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79-571: The six-storey building was designed by Franz Heinrich Schwechten , who was also the architect of the Anhalter Bahnhof and the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church . It was constructed between 1911 and 1912 as Haus Potsdam. It was primarily an office building; from 1917 or 1919 until 1927 Universum Film AG or UfA, which owned the site, was headquartered there; but the lower floors contained a 1,196-seat cinema, called

158-421: A Haus der Nationen (house of nations), and became its first artistic director, arranging entertainment to suit the flavour of each of the gastronomic units. The architect for the conversion, Carl Stahl-Urach , the architect for Fritz Lang 's Doctor Mabuse films, modernised the exterior by applying stucco and in particular by wiring the domed section to be illuminated at night as an example of Architecture of

237-577: A Berlin night . . . than an hour or two or three in Haus Vaterland. The place is certainly not "high hat," nor is it low hat, but it is of the very essence of Berlin. The original attractions were: The cinema, from about 1920 renamed UFA-Haus am Potsdamer Platz, was moved and enlarged to 1,415 seats in Stahl-Urach's renovation. The auditorium was strikingly modern, on a circular plan and with vibrant red carpeting and gold-painted wooden trim on

316-472: A Russian vodka bar and a French bistro . 52°30′29″N 13°22′38″E  /  52.50806°N 13.37722°E  / 52.50806; 13.37722 Franz Heinrich Schwechten Franz Heinrich Schwechten (12 August 1841 – 11 August 1924) was one of the most famous German architects of the Wilhelmine era, and contributed to the development of historicist architecture. Schwechten

395-728: A capacity of 3,500 people and Café Vaterland was the largest in the world; the one millionth guest was recorded in October 1929, barely a year after the opening. In the Nazi years, the mix of restaurants was modified and the Jewish Kempinskis had to sell the building for a pittance to "Aryans" and leave the country. A 1936 French film, Les Loups entre eux (English title: The Sequel to Second Bureau ), features scenes in Haus Vaterland, including "the Horst Wessel song booming from

474-673: A commercial space of 7,300 square metres (79,000 sq ft) and the longest department store façade in the world at 250 metres (820 ft) in length. For the construction of the Wertheim department store, by architects Heinrich Joseph Kayser  [ de ] and Karl von Großheim , the Königskolonnaden were removed in 1910 and now stand in the Heinrich von Kleist Park in Schöneberg . In October 1908,

553-586: A copper dome rising 35 metres above the pavement, with a row of Attic statues beneath it; this was essentially a recreation of the mausoleum of the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great in Ravenna . The cafe entrance was on the bottom two floors of this section. Behind it, a long, narrow section in a simplified Wilhelmine architectural style, with a mansard roof , extended some 100 metres alongside

632-668: A daylight raid, only the walls left standing. After the war, Potsdamer Platz was the point where three of the four Allied occupation zones met. The ruined Haus Vaterland was in the Russian sector, but had doors to both the British and the American. In 1947, Café Vaterland was reopened in an acclaimed gesture of will to rebuild the city, and in 1948 the Communist cabaret Frischer Wind was playing there, while because of its position on

711-645: A department store for the Berlin people, whereas Wertheim modelled itself as a department store for the world. In October 1905, the first section of the Tietz department store opened to the public. It was designed by architects Wilhelm Albert Cremer and Richard Wolffenstein , who had already won second prize in the competition for the construction of the Reichstag building. The Tietz department store underwent further construction phases and, in 1911, had

790-461: A free press, the opening of the borders and their right to travel. Speakers were Christa Wolf , Stefan Heym , Friedrich Schorlemmer , Heiner Müller , Lothar Bisky , Christoph Hein and Steffie Spira . The protests continued and culminated in the unexpected Fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989. Ever since German reunification , Alexanderplatz has undergone

869-602: A gradual process of change with many of the surrounding buildings being renovated. After the political turnaround in the wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall, socialist urban planning and architecture of the 1970s no longer corresponded to the current ideas of an inner-city square. Investors demanded planning security for their construction projects. After initial discussions with the public, the goal quickly arose to reinstate Alexanderplatz 's tram network for better connections to surrounding city quarters. In 1993, an urban planning ideas competition for architects took place to redesign

