Funding decision handed over

Historical testimony is being made fit for the future. The city of Eberswalde was presented with an official funding cheque on Thursday, 6 February 2025. Detlef Tabbert, Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Planning of the State of Brandenburg, handed over the positive decision on funding from the "European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)" for the renovation of the so-called copper prefabricated house, type K "Sorgenfrei".

The city of Eberswalde is rich in architecturally and culturally significant gems. The city of Eberswalde and the Förderverein Finower Wasserturm und sein Umfeld e.V. have developed concepts for the communal copper house in the Messingwerksiedlung to preserve and conceptually develop historically significant architecture. The aim is to make history tangible. Another piece of the puzzle of the town's industrial heritage can thus be preserved for the future. The plans for the renovation of the Kupferhaus are now entering the next stage.

With regard to the approved funding, Brandenburg's Infrastructure Minister Detlef Tabbert emphasised that "the European Union's funding has made an important contribution to developing liveable towns and communities that are climate-friendly, socially balanced and economically attractive. The 'centre towns' and their surroundings are of particular importance in the development of the state and rural areas. The funding enables important monuments to be renovated."

The "copper prefabricated house" of the city of Eberswalde is the only and at the same time smallest house of the so-called copper house series from the 1930s that is still in a condition close to the time of construction. The aim is to preserve the experimental and modular house construction of the time and to honour the Jewish industrial heritage.

"This will enable the city of Eberswalde to further develop and preserve great places. Many people here have put their heart and soul into rethinking historic places. By working towards a common goal, the work for these places supports cohesion and exchange among each other," as Mayor Götz Herrmann emphasised in his introductory remarks.

The prefabricated houses in the copper construction series are due to the social commitment and interest in new approaches of the Eberswalde industrialist Aron Hirsch. They are also evidence of the fruitful collaboration with Bauhaus architect Walter Gropius. The symbiosis of utility and form was to develop into a serial form of production with variably customisable copper houses. The Eberswalde type K "Sorgenfrei" prefabricated copper house is part of the model ensemble that still exists today and was itself future-orientated in its design - the buildings could grow with the families living in them and could be extended as required.

Photo: "Handover of the funding decisions in front of St John's Church in Eberswalde" from left to right; Pastor Christoph Brust, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Evangelical Church District of Barnim; Mr Detlef Tabbert, Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Planning of the State of Brandenburg and Mr Götz Herrmann, Mayor of the City of Eberswalde

city of Eberswalde/Markus Mirschel