NDR-Hörfunkstudios Hamburg-Rothenbaum, Broadcasting house in Harvestehude, Germany.
The Funkhaus an der Rothenbaumchaussee, also called Landesfunkhaus or NORAG-Funkhaus, is the NDR radio headquarters at Rothenbaumchaussee 132 in Hamburg-Harvestehude. Architects Alfredo Puls and Emil Richter built it around the former Engelbrecht villa: a plain New Objectivity facade 47 metres long, almost 6,000 square metres of floor space, and a broadcasting hall 18 by 19 metres and 10 metres high with movable walls.
The Nordische Rundfunk AG (NORAG), founded in Hamburg on 2 May 1924, bought the former Engelbrecht villa at Rothenbaumchaussee 132 in 1929 for 290,000 marks; the first sod for the new building was turned on 2 May 1929. Architects Alfredo Puls and Emil Richter designed the house, which opened on 8 January 1931 as one of Europe's most modern broadcasting facilities. In 1933 the station was brought into line as a Reichssender; the buildings survived the war largely intact, and in 1945 the British military government founded the NWDR there.
The address Rothenbaumchaussee 132 remains associated with the NDR, and the building celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2021. Guided tours of the house are still offered today, as they were during the 1930s conversion, when visitors came to see the 18-by-19-metre broadcasting hall. The hall's Welte radio organ, with three manuals and 24 sounding registers, was reworked in 1980 by Theo Strunk of Rotterdam.
The facility is easily accessible by public transport, including U-Bahn stations Hallerstraße and Klosterstern on Line 1. Bus Line 19 also serves the Sophienterrasse stop, offering multiple access options.
The complex houses the specialized Rolf-Liebermann-Studio at Oberstraße 120, used for specific audio production requirements. This studio is named after a renowned German composer and features particular acoustic properties for specialized productions.
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