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948-535: A hospital that was donated by the Elector Sophie Dorothea in 1672. Next to the chapel stood a dilapidated medieval plague house which was demolished in 1716. Behind it was a rifleman's field and an inn, later named the Stelzenkrug . By the end of the 17th century, 600 to 700 families lived in this area. They included butchers, cattle herders, shepherds and dairy farmers. The George chapel

1027-472: A huge brick building whose tower on the northern corner dominated the building. In 1890, a district court at Alexanderplatz was also established. In 1886, the local authorities built a central market hall west of the rail tracks, which replaced the weekly market on the Alexanderplatz in 1896. During the end of the 19th century, the emerging private traffic and the first horse bus lines dominated

1106-698: A member of the Prussian Academy of Arts in 1885, and served as its president from 1915 to 1918. In 1904 he was honored with the title of "Geheimer Baurat" (privy building officer), and in 1906 he was named a professor. He served as a lecturer at the Royal Polytechnic University in Charlottenburg . Schwechten died in Berlin and was buried in Schöneberg . Alexanderplatz Alexanderplatz ( German: [alɛkˈsandɐˌplats] , Alexander Square )

1185-441: A planned reconstruction of the entire Alexanderplatz could take place, all the war ruins needed to be demolished and cleared away. A popular black market emerged within the ruined area, which the police raided several times a day. One structure demolished after World War II was the 'Rote Burg', a red brick building with round arches, previously used as police and Gestapo headquarters. The huge construction project began in 1886 and

1264-695: A practical training period following the completion of his studies in December 1863, Schwechten worked first for several months with Friedrich August Stüler , until May 1864, and then with Martin Gropius , until June 1865. In 1868, Schwechten received an award from the Berlin Architect's Union for the Neoclassical design of a Prussian Parliament building. The next year, he graduated as a master builder and began his career as chief architect of

1343-475: A rectangular gatehouse with a tower. Next to the tower stood a remaining tower from the original medieval city walls. The upper floors of the gatehouse served as the city jail. A drawbridge spanned the moat and the gate was locked at nightfall by the garrison using heavy oak planks. A highway ran through the cattle market to the northeast towards Bernau . To the right stood the George chapel, an orphanage and

1422-597: A traffic island in front of the building and the Potsdamer Bahnhof. After World War I began in 1914, it was renamed to the more patriotic Café Vaterland. Haus Potsdam became less successful during the 1920s, and in 1927 was sold to the Bank für Handel und Grundbesitz, which leased it for ten years to the Kempinski family of restaurateurs. They had an exclusive contract to provide all food and drink and to manage

1501-523: A traffic-oriented city was already based on considerations and plans by Ludwig Hilberseimer and Le Corbusier from the 1930s. Alexanderplatz has been subject to redevelopment several times in its history, most recently during the 1960s, when it was turned into a pedestrian zone and enlarged as part of the German Democratic Republic 's redevelopment of the city centre. It is surrounded by several notable structures including

1580-562: Is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin . The square is named after the Russian Tsar Alexander I , which also denotes the larger neighbourhood stretching from Mollstraße in the north-east to Spandauer Straße and the Rotes Rathaus in the south-west. Alexanderplatz is reputedly the most visited area of Berlin, beating Friedrichstrasse and City West . It

1659-541: Is a popular starting point for tourists, with many attractions including the Fernsehturm (TV tower), the Nikolai Quarter and the Rotes Rathaus ('Red City Hall') situated nearby. Alexanderplatz is still one of Berlin's major commercial areas, housing various shopping malls , department stores and other large retail locations. A hospital stood at the location of present-day Alexanderplatz since

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1738-480: Is frequently alluded to in both artistic and tourist contexts, for example in Irmgard Keun 's 1932 novel Das kunstseidene Mädchen ( The Artificial Silk Girl ). Its combination of spectacle, variety performances, international dining and cinema was unique. Large sees it as having been "a kind of proto-Disney World". The building could accommodate up to 8,000 people; the 4,454 square metres of theme restaurants had

1817-479: Is pulsing." David Clay Large describes it as "a beacon of commercial kitsch". Inside, the cafe was renovated and the building extended and the cinema moved to make room for a new entrance block in the centre of the building; in the rest of the space, restaurants dedicated to different countries and regions of the world were constructed. Each was decorated appropriately with dioramas up to 6 metres deep, panoramas, and lighting effects, and served appropriate food; it

