The Ufa-Pavillon am Nollendorfplatz was a cinema located at 4 Nollendorfplatz, Schöneberg, Berlin. The chief architect was Oskar Kaufmann. Built in 1912–13 and decorated by leading artistic practitioners of the day, it was the German capital's first purpose-built, free-standing cinema"Das erste freistehende Kinotheater war das Cines am Nollendorfplatz in Berlin, erbaut von Oskar Kaufmann ca. 1910–12 mit 678 Plätzen. (vgl. Boeger 1993: 9, Brauns 2007: 242, Gabler 1950: 6) Source: The first free-standing, purpose-built cinema in Germany was the in Burg (bei Magdeburg), which opened as Palast-Theater on 3 June 1911, followed by the in Cottbus, opened 4 October 1911. The Nollendorf-Theater opened 20 March 1913. Described as "historically, [...] the most important cinema in Berlin", it incorporated a number of technical innovations such as an opening roof and a daylight projection screen, and opened as the Nollendorf-Theater in March 1913.
The cinema was built by a group of US investors allied with the Italian film company Cines (Società Italiana Cines)Pronounced Chee-néss which included the American millionaire Joe Goldsoll (a high-class con-man and swindler); A. H. Woods, a Hungarian theatrical producer based in New York to whom Goldsoll was related by marriage; and Edward B. Kinsila, later a film studio architect. The Nollendorf-Theater was rumoured to have been "paid for by the Pope's money.""The manager [of the Nollendorf] confided to me that the company was backed by an important bank at Rome and added, as he showed off to me the marvels of his establishment: "All this kind of thing is paid for by the Pope's money. (The bank in question was, as a matter of fact, speculating with Papal funds.)" Source: One of the directors of the parent company of Cines in Rome, was Ernesto Pacelli, President of the Banco di Roma, who was in the confidence of Pope Leo XIII and the cousin of Pope Pius XII.
Goldsoll and Woods acquired the German rights to Cines films, and formed Cines-Theater AG, a Berlin-based, partly-owned subsidiary of Cines in Rome. They also controlled a number of other important film venues in Berlin and elsewhere, including what became the Ufa-Palast am Zoo.
The cinema was renamed the Cines Nollendorf-Theater in 1914, but the Berlin subsidiary of Cines (Cines AG) collapsed in late 1915 after the Banco di Roma, one of its main investors, fell into financial difficulties. The building was acquired by the Union-Theater Lichtspiele (U.-T.) chain of cinemas, part of Paul Davidson's PAGU company. Although PAGU was consolidated in late 1917 into the Universum-Film AG (Ufa), the cinema continued to be known as the Union-Theater Nollendorfplatz until 1923. It was renamed as Ufa-Theater Nollendorfplatz in 1924 and finally as the Ufa-Pavillon in 1927. It was badly damaged during World War II in an RAF bombing raid in late 1943, and was not rebuilt.
Design
The Cines Nollendorf Theater was one of a number of buildings constructed during a brief period in Berlin's industrial and public architecture from around 1900 where Historicism (represented by the Gründerzeit and the highly decorative Jugendstil movements) came to an end, to be replaced by Modern Architecture from the early 1920s onwards.
The architect was Oskar Kaufmann, one of the proponents of the so-called 'Neuberliner' architectural style, largely influenced by the work of Alfred Messel who had died in 1909: "In our new Berlin style—which has been cultivated by a majority of the exuberant upcoming students of Messel—the pillar that we have been lacking for so long (particularly the elongated Doric architecture) is once more finally drawn into the light of day."
The seated figure over the entrance and the bas-reliefs of the external frieze were by sculptor Franz Metzner,"Im Jahre 1912 folgte ein größerer Relieffries für das von Oskar Kaufmann errichtete Cines-Theater am Nollendorfplatz." Franz Metzner Also worked with Kaufmann on the Volksbühne, and with Patriz Huber on decorating Ibach pianos. Source: Alexander Koch und die Darmstädter Mathildenhöhe and was responsible for the internal decoration. The stained glass windows in the foyer were executed by from Unger's designs: says the windows were done by Gottfried Heinersdorff's father, Paul Gerhard Heinersdorff: but his dates (1844–1900) make it somewhat likely that Gottfried (1883–1941) was responsible. and and Hermann Feuerhahn created the ceiling lights with their figurines in the auditorium.They also worked on the Stadttheater Bremerhaven (bas-reliefs capitals of the Four Humours on the harbour side of the theatre). (see also Wikimedia category:Hermann Feuerhahn.
The Nollendorf-Theater can be seen as an example of architectural 'Gesamtkunstwerk', a work created by a typical assemblage of masters of their craft found particularly in Germany (and less so in the United States). The films made by Ufa and other companies shown in the cinema during the 20s and 30s were also informed by this idea of an artistic guild of equals. This collective approach resulted in a flexible, dynamic and fluid group of artistically minded, highly creative and even visionary film-makers which produced many of the classic films which are still discussed and referenced in the 21st century.
