The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Echohäuser

The Esso buildings, including the eponymous petrol station and strip mall, are exemplary of a displacement process that is not only taking place in St. Pauli. In 2009, a large real estate company bought the ensemble of buildings typical of post-war modernism, whose previous owner had failed to meet the maintenance obligations. An initiative of residents and neighbours formed against the investor's new construction plans, and artistic actions such as the »Echohäuser« song and its accompanying music video made the protest widely known. The houses were demolished in 2014, and despite a self-organized planning process, they left behind nothing but a gaping hole.