Ackerstraße

Ackerstraße, or Ackerstrasse (see ß), is a street in Berlin which runs northwest from near the Liesenstraße – Scheringstraße traffic circle in Gesundbrunnen to Invalidenstraße, where it turns south, terminating at the Linienstraße in Mitte.

History

On 22 September 1751, Lieutenant General Hans Christoph Friedrich Graf von Hacke, commandant of the city of Berlin, received orders from King Frederick II of Prussia to build houses outside the city Customs Wall between the Hamburg Gate and the Rosenthal Gate. Initially 30 houses were to be built, to house 60 families selected from applicants. The objective was to have the craftsmen stay year-round in Berlin rather than leaving each winter. The new residents were mostly from Vogtland; as a result the new area of settlement came to be called Neuvoigtland (New Vogtland). The streets were laid out in parallel straight lines and were designated numerically; what is now the Ackerstraße was the middle street and was originally called the Zweite Reihe (second row), and became the Dritte Reihe (third row) when the local population increased in the 19th century and new streets were added. The district was divided into identical land parcels with approximately 10.5 metres (34 ft) frontages and to save money and time, the original houses were standardised; this set a new trend. Gardens were laid out between them, but the population increase led to extension of the buildings as the area became more urban.

The area changed name to Rosenthaler Vorstadt, and the local residents petitioned the police for street names to be assigned. On 18 February 1801 the "third row" was renamed Ackerstraße (Field Street), probably because the development was in the farming area outside the city, the Feldmark.