The Späth (often spelt ''Spaeth'') family created one of the world's most notable plant nurseries of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The nursery had been founded in 1720 by Christoph Späth but removed to the erstwhile district of Baumschulenweg (lit. 'nursery way'; now part of the Treptow-Köpenick district) in south-east

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 1863 when Franz Ludwig Späth (1839 - 1913) succeeded his father Ludwig as manager when aged only 25. By the end of the 19th century, the nursery was the largest in the world, occupying 120

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

s. In 1874 Franz built a mansion on the site, now part of

Humboldt University The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public university, public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III of Prussia, Frederick W ...

and, five years later, established an

arboretum An arboretum (: arboreta) is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees and shrubs of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, many modern arbor ...

. After his death in Britz in 1913, Franz Späth was succeeded by his son, Hellmut, who revived the nursery's flagging fortunes during the Depression by joining the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

and securing lucrative landscaping contracts for the new autobahns and other public works. However, his outspoken criticism of the Nazi regime saw him incarcerated in

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners t ...

where he was executed in 1945. The nursery had closed the year before, and in 1947 the arboretum passed into public ownership becoming known as the Späthsches Arboretum.
at www.berlin-hidden-places.de

Owners / proprietors of the Späth nursery, 1720 - 1944

* Christoph Späth (1696-1746) * Carl Späth (1721-1782) * Frederick Späth (1768-1831) * Ludwig Späth (1793-1883) * Franz Späth (1839-1913) * Hellmut Späth (1885-1945)

Notes

External links

* The arboretum and nursery Späth in Baumschulenwe

* The Späthsches Arboretu

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spath Buildings and structures in Treptow-Köpenick