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From the corner bar to the Café Achteck

Public toilets in Berlin are an invention of the 19th century. Until then people piddled from the bridges (though this was a punishable offense) or into a urine barrel set up at one of the portals of the city palace.
Finally, the problem was placed in front of the magistrate. The head of police, Madai, had the first urinals erected in the early 1870s; set up in pairs, they were called “Madai temple” by the public and were meant to be used by men only. The first public toilets for women were only established in selected public buildings and in two school buildings due to „considerations of security and decency”. The earliest among them was the one in the Red City Hall (Rotes Rathaus) in 1874. Others were set up from ca. 1882 in public parks like the Tiergarten by private entrepreneurs.
The need for convenient public conveniences is generally underrated. As early as 1877 the city administration decides to introduce new, larger models. The councillor for building and construction, Carl Theodor Rospatt (1831–1901) in 1878 is responsible for the efficient, well executed design of seven stands based on an octagonal plan; its decorated cast iron walls made use of the quickly developing iron casting facilities in Berlin. This was the birth of the “Café Achteck”.
The idea to raise fees gave rise in the 1870s to an entirely new line of business. In 1920 there are about 142 of these public toilets in Greater Berlin. Today, 30 of them are still existing in the city. The Café Achteck at Senefelder Platz is, however, a reconstruction.