Where You Might Have Lived If You’d Been Born in Berlin in 1900…
When I first moved into my apartment in Berlin October last year, there was no heating and no hot water for the first week. So arriving to that after a long multi-flight journey from Vietnam and moving house the very next day, I got sick. Really sick.
And instead of just resting, I spent the week dragging my sorry body across the neighbourhood to my best friend’s apartment every day just so I could shower because I couldn’t bear the thought of not being able to.
What I didn’t know at the time was that just around the corner from where I live is a tiny museum apartment that would, just a few months later, completely reframe my perspective.
Tucked away inside an ordinary residential building is Museumswohnung Zimmermeister Brunzel baut ein Mietshaus, a preserved apartment showing what everyday life in Berlin looked like around 1900 during the Gründerzeit (“Founders’ Period”), a time of rapid industrial growth that transformed Berlin into the city we know today.
And if you’re anything like me, you’ll leave feeling both fascinated and slightly humbled. Up to FIFTEEN people could live together at a time. Baths were a weekly affair, taken in a little tin tub just big enough to sit in with your legs hanging over the side. The bathing water was shared between the entire family, with the husband going first, followed by the mother and children.
The fridge was kept cool by blocks of ice delivered daily. There was only one running water tap, laundry was washed by hand in the attic, and the iron was heavy AF. Although, to be fair, the kitchen stove did have a built-in waffle maker, which made me smile.
As I wandered through the apartment, peeking into cupboards and studying all the little details of everyday life, I couldn’t help but think back to my dramatic week without hot water. A week that had felt, at the time, like a genuine hardship.
Yet generations of Berliners built entire lives without many of the conveniences we now consider basic necessities. The museum doesn’t romanticise the past. Life was undoubtedly harder in many ways. But it does offer something increasingly rare: perspective.
It’s a reminder that convenience is often invisible until it disappears. That running hot water is remarkable. That central heating is a luxury. That the small comforts we barely notice each day would have seemed extraordinary to those who lived here just over a century ago.
Berlin is full of famous museums, but this tiny apartment has become one of my local favourites. Not because of any masterpiece hanging on a wall, but because it reminded me how fortunate modern life really is.
And sometimes, that’s exactly the kind of museum we need.
Visiting Museumswohnung Zimmermeister Brunzel baut ein Mietshaus
If you’re looking for a lesser-known museum in Berlin that offers a fascinating glimpse into the city’s past, this little apartment is well worth adding to your list. It’s in Prenzlauer Berg (my hood!), entry is €3 and I’d say you should allow around 30-45 minutes.
More Berlin insider tips
And in case you’re planning to visit and would like a small but wonderful list of hidden local gems ~ I’ve created a digital guide featuring 33 of my personal favourite Berlin spots, gathered over ten years living here.
From unique cafés, bars and restaurants to quiet parks and lesser-known corners ~ feel welcome to read it should you like.
A little glimpse
Sometimes words don’t quite do a place justice so here’s also a little video I made while I was there:
