Roman court

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Roman court at the corner of Charlottenstrasse and Unter den Linden (front)

The Roman court is a historic building in Berlin's district center on the boulevard Unter den Linden  10. It is one of the few in the Second World War not completely destroyed building of the Berlin boulevard.

history

Grand Hotel de Rome , demolished in 1910

In 1775, the Hotel Ville de Rome , later Hotel Rome , was built based on designs by Georg Christian Ungers . After several renovations, the building was completed in 1876 ​​as the Grand Hotel de Rome . It was one of the most renowned houses of its time. After the hotel lost its importance around 1900, the building was demolished in 1910.

The office and commercial building Römischer Hof was built in its place according to a design by the Berlin architects Kurt Berndt and A. F. M. Lange . Construction began in 1910 and the rough work was completed in July 1911. In the spring of 1912 the building was ready to move into. Most of today's facades date from this time. The main entrance to the building was on Charlottenstrasse .

The Deutsche Verkehrs- und Kreditbank had the building converted in 1935. 1943 destroyed at a Allied air raid an air mine a part of the rear building. The Deutsche Reichsbahn took over the building in 1949. At the end of the 1960s, the Bulgarian Culture and Information Center opened on the ground floor . The GDR state travel agency used the bank's former counter room until 1989. Between the years 2000 and 2005, the Berlin Story bookstore and Club Cookies were located on the ground floor of the Römischer Hof.

The building owner Vivico had the building gutted from spring 2005 and renovated according to historical photos and documents. The wing in Charlottenstrasse, preserved as a ruin, was completely rebuilt. In September 2006 the Roman court was ready for occupancy. Now the E-Plus Group (capital representation), Palazzo Italia , Ferrari and Condé-Nast-Verlag have their headquarters there. Vivico registered the name “Römischer Hof” as a trademark .

Subject of the first German-German cinema production

The Römische Hof gained a certain prominence through the break-in of the Pannewitz Gang in 1951. They had rented some rooms on the ground floor in Charlottenstrasse and poked a hole in the floor of the vault of the Deutsche Verkehrs- und Kreditbank. The wages of the Reichsbahn employees were stored there. All money stocks (almost 1.7 million GDR marks and 224,000 German  marks ) were stolen during the break-in. When Walter Pannewitz was arrested later , the newspaper Telegraf wrote : “The police have found Pannewitz, the old rascal, long-sought safe breaker. Unfortunately the money has disappeared. ”The break-in has already been filmed twice. In December 1966, the two-part TV series Das Millionending - Rififi appeared in Berlin , directed by Helmuth Ashley, based on a report by Henry Kolarz .

The first feature film to be made in German-German co-production was released in 1989 under the title Der Bruch (with Götz George , Rolf Hoppe and Otto Sander ).

Others

The legend that the Old Palais opposite did not contain a bathroom is considered ineradicable , so that for Emperor Wilhelm I , a bathtub from the Hotel de Rome opposite had to be carried into the Palais by two hotel servants. In addition, the chief building officer Albert Geyer remarked that there was a bathtub in Augusta's apartment from the start, which Wilhelm I could reach via a spiral staircase. In 1885 Wilhelm had his own bath tub, which he did not use.

About 400 meters away, on Bebelplatz , the Rocco Forte Hotel de Rome opened in 2006 , the name of which was taken over from the former Grand Hotel.

literature

  • Karl-Heinz Hüter, Doris Mollenschott, Martin Wörner: Architectural Guide Berlin. 4th, revised and expanded edition, Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-496-01110-6 , p. 46.
  • Bogdan Krieger: Das Palais des alten Kaisers , special print from Velhagen & Klasingsmonthshefte, 40th year 1925/1926, 11th issue, July 1926 (p. 521–536), facsimile print . With an accompanying text by Hans-Werner Klünner, Archiv-Verlag, Braunschweig 1990.

Web links

Commons : Römerhof (Berlin)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Uwe Aulich: A hole in the ceiling In: Berliner Zeitung , December 16, 2004.
  2. ↑ Info page on Das Millionending - Rififi in Berlin on: Die Krimihomepage
  3. ↑ Sometimes the tub is filled with hot water (weighs around 250 kg). For example with Mario Krammer in: Berlin in the course of the centuries , Rembrandt Verlag, Berlin 1965, p. 226.
  4. ↑ On the “ineradicable legend”: Hans-Werner Klünner at Bogdan Krieger (see list of literature). The legend also existed in relation to the city palace. According to Werner Hegemann ( Das Steinerne Berlin , Gustav Kiepenheuer, Berlin 1930, p. 179), the hotel servants of the Rome carried a barrel with hot water there when Wilhelm I wanted to bathe.

Coordinates: 52 ° 31 ′ 3 ″  N , 13 ° 23 ′ 25 ″  E