Berlin

End of the road for a forgotten Bauhaus classic?

It's easy to overlook the so-called 'Kant-Garagen-Palast' on Berlin's Kantstrasse. Delapidated and unkempt, its appearance gives little indication of its historical and architectural importance.

But in fact, this multi-storey car park is one of the few remaining examples of industrial Bauhaus design anywhere in the world.

Opened in 1930 and revolutionary in its day, the spacious, light-filled interiors still impress despite being emulated so often that it's hard, perhaps, to see the building as anything other than a regular car park.

Yet this 'palace' of parking helped define the future of motoring, and architectural boffins will no doubt salivate over the fact that the garage's double-helix access ramp was the first ever built in Germany (and is now the second oldest in existence).

Even if such credentials fail to excite, the structure's status as a genuine design classic ought to ensure its survival.

Sadly, the current owner doesn't quite see it this way and is fighting to have the building demolished. Let's just hope the Kant-Garagen can successfully steer a path towards its not too distant 100th birthday.

See also:
A road that was a racetrack
Traffic control for the future city
Classic car heaven
A woodland bar for Berlin's bikers

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