The tea-room (Ger.: “Klappe, die”) at Theodor-Heuss-Platz (Berlin vernacular: “Theo”).
One of the eldest of Berlin’s tea-rooms still in use.
“No Smoking”
“Not Drinking Water”
Canadian Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis)
About:
The first public toilets in Berlin were erected in the early 1870s, made possible by the implementation beginning in 1862 of a general building plan for Berlin, the “Hobrecht-Plan“. This comprehensive land-use plan stipulated, among other things, a state of the art sewer system for the rapidly growing city at the time portions of which are still in used today.
The predecessor of the current public toilet at Theodor-Heuss-Platz was likely built in the 1920s or 1930s adjacent to what was then the square’s street car stop, and received its current appearance when it was remodeled presumably in the 1970-1980s.
The blog Randy Planet has the following to say about this popular queer meeting place…
The Gay Tea-Room at Theodor-Heuss-Platz
The tea-room at Theodor-Heuss-Platz is in the district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. It is considered one of the most popular tea-rooms in and around Berlin. The square was originally built in 1907 as Reichskanzlerplatz. It was renamed Theodor-Heuss-Platz on December 18, 1963, just six days after the death of Germany’s first Federal President, Theodor Heuss. Over the years it has had numerous other names. During the Nazi period, it had been renamed Adolf-Hitler-Platz, and there were plans at the time to again rename it Mussoliniplatz with grand buildings and monuments.
But as mentioned before, the tea-room at Theodor-Heuss-Platz is one of the, if not the most popular sex cottage in the city. Especially as it is a historic & classic 80s retro tea-room built below ground with a long communal urinal. It’s one of the last of its kind in the gay capital, and deserving of a little TLC. Lovers of cottaging know this, and so meet here daily from 4 p.m. onwards to cruise. The best time to be there is from 7 p.m. onward. Unfortunately the tea-room at Theodor-Heuss-Platz is only officially open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. But no matter, because it’s usually open a little longer, and when the weather is good, there is quite a bit of action outside even after 9 p.m. If you stroll around a bit after dark, you’ve got good chances of getting lucky there.
– Planet Randy: “Klappe am Theodor-Heuss-Platz”. On: planet-randy.com. URL: https://planet-randy.com/blog/eintrag/klappe-am-theodor-heuss-platz/. Last viewed: Aug 21 2023. (English translation by photographer)
Instances of queer visibility are inevitably flash points of violance targeting queer people. The Berlin LGBT anti-violence project Maneo’s 2022 on-line Report cites 261 confirmed cases of violence against LGBTIQ+ people for that year in Berlin. The organization estimates however that 80 to 90% of instances of queer-antagonistic violence go unreported.¹ Berlin’s LGBT monthly Siegessäule reports everything from verbal harrassement and individual physical attacks to group anti-queer vigilantism against people perceived by the assailants to be cruising at Theodor-Heuss-Platz.²
Sources:
- “Maneo Report 2022, on-line Teil 1”, Pp. 22-23. On: maneo.de. URL: https://www.maneo.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/MANEO-Report-2022-Teil_1.pdf. Last viewed: Aug 24 2023.
- Mentz, Christian: “Angriff auf 77-jährigen Mann”. Posted: Apr 14 2013. On: siegessaeule.de (News). URL https://www.siegessaeule.de/news/84-angriff-auf-77-j%C3%A4hrigen-mann/. Last viewed: Aug 24 2023.
Babewyn 