In July 1993, 31 international artists moved into the factory building Mengerzeile 1-3 in Treptow. The four-storey building had been built in 1908 by the carpenter August Jaschinsky (1849-1936) and had originally housed the piano factory Hoepfner until 1956.While the GDR was in government the factory had served as an administration building (HO-Kreisbetrieb Treptow) and was later used as a sales and storage depot for VEB German Records.

About 20 of the Mengerzeile artists had originally come from a nearby factory building on Schmollerplatz with a one-year lease from the BBK (Berlin's studio administration). When this lease expired the artists decided to look for new premises together, as a result of the good working relationship they had already experienced.

In the mean time the Schmollerplatz building had been demolished and the Mengerzeile piano factory had been more or less empty for a year. The building was structurally acceptable but needed a large amount of repair and renovation work. There was however, more than enough space for the artist group and they were able to take in further artists in search of studios. The group became publicly official when the official Mengerzeile Artists Association was founded in 1993.

This move enabled the group to receive financial support from the Treptow District Council as well as funding from the house administration of that time, the GSE. At first the 2201 square metre property was rented by the cultural office of the BBK, Berlin. In 1997 the Association took over the lease and has been running the house independently ever since.