Berlin City Hall
By Gregor Gosciniak

31 December 2006: Red City Hall – ‘Rotes Rathaus’ - is how the citizens of Berlin refer to their City Hall. Most Germans know that Berlin City Hall is meant when people talk about Rotes Rathaus because of the reddish colour of its brick walls.  Since German reunification 1990 the Red City Hall has been the seat of Berlin’s Governing Mayor - who is also a state prime minister because Berlin is a city-state - and the Senate, the Berlin state government. Before the reunification of Germany the building was home to East Berlin's communist local government in the era of the German Democratic Republic (DDR), while the city council of democratic West Berlin resided in the Schöneberg–District City Hall.

The listed building was constructed in the style of the north Italian High Renaissance from 1861–69, according to the plans of renowned architect Hermann Friedrich Waesemann. An entire district of Berlin had to be demolished to make way for the new building, built on a plot measuring 99 by 88 metres. To the outside it appears as a four-wing building, but in the interior there are intermediate wings that create three inner courtyards.

New City Hall replaced the old, mediaeval town hall that was situated at the same spot. Over the centuries it gradually become unable to meet the demands made upon it.  Only two years after the building was completed, the German Reich was unified by Kaiser Wilhelm I and Berlin became the mighty capital of the old German Reich, so consequently the new City Hall became the supreme administrative building.

Many high society events were held in the representative rooms of City Hall during the days of Kaiser Wilhelm I, who personally favoured the building. One of the outstanding features of City hall is the characteristic tower, which is 74 metres high and is reminiscent of the bell tower of the cathedral in the French city of Laon. In 1879, the so called Stony Chronicle, a terracotta frieze on the first floor consisting of 36 plates, each 6m in length, showing scenes from the history of Berlin up to 1871, was added to the building.

Before WW2, the City Hall was surrounded by beautiful buildings including masterpieces of architecture like the Berlin City Castle (Stadtschloß) and others. After the war, the communist government of the DDR was not interested in restoring the old buildings in the City Hall area, all of which were badly damaged by bombs and fires. Most damaged buildings were demolished to make way for typical 1950s architecture. Some blocks of flats dating back to those days still surround City Hall today.

But the Red City Hall was one of very few exceptions. The building, as well as the façade, was reconstructed by East German workers according to its original form in 1951–58, but the interior design was stylistically altered. A typical piece of art of the communist era can be found in front of the building, a 1958 sculpture by Fritz Kremer that symbolises Berliners rebuilding their city.

Since reunification the building has been further restored. The beautiful coat of arms chamber and room of columns, both of which always were, and still are, used for representative occasions, are located on the main level. These rooms also are used by Berlin Mayor Klaus “Wowi” Wowereit.