New life for old houses! The Bavarian Hofbräuhaus in Chemnitz
Invitation to the press conference: 30 October, 11.30 a.m., Straße der Nationen 47, Chemnitz
To mark the International Day of Cities, a press conference will be held tomorrow, Friday 30 October at 11.30 a.m. at Straße der Nationen 47. Börries Butenop, Head of the City Planning Office, and the StadtWohnen Chemnitz agency will be presenting the building, which once housed the Bavarian Hofbräuhaus brewery, and which characterises the city's history. The StadtWohnen agency is currently in the process of finding a new owner for this long-empty corner building, who will then renovate it.
A banner on the building draws attention to the ALT/BAU network, in which the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz, the StadtWohnen Chemnitz agency and six European network partner cities work together to revitalise vacant buildings. It reports on how Chemnitz benefits from participating in the ALT/BAU network. In addition to the banner on the Straße der Nationen, posters with the motto "New life for old houses" are currently being displayed in Chemnitz for a week to draw attention to the StadtWohnen agency.
During the discussion, the existing obstacles to the revitalisation of unrenovated buildings are highlighted using the building as an example. The building was erected in 1880 as a catering and residential building. From 1925, the Bayerisches Hofbräuhaus ran a pub with a beer garden here. During the GDR era, the building housed the administration of the adult education centre for a time. In 1995, the building was formally transferred back to the Free State of Bavaria, which is now planning to sell the building.
Under the motto "Better City, Better Life", the International Day of Cities, initiated by the United Nations, is intended to promote transnational cooperation in order to jointly meet the challenges of urbanisation and highlight opportunities for sustainable urban development.
As in the previous year, the city of Chemnitz is initiating a transnational campaign by the seven European cities in the URBACT network ALT/BAU on 30 and 31 October to celebrate the UN World Day of Cities. In addition to Chemnitz, the participating cities are the Latvian capital Riga, Turin in Italy, Seraing in Belgium, Constanta in Romania, Vilafranca del Penedès in Spain and Rybnik in Poland.