1896-551: The Fernsehturm ('TV Tower'). During the Peaceful Revolution of 1989, the Alexanderplatz demonstration on 4 November 1989 was the largest demonstration in the history of the German Democratic Republic . Protests starting 15 October and peaked on 4 November with an estimated 200,000 participants who called on the government of the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany to step down and demanded

1975-581: The Haus des Lehrers ('the teacher's house') was opened next to the Bunte Brettl at Alexanderstraße 41 . It was designed by Hans Toebelmann and Henry Gross. The building belonged to the Berliner Lehrererverein ('teachers’ association'), who rented space on the ground floor of the building out to a pastry shop and restaurant to raise funds for the association. The building housed

2054-713: The Vereinigungsparteitag (Unification Party Congress) of the Communist Party and the USPD . The First Ordinary Congress of the Communist Workers Party of Germany was held in the nearby Zum Prälaten restaurant, 1–4 August 1920. Alexanderplatz 's position as a main transport and traffic hub continued to fuel its development. In addition to the three U-Bahn underground lines, long-distance trains and S-Bahn trains ran along

2133-455: The Battle of Berlin , Red Army artillery bombarded the area around Alexanderplatz . The battles of the last days of the war destroyed considerable parts of the historic Königsstadt , as well as many of the buildings around Alexanderplatz . The Wehrmacht had entrenched itself within the tunnels of the underground system. Hours before fighting ended in Berlin on 2 May 1945, troops of

2212-686: The Berlin Customs Wall , which initially consisted of a ring of palisade fences, was reinforced and grew to encompass the old city and its suburbs, including Königsvorstadt . This resulted in the King's Gate losing importance as an entry point for goods into the city. The gate was finally demolished in 1746. By the end of the 18th century, the basic structure of the royal suburbs of the Königsvorstadt had been developed. It consisted of irregular-shaped blocks of buildings running along

2291-847: The Berlin-Anhalt Railway Company . His first major work was the monumental Anhalter Bahnhof terminus opened in 1880, then the largest station building in Continental Europe. Among his works were the designs of Tyszkiewicz Palace in Palanga (Polangen) and the Imperial Castle in Poznań (Posen) . One of the most notable of Schwechten's designs was the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (completed in 1895), with its 113-metre-high (371 ft) tower and distinct Neo-Romanesque style elements. Schwechten became

2370-533: The Linz master builder, Johann Gregor Memhardt . The new fortress contained 13 bastions connected by ramparts and was preceded by a moat measuring up to 50 metres (160 ft) wide. Within the new fortress, many of the historic city wall gates were closed. For example, the southeastern Stralauer Gate was closed but the Georgian Gate remained open, making the Georgian Gate an even more important entrance to

2449-517: The Platz 's viaduct arches. Omnibuses, horse-drawn from 1877 and, after 1898, also electric-powered trams, ran out of Alexanderplatz in all directions in a star shape. The subway station was designed by Alfred Grenander and followed the colour-coded order of subway stations, which began with green at Leipziger Platz and ran through to dark red. In the Golden Twenties , Alexanderplatz

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2528-716: The Potsdamer Bahnhof . The Café Piccadilly could accommodate some 2,500 guests and was lavishly decorated with wall and ceiling paintings and Sienese marble. Operated by Heinrich Braun, it was an attraction comparable to the Moulin Rouge in Paris, drawing "white collar workers, business people and tourists" by day, "amusement seekers, restaurant and variety patrons and also prostitutes" at night. One of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner 's Street Scenes cycle of paintings, Potsdamer Platz in Berlin (1914), depicts two prostitutes on

2607-851: The SS detonated explosives inside the north–south S-Bahn tunnel under the Landwehr Canal to slow the advance of the Red Army towards Berlin's city centre. The entire tunnel flooded , as well as large sections of the U-Bahn network via connecting passages at the Friedrichstraße underground station. Many of those seeking shelter in the tunnels were killed. Of the then 63.3 km (39.3 miles) of subway tunnel, around 19.8 km (12.3 mi) were flooded with more than one million cubic meters (260,000,000 US gal) of water. Before

2686-536: The "immense" lobby and the "luxuriant sentimentality" of the dining establishments as little as one step away. He used this example to argue that the New Objectivity was merely a façade. To Franz Hessel , it was a "perfectly planned city of entertainment" which demonstrated the nascent totalitarianism of "monster Germany". Sydney Clark summed it up in his guide for British tourists as a must-see because it typified Berlin: I can think of no better way to top off

2765-559: The 13th century. Named Heiliger Georg (St. George), the hospital gave its name to the nearby Georgentor (George Gate) of the Berlin city wall . Outside the city walls, this area was largely undeveloped until around 1400, when the first settlers began building thatched cottages . As a gallows was located close by, the area earned the nickname the Teufels Lustgarten ('Devil's Pleasure Garden'). The George Gate became

2844-430: The 19th century, with three-storey developments already existing at the beginning of the century and fourth storeys being constructed from the middle of the century. By the end of the century, most of the buildings were already five storeys high. The large factories and military facilities gave way to housing developments (mainly rental housing for the factory workers who had just moved into the city) and trading houses. At

2923-608: The Big City ) at Alexanderplatz . One of Berlin's largest air-raid shelters during the Second World War was situated under Alexanderplatz . It was built between 1941 and 1943 for the Deutsche Reichsbahn by Philipp Holzmann . The war reached Alexanderplatz in early April 1945. The Berolina statue had already been removed in 1944 and probably melted down for use in arms production. During

3002-728: The Lichtspieltheater im Piccadillyhaus or the Kammerlichtspiele im Haus Potsdam (Cinematograph in the Piccadilly House, Moving Pictures in Haus Potsdam), and the Café Piccadilly. The building was faced with sandstone and gave the impression of masonry, but had a steel frame and the cinema space was spanned by five girders. At the northern end, facing the square, was a circular pavilion topped by

3081-533: The Night ( Architektur der Nacht ) or Light Architecture ( Licht-Architektur ) which also emulated Coney Island lighting effects. The lettering around the rotunda was illuminated, and approximately 4,000 bulbs arranged in intersecting arcs on the dome turned on and off to create the illusion of spinning motion. A reporter in Germania applauded the "Babylonian dome" as irrefutable evidence that "here, world-capital life

3160-458: The area, such as the 1799–1800 military parade grounds designed by David Gilly . At this time, the residents of the Platz were mostly craftsmen, petty-bourgeois, retired soldiers and manufacturing workers. The southern part of the later Alexanderplatz was separated from traffic by trees and served as a parade ground, whereas the northern half remained a market. Beginning in the mid-18th century,

3239-674: The authentic recipe; the Kempinskis had an exclusive licence to offer it in Berlin. Guests sampled the new wine looking out at the steeple of St. Stephen's cathedral against a starry sky, and a tram with interior lights lit crossed the bridge over the Danube . In the Berliner Tageblatt , the Austrian writer Arnold Höllriegel declared the place to be far more genuine than the real thing. The Rheinterrasse ( Rhine terrace) on

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3318-461: The beginning of the 1870s, the Berlin administration had the former moat filled to build the Berlin city railway, which was opened in 1882 along with Bahnhof Alexanderplatz (' Alexanderplatz Railway Station'). In 1883–1884, the Grand Hotel, a neo-Renaissance building with 185 rooms and shops beneath was constructed. From 1886 to 1890, Hermann Blankenstein built the police headquarters,

3397-492: The building's demolition in 1932. During these years, Alexanderplatz was populated by fish wives , water carriers , sand sellers, rag-and-bone men , knife sharpeners and day laborers . Because of its importance as a transport hub, horse-drawn buses ran every 15 minutes between Alexanderplatz and Potsdamer Platz in 1847. During the March Revolution of 1848, large-scale street fighting occurred on

3476-496: The business, which became their flagship. In 1928, the building was reopened as Haus Vaterland, based on an idea by Leo Kronau, who had visited Coney Island in New York and wanted to emulate the international attractions in the amusement parks there and improve on Berlin's own imitation, Lunapark. He persuaded the Kempinski family, who had a 65-year track record of success as restaurateurs in Berlin, to convert Haus Potsdam into

3555-610: The city. In 1681, the trade of cattle and pig fattening was banned within the city. Frederick William, the Great Elector , granted cheaper plots of land, waiving the basic interest rate, in the area in front of the Georgian Gate. Settlements grew rapidly and a weekly cattle market was established on the square in front of the Gate. The area developed into a suburb – the Georgenvorstadt – which continued to flourish into

