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WELCOME TO THE WALKMÜHLE!

Leipzig has its cotton-spinning mill, Berlin the cultural brewery on Prenzlauer Berg, Essen the Zollverein mine, Detroit the Packard Plant – and Wiesbaden has the Walkmühle. Old industrial landmarks are magical buildings, providing powerful creative inspiration for residents and their visitors. We are happy to be among the first tenants in the over-280-year-old Walkmühle after its extensive renovation.
The Walkmühle as dye factory (Photo: Stadtarchiv Wiesbaden)

HISTORY

The Walkmühle is located at the periphery of the city, in the extension of the Adamstal valley, above the villa quarter in northeastern Wiesbaden. It is one of the last historic industrial landmarks still standing in Wiesbaden, erected for pastor Egidius Hellmund in 1736, powered by the Kesselbach creek. In its first incarnation, income from craft enterprises located in the Walkmühle was donated to an orphanage founded by Hellmund. In 1810, the Walkmühle was sold at auction and repurposed to a restaurant with a popular ballroom. Its water mill supplied energy for fulling leather and processing hemp. In 1867, the Walkmühle brewery began operations in the building, and in 1916, Georg Schuster was listed as master breweri in the register of company personnel of the “Brewery at Walkmühle Esch Bros.” In the early 20th century, music and laughter echoed through the woods from the nearby Café Orient, where Wiesbaden’s most prominent citizens enjoyed glittering feasts.

In the early 1920s, the Walkmühle was converted to a dye works, wash house, and dry-cleaning establishment. An old sign advertising the company remains on the stone façade today. In 1945, the US occupying power confiscated the Walkmühle and allowed the dry-cleaning operation to continue. Parts of the buildings served as storage for Welzel, a paper wholesaler. During the 1960s, ZDF (Germany's public television system) used the Walkmühle for offices and archives. Twenty years later, artists moved into the complex of buildings, rehabilitated the rooms at their own costs, converted them to artist’s workshops, and gave the Walkmühle a new purpose, as a cultural centre.

In recent years, a comprehensive restoration by a municipal real estate company created a 21st-century hot spot in the green belt of the Hessian Capital, 10 minutes by bike to the city centre, and close to the design faculty of the RheinMain Universtiy. Now the Walkmühle is a dynamic space for many artists and creative firms.
The Walkmühle in the year 1953 (Photo: City Archive)

GOOD HOOD

The Q loft is located in the upper floor of the malt house, the portion of the complex constructed in 1875 to germinate wheat. Now, good ideas sprout there. We also rented some space in the former drying kiln tower. When the renovation is completed and all the spaces are rented, we will be surrounded by a diverse, creative, and arty crowd. Already, our neighbors and colleagues include Wecandance (motion design) and Involve (film production). One floor below, Rainer Thurau – who took over Europe’s oldest harp-building atelier in the 1980s – will manufacture baroque and modern concert harps for orchestras and musicians all over the world, including the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. (Interesting fact: Building a harp takes around 1,200 hours.)

If we want to sip a sundowner after work, we can simply step down to Vinotto, in the vaulted cellar. On Otto's small garden terrace, we can taste delicious wines, listen to the Kesselbach creek gurgling nearby, and spend the remains of the day relaxing with a glass of Riesling.

Not only the Q team, but also our clients believe: The Walkmühle is a place of infectious creativity. (Therefore, we hazard the consequence that the construction work will continue for quite a while …)