The Gasometer IV

The new gasometer of the “English Gasworks” as seen from Torgauer Strasse, 1910. The photo was taken three years before the gasometer went into operation.
ullstein bild, Haeckel Archiv

Lyonel Feininger, Gasometer in Berlin-Schöneberg, Berlin 1912
VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2018 / Stiftung Stadtmuseum, Reproduktion Oliver Ziebe, Berlin

The Gasometer IV

The Gasometer IV was built in the year 1909 as the last and largest gas holder of the Schöneberg gasworks at Torgauer Strasse. Its circular steel guide frame has a diameter of 60 metres and rises to a height of 78 metres.

The local residents fought tooth and nail against the construction of the gas holder, which is among the three largest in Europe. They feared poisoning and explosions from escaping gas, complained that the sun would be blocked out, and considered the gas holder as a gross disfigurement of the Schöneberg cityscape. Their objections were dismissed, so that the gasometer was taken into operation in 1913.

Landmark and industrial monument

The widely visible Gasometer IV was and is the landmark of the Schöneberger Insel. Even before it was taken into operation in 1913 artists like Lyonel Feininger, Ludwig Meidner and Hans Baluschek captured it in paintings and drawings.

During the Second World War large sections of the gas plant were destroyed, but gas tank IV was only slightly damaged. In the course of converting to natural gas it was taken out of service in 1995 and the gas bell was removed. In the previous year it had been listed as an important structure for industrial culture and been declared a historical monument.

The dome – one of the largest air-inflated domes in the world – became known nationwide in the years 2011 to 2015 as the venue of Günther Jauch’s political talk show.