3634-646: The desolation of the Potsdamer Platz during those years, with birch trees growing out of the rubble of what had been the busiest traffic intersection in Europe and kestrels nesting in the ruin of Haus Vaterland and hunting rats which emerged from locked S-Bahn entrances. In 1972, the Senate of West Berlin bought the building as part of 8.5 hectares of land to build a road, and had it demolished in 1976. The 600 tonnes of iron and steel were sold as scrap. In

3713-449: The early 1930s, with "The McAllan Blackband", which was led by the Somali-German drummer William 'Willi' Mac Allan, and the "Tom Bill Nigger Band". It was later renamed the Kolonialstube (colonial parlour). There were no British or French rooms because Kempinski was too patriotic to forgive them for the Treaty of Versailles . In 1930, the Bodega was relocated to make room for two more regional German rooms: The Bremen Galley , named for

3792-555: The first German cabaret, the Überbrettl , in the former Sezessionsbühne ('Secession stage') at Alexanderstraße 40 , initially under the name Bunte Brettl . It was announced as " Kabarett as upscale entertainment with artistic ambitions. Emperor-loyal and market-oriented stands the uncritical amusement in the foreground." The merchants Hermann Tietz , Georg Wertheim and Hahn opened large department stores on Alexanderplatz : Tietz (1904–1911), Wertheim (1910–1911) and Hahn (1911). Tietz marketed itself as

3871-423: The historic highways which once carried goods in various directions out of the gate. At this time, the area contained large factories (silk and wool), such as the Kurprinz (one of Berlin's first cloth factories, located in a former barn) and a workhouse established in 1758 for beggars and homeless people, where the inmates worked a man-powered treadmill to turn a mill. Soon, military facilities came to dominate

3950-399: The late 17th century. Unlike the southwestern suburbs ( Friedrichstadt , Dorotheenstadt ) which were strictly and geometrically planned, the suburbs in the northeast ( Georgenvorstadt , Spandauervorstadt and the Stralauer Vorstadt ) proliferated without plan. Despite a building ban imposed in 1691, more than 600 houses existed in the area by 1700. At that time, the George Gate was

4029-420: The loud-speaker". The business continued to host throngs of customers even after Berlin began to suffer heavy bombing by the Allies . In 1943 the building was damaged, particularly in the central section, in the British night Air-raid on the nights of 22 and 23 November that destroyed much of the centre of the city including the department store KaDeWe.. On 3 February 1945 it was bombed out by the U.S.A.A.F. during

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4108-400: The mid-1980s artists and members of the alternative culture converted the wasteland, which had been used for dumping and parking, into a caravan colony. Ironically, when Potsdamer Platz was rebuilt after German reunification , the site of Haus Vaterland was the only parcel on which no entertainment facility was sited, only offices, because it was felt to be too small. The new building abutting

4187-412: The most important of Berlin's city gates during the 16th century, being the main entry point for goods arriving along the roads to the north and north-east of the city, for example from Oderberg , Prenzlau and Bernau , and the big Hanseatic cities on the Baltic Sea . After the Thirty Years' War , the city wall was strengthened. From 1658 to 1683, a citywide fortress was constructed to plans by

4266-441: The most important wool market in Germany was held in Alexanderplatz . Between 1752 and 1755, the writer Gotthold Ephraim Lessing lived in a house on Alexanderplatz. In 1771, a new stone bridge (the Königsbrücke ) was built over the moat and in 1777 a colonnade-lined row of shops ( Königskolonnaden ) was constructed by architect Carl von Gontard . Between 1783 and 1784, seven three-storey buildings were erected around

4345-447: The motto: Haus Vaterland machts gründlich – im Haus Vaterland gewitterts stündlich (Haus Vaterland does it thoroughly - in Haus Vaterland it storms hourly) The Türkisches Café (Turkish cafe), on the fourth floor, had gilded arches and marble floors. The Löwenbräu, across from the Türkisches Café on the fourth floor, emulated a Bavarian bierkeller and looked out on a painted view of the Zugspitze , behind which diners could watch

4424-477: The northern part of the square, the southern part (the former parade ground) remained quiet, having green space elements added by garden director Hermann Mächtig in 1889. The northwest of the square contained a second, smaller green space where, in 1895, the 7.5-metre (25 ft) copper Berolina statue by sculptor Emil Hundrieser was erected. At the beginning of the 20th century, Alexanderplatz experienced its heyday. In 1901, Ernst von Wolzogen founded

