Timișoara’s old Brewery is quite the important spot not only for beer, but for music lovers too, for it was in its courtyard, outdoors, that Johann Strauss II gave his first concert abroad, in 1847. The event was of course a huge success, and so the famous composer and his orchestra would return on other occasions to the city on the river Bega.
The Brewery is located in the Fabric Neighbourhood, in its turn part, as its name indicates (“fabric” comes from fabrică, “factory”), of a former industrial hub: the first enterprise, a felt manufacture, had opened in 1732, to be followed by, among others, paper mills, brick, wire, or silk industrial units.
The Brewery is one of the oldest plants in Fabric and in Timișoara itself. Some sources date it back to 1718 and to a beer brewing plant. There was great demand for beer in Banat, and by 1733 other units were established in Oravița and Aradu Nou. In 1868, the Brewery, now the Stock Company Factory, was property of some of the Timișoara’s most important citizens. In the aftermath of the economic crisis and the collapse of the Vienna Stock Exchange, they sold it at action to the first Savings Bank in Timișoara for the sum of 200,000 Guldens. In 1875, associates Anton Vilsmeier, Johann Riedl and Franz Gerhauser leased the brewery and successfully brought it back on the market. In 1883, the new owners, Budapest firm Ignatz Deutsch & Sons, reorganised it, appointing such specialists as Karl Petzlbauer as managers.
The thriving new Fabrikshof, Bierbrauerei Aktiengesellschaft only took a step forward after the fire that affected it at the beginning of the 20th century: production was modernized, artificial cooling installations (ice factories) were set up, it now had its own malt production unit, and immense storage cellars (catacombs, in the jargon of the time) were organised – not to mention the creation of a summer garden and of a dance hall.
In 1991, the Bierbrauerei was bought by a stock company and renamed Timișoara Brewery (Temesvarer Bierbrauerei AG). Quickly becoming one of the neighbourhood’s and the city’s favourite places, it made pale lager and dark beer, its specials Casino (after the Pilsen recipe), Corvin (high-sugar beer), Record Special (intense pale lager), Englisch Porten (intense dark).
As for its architecture, the Brewery is a typical example of 19th-century industrial structures: simple, clean forms only slightly decorated with rather geometrical ornaments, façades only punctuated by the windows’ full – empty play. The element that states the presence of a factory in the urban tissue is the brick chimney.
Today, the Brewery is composed of both historical buildings (around the access area, on the northern side and partially on the eastern side) and contemporary additions featuring modern infrastructure and installations. The historical buildings are on the list of historical monuments: no. 139, code number TM-II-m-A-06167.01 (the brewery), 140, code number TM-II-m-B-06167.02 (the bottling hall), and 141, code number TM-II-m-A-06167.03 (the warehouse).
Still running, the Brewery continues to attract people from all over the city.
References:
Opriș Mihai, and Botescu Mihai. Arhitectura istorică din Timișoara [Historical Architecture in Timișoara]. 2014, Editura Tempus.
Josef, Geml. Vechea Timișoară [Old Timișoara]. 2016, Editura Cosmopolitanart.
Volker, Wollmann. Patrimoniu preindustrial și industrial în România [Preindustrial and Industrial Heritage in Romania], vol. III. 2012, Editura Honterus.