HOG Kulturhaus
THE ABANDONED THEATER IN GERMANY
This HOG Kulturhaus was built in 1904 as a residential building with a restaurant. Later it became a preschool and a cultural center.
The two-story plastered building with a turret on the side has a long history. It was build as a gaststätte, a hotel with restaurant. Additionally, behind the main building is a big, impressive ballroom decorated with stucco.
During DDR-times it was a cultural center of the HOG, the department ‘Bereich Gaststätten’ of the national retail business. The HOG was owned by the state of the German Democratic Republic. There was also a pre-school group in the building. In fact, the kids used the ballroom as a gym.
Eventually, the building was abandoned in 1996. Today, the old cultural center is in a very bad state. For example, the ballroom balcony and some floors have collapsed on several places. There is a risk that the whole building will collapse soon. I visited the HOG Kulturhaus in 2019. Follow this link for more abandoned ballrooms.
