants feel that this is part of their daily lives. Some tenants interviewed by the Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel claim they don’t hear the noise anymore.
Dennewitzstraße 2, Berlin: fun facts
So, here you can find some extra fun facts about the odd building at Dennewitzstraße 2 in Berlin.
Where exactly is the Dennewitzstraße 2 house?
The house lies just a couple of steps away from the famous Gleisdreieck park, one of the most popular Berliner hangouts. You can see the house on Google Maps here. Very close to it, you’ll also find the famous Nelly Sachs Park, named after the German-Swedish poet who won the Nobel Prize in Literature (1966).
Where does the name come from?
The name Dennewitz might sound like the name of an old German general, but it’s not. Dennewitz is a village in Brandenburg approximately 40 km away from Berlin. It’s also the place where the Battle of Dennewitz took place. In September 1813, the Sixth Coalition’s Allied Army of the North (Prussia, Sweden, and Russia) fought against the French forces. The Coalition won the battle, and that’s how Napoleon’s hopes to conquer Berlin came to an end.
Will I realize that I’m traveling through a house?
Actually, no. The thing is that it feels like being in a tunnel. The only chance will be if you could sit in the driver’s seat -from there, it’s visible that there’s a house in front of you.
Which is the closest U-Bahn station to Dennewitzstrasse 2, 10785 Berlin?
If you’d like to see the building, the easiest way is to stop at Gleisdreieck. Metro lines U1 and U3 cross through the building and stop at the park. Also, U2 stops at Gleisdreieck, but it doesn’t drive through the house.
How many trains run daily through the house?
Each of the two newspapers I mentioned earlier gives a different number. Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to figure out who’s closer to the truth. The Tagesspiegel says that there are 444 daily crossings. On the other hand, Süddeutsche Zeitung elevates the number to 612.
As you can easily imagine, this is one really busy house.
Final thoughts about the Dennewitzstraße 2 house
The so-called Durchgebrochenes Haus (“the broken-through house”) is one of Berlin’s oddities. But apart from being an architectural paradox, its existence can pose several (even existential?) questions. For example, even though I crossed the spot several times in the past, the day I stopped for photos, I started thinking funny questions. How would it be to stay here? Will I get used to the noise?
And then I slowly progressed to a bit more bizarre questions. For example, do you get a free monthly card for the Berlin U-Bahn as compensation? Can a loner live here knowing that thousands of passengers travel next to their living room? Or, if that’s the noisiest place, is it also the best one to find peace of mind?
I didn’t get any replies after visiting Dennewitzstraße 2. But then again, it doesn’t come as a surprise: Berlin is a city of questions, not of answers.
More about Berlin: The Bleibtreustraße, The ultimate travel guide to Berlin, 10 facts about Berlin
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Last Updated on May 28, 2022 by George Pavlopoulos