The architecture of the Nollendorf-Theater is plainer and more severe than the Gründerzeit and Jugendstil styles, and embodies distinctly 'modern' sculptural and artistic motifs. The overall approach seems to have some stylistic connections with and the Deutscher Werkbund, a "cultural-economic association of artists, architects, entrepreneurs/businessmen and experts", founded in 1907.'als wirtschaftskulturelle "Vereinigung von Künstlern, Architekten, Unternehmern und Sachverständigen"...gegründet'
Other contemporary developments in search of "a more modern and useful architecture" for Berlin include: the AEG turbine plant by Peter Behrens (1909); Kaufmann's Volksbühne and the introduced new trends in theatre construction (in addition to the Ufa-Pavillon and his 1914 conversion of the Groß-Berlin Theater, later the Ufa-Palast am Zoo; the Pergamon Museum and the capital's first department stores were drafted by Alfred Messel; and Hermann Muthesius designed a new and modern Country House style for Berlin's newly developing suburbs.
Description Edward B. Kinsila in his book Modern Theater Construction gives a (fulsome, bordering on purple prose) description of the interior of the Nollendorf.
Also, from an article in the contemporary trade journal Kinotheater: "Opposite the 'Mozartsaal' a curious building has arisen, and the gazes of the passers-by are already steered towards the exterior, with its windowless and thus distinguished, seemingly inventive, façade. The glass paintings (illuminated from the inside) which constitute a unique decoration of the entrance, bespeak—through their symbolic figures—the building's purpose: a cinema.
At first glance the auditorium comes across as almost overwhelming. If you didn't know that it has been decked out after the American paradigm, you might suppose that you were being confronted with an entirely new style. This is something genuinely new for Berlin, and one must give Oskar Kaufmann his due, for he has understood how to bring to fruition something outstanding and appropriate to its purpose. The room, decorated in ivory colours, is completely carpeted in grey plush, against which the lilac folding seats are advantageously silhouetted. The ceiling gravitates downwards towards sumptuous, multi-coloured relief arabesques, and the light fixtures are of outstanding beauty.
The theatre contains 650 places,The online source says 850, probably a mis-transcription somewhere. A study of the architectural plan shows that there were approximately 643 seats: c500 in the stalls, c100 in the circle, and c43 in the boxes. whose prices between 1 and 3 marks are allotted to stalls, circle and boxes. The staircase does not lead separately – like in German theatres in general – to the auditorium, but from both sides of the stalls; and (through the continuous curved arc of the balcony) generates a wholly idiosyncratic embellishment of the house. Everything is austerely modern, plain, and elegant."
The film critic of the Berlin daily was much taken with the auditorium on the opening night: "First, a word about the interior of the theatre: Adorable. Damped, effective light falls down through splendid bronze balls. The whole plain, sober and simple interior is delicately mauve -white; even the numerous ushers (Platzanweiser) are exceptional in their new violet tailcoat livery. All in all, a jewellery box of the very best kind.""Wort über das Innere des Theaters: Entzückend. Gedämpftes, wirkungsvolles Licht fällt durch prächtige Bronzekugeln verteilt hernieder. Das ganze schlicht vornehm und einfach gehaltene Innere ist in zartes violett-weiss gehalten; selbst die zahlreichen "Platzanweiser" gefallen sich ausnehmend in ihren neuen violetten Frack-Livreen. Alles in allem ein Schmuckkästchen eigenster Art."
It was not as big as the Ufa-Palast am Zoo, which soon become Berlin's premier cinema. The Ufa-Palast was also owned/leased by Goldsoll and Woods and converted in 1913 from a stage theatre by Oskar Kaufmann. The Ufa-Pavillon was seems to have been used more for press showings.
Not so Oriental Somewhat confusingly, 'Cines' is also a native adjective in the German language, meaning 'Chinese'. However, the Cines-Theater was not a 'Chinese theatre', as at least two writers seem to believe., citing Edwin Heathcote (2001). Cinema Builders. West Sussex: Wiley-Academy, p. 16: "European architects were the first to adopt Asian influences in theater design. Oskar Kaufmann designed the Cines-Theater in Berlin's Nollendorfplatz in 1911."
Critical reception
According to one contemporary critic, the building exhibited "the gracefully ironic pathos, the erotically overloaded sacrilege, the rhythmical dissonance of solemnity and dance", which became the key formal elements of the 'Ufa style.', citing Brennicke & Hembus, Klassiker des deutschen Stummfilms, 1910–1930 (Munich, 1983), p. 241, possibly citing Die Schaubühne, 2 October 1913.
"Cinema buildings are not, at any rate, slow in arriving, and take interesting forms of great experimental significance, as is the case of Oskar Kaufmann's Cines Theater, inaugurated in 1913."
Before World War I, "Germany had led the world in the development of serious, modern cinema architecture. Oskar Kauffmann's [...] Cines-Theater in Berlin's Nollendorfplatz was one of the first significant free-standing purpose-built cinema structures. It was among the first attempts at a sober, modern language of cinema architecture, presenting an austere picture to the world with three looming blank walls ".
With its somewhat detached, intellectual, high-cultural prose, Berliner Architekturwelt briefly referred to the new cinemas in Berlin, singling out the building on the Nollendorfplatz: