Hochbunker Friedrich-Karl-Straße

The Hochbunker Friedrich-Karl-Straße is a rectangular civil air raid shelter standing 18 meters tall, measuring 15 meters wide and 32 meters long. Its walls taper from bottom to top, and it features two rounded entrances framed in artificial stone plus an accessible rooftop level.

Construction began after the first Royal Air Force attacks on Berlin in August 1940 as part of emergency defense planning during the war. The design was created specifically to protect Berlin's civilian population during the air campaign that would intensify in the following years.

Today the building houses soundproof rehearsal spaces where local musicians practice and create their work in a repurposed setting. This use by artists has given the structure a new cultural purpose that reaches far beyond its original design.

The bunker sits at Friedrich-Karl-Straße 24 in the middle of a residential block bounded by Burgemeisterstraße, Werderstraße, and Friedrich-Franz-Straße. The accessible rooftop provides easy viewing of the structure's exterior without needing special arrangements or permission.

This is one of only a few M500 structures still standing in Berlin, a specialized bunker design from the wartime period. The rarity of this building type makes it an important example of early 1940s air defense architecture.