4503-466: The renovation of the Alexanderhaus . In 1998, the first tram returned to Alexanderplatz , and in 1999, the town planning contracts for the implementation of Kollhoff and Timmermann 's plans were signed by the landowners and the investors. On 2 April 2000, the Senate finally fixed the development plan for Alexanderplatz . The purchase contracts between investors and the Senate Department for Urban Development were signed on 23 May 2002, thus laying

4582-435: The seats. It was one of five Berlin cinemas Sydney Clark recommended to the American tourist in 1933 as worth seeing (the others being the Titania-Palast , the UFA-Palast am Zoo , the Primus-Palast and the Phoebus Palast ). The ballroom, also called the Palmensaal (palm room) was under the dome, and intended as a re-creation of the Garden of Eden . The Palmensaal had a dance floor mounted on springs to prevent fatigue. It

4661-433: The sector lines, it was a hotbed of spying, flight from the East, and black marketing in currency and goods. The building was finally completely burnt out on 17 June 1953, along with Erich Mendelsohn 's Columbushaus , during the East German strike and protest . It was then left in ruins, the windows simply being walled up. It was adjacent to the Berlin Wall after its construction in 1961. In 1966 Der Spiegel described

4740-448: The ship-board cooking of the North German seaport. An "old Berlin beerhall" named for the variety of turnips named for Teltow , near Berlin. Two small rooms were also added to honour friends of the Third Reich, although before the Tripartite Pact of 1940: A Japanese teahouse, with "original Japanese service". An Italian bar, replacing the Hungarian Czardas. Reflecting changing political situations, there were also at one point

4819-455: The southeast of the square, the cloth factory buildings were converted into the Königstädter Theater by Carl Theodor Ottmer at a cost of 120,000 Taler . The foundation stone was laid on 31 August 1823 and the opening ceremony occurred on 4 August 1824. Sales were poor, forcing the theatre to close on 3 June 1851. Thereafter, the building was used for wool storage, then as a tenement building, and finally as an inn called Aschinger until

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4898-458: The square and its surrounding area. In the first phase, there were 16 submissions, five of which were selected for the second phase of the competition. These five architects had to adapt their plans to detailed requirements. For example, the return of the Alex's trams was planned, with the implementation to be made in several stages. The winner, who was determined on 17 September 1993, was the Berlin architect Hans Kollhoff . Kollhoff 's plan

4977-429: The square by Georg Christian Unger , including the famous Gasthof zum Hirschen , where Karl Friedrich Schinkel lived as a permanent tenant and Heinrich von Kleist stayed in the days before his suicide . On 25 October 1805 the Russian Tsar Alexander I was welcomed to the city on the parade grounds in front of the old King's Gate. To mark this occasion, on 2 November, King Frederick William III ordered

5056-401: The square to be renamed Alexanderplatz : His Royal Majesty, by means of the supreme Cabinet, orders on the 2nd of this month, those in the Königs-Vorstadt Sandgasse to take the name Kaiserstrasse , and the square in front of the workhouse in the newly-conceived suburb settles with the name of Alexander-Platz , this is hereby made known to the public for news and attention." In

5135-411: The square, which is part of the Park Kolonnaden ensemble, was given a semi-circular façade in homage to the round section of the building which had once stood there. Haus Vaterland promised die Welt in einem Haus - "the world in one house". Siegfried Kracauer said, "Haus Vaterland includes the entire globe". He also pointed out the contrast between the "exaggerated" New Objectivity in the style of

5214-424: The streets of Alexanderplatz , where revolutionaries used barricades to block the route from Alexanderplatz to the city. Novelist and poet Theodor Fontane , who worked in the vicinity in a nearby pharmacy, participated in the construction of barricades and later described how he used materials from the Königstädter Theater to barricade Neue Königstraße . The Königsstadt continued to grow throughout

5293-477: The sun set. An "original Bavarian band" provided the entertainment. A Hungarian peasant tavern, on the fifth floor, with gypsy violinists. A Spanish wine cellar, also on the fifth floor, with mandoline players. A frontier saloon in the Rocky Mountains , also on the fifth floor. Dancing was to American jazz, and cowboys in full western get-up, some of them black, twirled their lassos . Beautiful chorus girls also performed there. Sidney Bechet played there in

5372-418: The teachers' library which survived two world wars, and today is integrated into the library for educational historical research. The rear of the property contained the association's administrative building, a hotel for members and an exhibition hall. Notable events that took place in the hall include the funeral services for Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg on 2 February 1919 and, on 4 December 1920,

