Here with us, that is, here in the "Gatehouse," the entrance to the Berlin-Buch Science Campus. Below, we would like to give you some information about the history of our listed building, which was built here almost 100 years ago, more precisely in 1914-1915, according to plans by the renowned Berlin city architect Ludwig Hoffmann. He also designed, among other things, the Buch Hospitals, the Virchow Clinic in Berlin, the Berlin City Hall, many Berlin schools and bridges, the Märkisches Museum in Berlin, and the Supreme Court in Leipzig. Our building, which was initially intended as an entrance and administration building for the "Buch-Karow Central Cemetery," planned at the beginning of the 20th century, thus has a famous architect. The columns in the entrance area of the building still reveal this original purpose as a cemetery building. After the near-provisional completion of the cemetery grounds... With its entrance gate, nursery, cemetery chapel, and landscaped grounds, the cemetery was established in 1925 – parts of which are still recognizable today. However, it was determined that the high water table made the site unsuitable for burials. Consequently, no burials ever took place there. In 1928, the Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of German Science purchased the land, which had been temporarily used as a tree nursery after the failed cemetery project. Between 1929 and 1930, they established an Institute for Brain Research there, adjacent to the Buch Hospitals, which included neurological and psychiatric clinics built at the beginning of the 20th century. The gatehouse became a residence for staff of this institute, and from 1930 to 1945, it was home to, among others, the Russian geneticist Nikolai Vladimirovich Timoféeff-Ressovsky. A plaque in the grounds of our café commemorates this renowned biologist. The scientific work of Timoféeff-Ressovsky on the properties of genes (carriers of hereditary information) and their changes (mutations), conducted jointly with the physicist and co-founder of molecular biology Max Delbrück, Nobel laureate in Medicine in 1969, is still considered a milestone in the development of molecular biology and its significance for medicine. In recognition of this successful scientific collaboration between Timoféeff-Ressovsky and Max Delbrück, these rooms in the gatehouse were named "Café Max" after Max Delbrück in 1992, as was the Center for Molecular Medicine on campus, the "Max Delbrück Center." After the Second World War, the grounds of the Institute for Brain Research were taken over by the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin in 1947, and the Institute for Medicine and Biology was founded there. The gatehouse was once again used as accommodation for institute staff. Among others, [name missing] lived there for many years. Professor Friedrich Jung, one of the directors of the Buch Academy Institute, as well as Professor of Pharmacology and Director of the Institute of Pharmacology at the Medical Faculty of Humboldt University in Berlin. Following German reunification, the Berlin-Buch Biomedical Research Campus was founded in 1992 with the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine and other institutions. Currently, the gatehouse houses our "Café Max" and the Jeanne Mammen Hall, used for scientific and social events. It also serves as an exhibition space with original paintings and sculptures by the hall's namesake, the Berlin painter of the first half of the 20th century who was a friend of Max Delbrück. Reproductions of some of Jeanne Mammen's paintings and sketches can be seen here in our dining room. The staff of The team at Kaffeehaus Madlen im Café Max hopes this information will enhance your stay with us. We would be delighted to welcome you back again soon.