Altes Stadthaus ("Old City Hall") is a former administrative building in Berlin, Germany, currently used by the Senate. It faces the Molkenmarkt and is bound by four roads; Jüdenstraße, Klosterstraße, Parochialstraße, and Stralauer Straße. Designed by Ludwig Hoffmann, chief of construction for the city, it was built in 1902–11 at a cost of 7 million marks () to supplement the Rotes Rathaus.
The building has five courtyards and features many sculptures, including 29 allegorical representations of civic virtues and of Greek deities which are mounted on the tower. A Georg Wrba sculpture of a bear, the symbol of Berlin, is located in the central Bärensaal (Bear Hall).
Originally called the "Neues Stadthaus" (New City House), it became the seat of the Council of Ministers of the GDR after World War II. The building next to it became the center of administration for East Berlin, and was also called "Neues Stadthaus"; to avoid confusion, Neues Stadthaus became known as "Altes Stadthaus" (Old city house).
During World War II, the Allied bombing campaign and fierce fighting in the Battle of Berlin caused severe damage; the roof was almost completely destroyed as were the statues above the rear entrance, and there was substantial water damage. In the first phase of reconstruction in 1951, the statue of the goddess of Fortuna was removed, and is assumed to have been smelted in 1962. The remaining statues, urns, and other carvings on the exterior were removed in 1976–77 due to rain damage. It was completely refurbished in the 1990s and exterior restoration required replacement of some 180 sculptural elements, including the allegorical figures of the virtues, giant vases, window embrasures and one of the columns. The original mansard roof was reconstructed in 1998–99.
Plans for second city hall In the 1860s, the population of Berlin was growing rapidly with the influx of around 50,000 people a year, creating a large administrative burden. When construction began on the Rotes Rathaus, the city had around half a million inhabitants, but this grew to 800,000 by the time of its completion in 1869. By the 1880s, the city had offices in ten additional buildings near the Rotes Rathaus and since it could not be extended, it was clear that a second administration building was required.
In 1893, the executive committee of the Berlin city council proposed a site on the banks of the river Spree, roughly corresponding to the current location of the Berlin Finance Department and the offices of the Social Association of Germany. The proposal was rejected by the full city council because it would overshadow the city hall. Further proposals were put on hold for several years. After discussing many locations, in 1898, chief of construction Ludwig Hoffmann became involved and the council agreed on Molkenmarkt. The 32 built-up parcels of land on the site were bought up and cleared.
Based on his participation in the debate and his reputation, Hoffmann received the commission to design the new building. Without any kind of competitive bidding or restrictions, he was commissioned to design it with space for approximately 1,000 employees. In 1900, the prosperous city decided the building should feature a tower. Hoffmann's design was accepted in 1901, and demolition of the existing buildings began. The cornerstone was laid in 1902.
Specifications Hoffmann created a monumental building with five courtyards to "once and for all incorporate the offices of the municipal administration which have no place in the city hall; however, it should in addition include the hall for large-scale public events which the city lacks, and also in its exterior be representative of the Berlin of today and thus be [a] magnificent building distinguished in its monumentality," according to the author of a 1914 monograph to him. It is his most important Berlin work.
An imposing external feature of the building is the tower, approximately tall, which rises from a square base over the central bay facing Judenstraße. Inspired by those designed by Carl von Gontard for the French and German Cathedrals on the Gendarmenmarkt, it consists of a double set of cylinders with encircling columns,. This structure is surmounted by a dome on which a copper sculpture of the goddess Fortuna, by Ignatius Taschner, stands on a gilded globe. It was originally intended to show that Berlin "is taking an upward path in its development".
The tower is also adorned with many sculptures, including vases and 29 representations of the civic virtues and Greek deities by Taschner, Josef Rauch, Georg Wrba and William Widemann. In the centre of the building is a barrel-vaulted hall three stories high capable of accommodating 1,500 people and decorated in Jugendstil style. The walls over the doorways are inscribed with moral sayings, and the room originally had a floor of red Verona marble, six ceremonial candelabra, and three bronze gates, all by Georg Wrba. In addition, the room contains a bronze bear, the symbol of Berlin, commissioned from Wrba by the city in 1911, giving the hall its name, Bärensaal (Bear Hall). Wrba placed the bear in a symbolic setting signifying the bases of European culture; the height of the plinth on which it stands places the viewer at belly level creating a respectful distance, it stands in a triangle signifying the Trinity and in association with a Solomonic saying and depictions of Greco-Roman deities.
The building has an irregular trapezoidal footprint corresponding to that of the group of buildings that formerly occupied the site presenting some difficulties in symmetry. It was also originally enclosed by other buildings, so Hoffmann's design emphasizes its appearance from close by rather than from a distance. The facades, executed in grey muschelkalk, are articulated with reference to the principles of Palladian architecture and based on the Palazzo Thiene in Vicenza. A rusticated plinth comprising the first floor and half the height of the mezzanine is surmounted by columns and pilasters in Tuscan order comprising two and a half stories, above which is a mansard roof. The lack of alignment with the stories is an intentional variation from the model. The facades facing the Jüdenstraße, Klosterstraße, Parochialstraße and Stralauer Straße are , , and long, respectively. The main entrances are in the centre of projecting bays on the Jüdenstraße (front) and Klosterstraße (rear) facades, with the "Bear Hall" on the axis between them. The side wings forming the facades on the Parochialstraße and Stralauer Straße sides terminate in projecting bays at the ends of these two primary facades. Cross wings and an opening in the main axis between the vestibule on the rear, Klosterstraße side and the "Bear Hall" create five courtyards within the building. The vestibules at the main, Judenstraße entrance and the rear entrance on Klosterstraße are lined with the same stone as the exterior to create a sense that the grand public rooms were also part of the city outside; in the latter, Hoffmann placed a large wall fountain also of Verona marble.
Opening Construction lasted for nine and a half years, from April 1902 until October 1911, with the tower construction alone taking three years (1908–11). Different departments of the city administration moved in at different times with some, such as the police department, moving in as early as March 1908. The building was formally opened by Mayor Martin Kirschner on October 29, 1911.
During the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich Until the 1920s, there were no significant changes to the building. Neither World War I nor the November revolution of 1918 caused damage to it. In 1920, the administrative burden was considerably increased by the incorporation of several outlying towns and villages into the city of Berlin in the Greater Berlin Act. As a result, some departments and units had to be housed outside the building. In 1929, the Magistrat commissioned the city planning division to develop a concept for a new administrative building encompassing two city blocks that would also link the Stadthaus to the City Hall. This plan also included the existing main city library and the city savings bank. It would have been part of a wideranging plan to redevelop the area of the Molkenmarkt, including replacement of the old and substandard housing along Am Krögel, an alley leading to the Spree. These plans had to be abandoned in 1931 because of the political and economic situation of Berlin after World War I.
After the Nazis came to power in 1933, the Magistrat revived the urban renewal plan as an appropriate contribution to the "program of national renewal". However, the Ministry of Transportation was charged with developing a new canal that would require replacing the Mühlendamm bridge and removing a number of buildings. A plan was developed to create an "administrative forum" around the Molkenmarkt, which would include a new centralized mint, the Fire Society Building that today is the Neues Stadthaus, and a residence for a City President but retain the Stadthaus flanked by two large new wings. This plan superseded the former housing concept. The Krögel block was demolished in 1936 and the Fire Society Building was completed in 1938. By the outbreak of war in 1939, the Mint and one other government building had also been completed.
In World War II the building suffered some damage during the Allied bombing campaign, but was later severely damaged during the Battle for Berlin towards the end of the war. The roof was almost completely destroyed by fire and there was substantial water damage. The statues above the rear entrance, on Klosterstraße, were also destroyed. Assessments estimated that 50% of the building had suffered damage.
Post-war
Shortly after the official surrender of the Wehrmacht on May 8, 1945, the Soviet military administration, headed by Nikolai Berzarin, looked for capable anti-fascists to form a new public administration. On 19 May Berzarin appointed a new 19-member Magistrat under Arthur Werner as acting Governing Mayor. However, both the Rotes Rathaus and the Stadthaus were so damaged that the Fire Society Building adjacent to the Administration Building became the new seat of the Magistrat, and became known as "Neues Stadthaus". Since then, the former "new" building has been known as Altes Stadthaus, to distinguish it from that building.
The Department of Construction was developing schemes for the building as early as 1948. The most urgent need was for a new roof. Two alternatives emerged: an accurate reconstruction of the mansard roof, or a flat pitched roof. Timber was in short supply, so a pitched roof requiring of timber was chosen, instead of a mansard roof requiring . Issues of landmark preservation played featured little in the decision and starting from 1948 the roof was partially replaced with a pitched roof.
By 1950, 45% of the necessary repairs had been made to Altes Stadthaus by a few simple expedients such as emergency roofing. In the immediate post-war years, neither manpower, supplies, nor financing was available to undertake repairs on a larger scale. The reconstruction took place between 1950 and 1955 in five phases; the first focused on building up the courtyard wing on the Stralauer Straße side while the second phase, completed in early 1952, focused on the Stralauer Straße/Judenstraße wing and included construction of additional offices on the fourth floor and a 300-person dining hall with kitchen. However, for a number of reasons most significant of which was that the building was not the seat of government, the remaining three phases were not carried out. In addition, the reconstruction of Wilhelmine architecture was not a high priority, where as housing was and so funding for the restoration work was not included in the economic plan.