Villa Heike

Right at the beginning of the former restricted area, which was not marked on any map, stands the old factory owner's villa. First home to the Russian secret service and then to the Stasi. The methods will not have changed much.

Is now an office building

The Villa Heike was built in 1910 by the architect R. Lotts for the mechanical engineering manufacturer Richard Heike. Richard Heike had settled in Alt-Hohenschönhausen, outside the gates of Berlin and not far from the slaughterhouse and cattle yard, with his factory for meat processing machines.
In 1945 the building was confiscated by the Soviet army. In the chaos of the post-war period it first served as the headquarters of the Russian secret service NKVD with prison cells in the basement and was then handed over to the Stasi. In the 1960s the Stasi set up the secret archive for Nazi files in the Villa Heike and the rear factory halls, which remained here until it was closed down in 1990. After a short interim use, it was vacant for 20 years and the factory halls were demolished.
Today the Villa Heike mainly houses artists' studios, an exhibition hall, workshops and offices.
Source: villaheike.org/geschichte