5451-468: The third floor in the circular section of the building, had a diorama to give the illusion of sitting outdoors overlooking the river between Sankt Goar and the Lorelei rock . A troupe of twenty "Rhine maidens" danced between the tables under hoops twined with grape vines. Hourly thunderstorms were created by lighting and sound effects; one American visitor reputedly "beam[ed] like a movie theater façade on Broadway" when told about this. The establishment used

5530-456: Was an early example of modern theme dining or experiential gastronomy. While the main shows took place in the ballroom, each theme restaurant also had musicians of the appropriate origins on staff to complete the dining experience, including at least six dance bands. A central kitchen occupied the entire top floor, connected to the different dining establishments by pneumatic tubes, through which orders came up, and dumbwaiters, by means of which food

5609-402: Was based on Behrens’ design, provided a horseshoe-shaped area of seven- to eight-storey buildings and 150-metre (490 ft) high towers with 42 floors. The Alexanderhaus and the Berolinahaus – both listed buildings – would form the southwestern boundary. Second place went to the design by Daniel Libeskind and Bernd Faskel . The proposal of the architecture firm Kny & Weber, which

5688-574: Was born in Cologne , the son of a district court judge. He attended Gymnasium , taking his Abitur in 1860, and went on to work as an apprentice of master builder Julius Carl Raschdorff , who would later design the new Berlin Cathedral . In 1861, Schwechten enrolled in the Bauakademie (Academy of Architecture) in Berlin, where he studied under Karl Bötticher and Friedrich Adler . During

5767-489: Was characterized as " total manoli ". Writer Kurt Tucholsky wrote a poem referencing the advert, and the composer Rudolf Nelson made the legendary Revue Total manoli with the dancer Lucie Berber . The writer Alfred Döblin named his novel, Berlin Alexanderplatz , after the square, and Walter Ruttmann filmed parts of his 1927 film Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt ( Berlin: The Symphony of

5846-509: Was completed in 1890; it was one of Berlin's largest buildings. The 'castle' suffered extensive damage during 1944-45 and was demolished in 1957. The site on the southwest corner of Alexanderplatz remained largely unused as a carpark until the Alexa shopping centre opened in 2007. Reconstruction planning for post-war Berlin gave priority to the dedicated space to accommodate the rapidly growing motor traffic in inner-city thoroughfares. This idea of

5925-488: Was considered the most beautiful ballroom in Berlin, and attracted up to a million visitors a year. It was decorated with silver palm fronds and sculptures by Josef Thorak , who was to be popular during the Nazi era. Jazzmeister Bill Bartholomew led the house dance band and the "Vaterland-Girls" performed. A re-creation of a Viennese Heuriger in Grinzing , on the third floor. The menu included Sachertorte prepared from

6004-432: Was sent down and dirty dishes sent back up; conveyor belts at kitchen level transferred the dishes to be machine washed, dried and stacked. The whole was run on American-influenced principles of industrial efficiency. It published a house magazine called Berolina - Latin for Berlin and most famously embodied in the statue in the Alexanderplatz . It was an enormous and popular establishment, and like Haus Potsdam before it,

6083-470: Was strongly based on the horseshoe shape of Wagner, finally won the third place. The design by Kollhoff was chosen on 7 June 1994 by the Berlin Senate as a basis for the further transformation of Alexanderplatz . In 1993, architect Hans Kollhoff 's master plan for a major redevelopment including the construction of several skyscrapers was published. In 1995, Landesbank Berlin completed

6162-429: Was the epitome of the lively, pulsating cosmopolitan city of Berlin, rivalled in the city only by Potsdamer Platz . Many of the buildings and rail bridges surrounding the platz bore large billboards that illuminated the night. The Berlin cigarette company Manoli had a famous billboard at the time which contained a ring of neon tubes that constantly circled a black ball. The proverbial " Berliner Tempo " of those years

6241-699: Was upgraded to the George church and received its own preacher. After his coronation in Königsberg on 6 May 1701 the Prussian King Frederick I entered Berlin through the George Gate. This led to the gate being renamed the King's Gate , and the surrounding area became known in official documents as Königs Thor Platz (King's Gate Square). The Georgenvorstadt suburb was renamed Königsvorstadt (or 'royal suburbs' short). In 1734,

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