Building on the former vineyard and millers’ area began in 1850 as part of the plan to extend Berlin and the new area started life as an area for workers and the petit-bourgeois.
The water tower in the Knaackstrasse supplied Berlin with its drinking water. The area is also significant for other developments, acting as the site of one of Germany's first concentration camps; the home of the sculptor Käthe Kollwitz; the site of the Berlin Wall and the Berlin’s largest synagogue.