in progress...
Berlin City Hall: The Rotes Rathaus
In spite of previous efforts to replace the structure, the old city hall of Berlin stood, in the location of the present city hall, until 1860:
The architect, Hermann Friedrich Waesemann, chose a bright, redish clinker brick to sheathe the entire structure.
Unlike other architects of most German city halls, Waesemann chose to look to Italy and France for his inspiration:
By 1870, the new city hall — known by its nickname, the Rotes Rathaus (red city hall) housed the city’s main administrative departments intil 1933, when the ruling Nazi regime moved the city council to other quarters. The building was heavily bombed during the Second World War:
But the East German government restored the structure completely by 1955:
After reunification, the city of Berlin has continued the restoration process — during which process the builders have uncovered the remains of some parts of the old city hall, and hope to maintain the excavation site as a permanent exhibit.
The new city hall derives much of its electrical power from a photovoltaic system charged by a series of solar panels.
more to come...