Charlottenburg Gate

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Charlottenburger Tor with the Charlottenburger Brücke over the Landwehr Canal
View through the Charlottenburger Tor from Straße des 17. Juni to Ernst-Reuter-Platz

The Charlottenburger Tor is a monument on Straße des 17. Juni in the Berlin district of Charlottenburg . Built in 1907–1908 by Bernhard Schaede in the neo-baroque style , it was moved apart when the east-west axis was widened in 1937–1938. The building ensemble consisting of monumental colonnades , candelabra and groups of figures forms the counterpart to the Brandenburg Gate .

Most recently, the colonnades with the preserved figures of King Frederick I and Queen Sophie Charlotte were renovated by Heinrich Baucke in 2004–2007 and the destroyed candelabra rebuilt in 2007–2010. The crowning groups of horses and deer by Georg Wrba have not yet been restored.

prehistory

Wheelhouses

Pillars of the former wheelhouses
View of the south wheelhouse, around 1900
Elevation of the south wheelhouse, around 1900

This place on the western edge of the zoo was architecturally designed for the first time as early as 1856 , when two wheelhouses opposite each other at a distance of 15 meters were built according to a design by Friedrich August Stüler . One wheelhouse served as a customs house for slaughter and meal tax, the other as a collection point for the road money . Both wheelhouses were symmetrical to each other . Their fronts were designed with a small, open vestibule that was closed on the sides. Three round arches rested on the outer walls and on two Doric columns each . These sandstone pillars were made from one piece. On the back walls of the vestibule, three round reliefs were attached to each of the kneeling female figures. These reliefs also distinguished the houses. On the north they symbolized technology, warfare and traffic, on the south science, architecture and visual arts.

After the taxes levied on the wheelhouses were abolished, the tax administration no longer needed the houses and rented them out. For the increasing traffic at the end of the 19th century, the only 15 meter wide passage between the houses became more and more of a bottleneck. That is why the side walls of the vestibules were removed at that time so that they could be used as arcades .

As part of the clearing of the construction site for the new construction of the Charlottenburger Tor, the northern wheelhouse was demolished in 1905 and the southern one in 1907. The six round reliefs and the four Doric columns were secured and given to the Technical University . The columns were set up as demonstration pieces for architectural lessons in the courtyard of the university, where a collection of Berlin building remains was and is still located today. The pillars have been located at the rear exits of the main building since they were erected in 1908. At first they stood on both sides of the doors and served as a support for climbing trellises. Today they stand side by side, facing the longitudinal ends of the building. The pillars are now a listed building .

Planning the gate

First competition

Design by Friedrich Pützer , 1st prize
Design by Josef Welz, 2nd prize
Design by Karl Winter, 3rd prize

In February 1900 the city council of Charlottenburg initiated a “competition to obtain drafts for the artistic design of the Charlottenburg Bridge”. In connection with the replacement of the wooden bascule bridge, which was necessary anyway, the aim was to create a representative entrance situation on Berlin's Chaussee that would do justice to the increased importance of Charlottenburg, which at the time had a higher tax revenue than Berlin. The wheelhouses were deliberately made available. 52 drafts were received. However, the large number of designs contrasted with the quality. The Berlin architecture world illustrated the problem of open competitions in this case : “The process that has emerged in most competitions in recent years is repeated here, that many immature, sometimes still at the lowest level of artistic training, dare to tackle the task who see the area of ​​public competition as a welcome playground. "The jury set three prizes and recommended three further designs for purchase, but stated that" neither the three award-winning designs nor the three designs recommended for purchase [... ] in their present form [are] suitable for execution. "

The designs were divided into two main groups, of which the first wanted to build a gate over the street and the second to emphasize the edges of the road. While the city of Charlottenburg favored emphasizing the roadside, the jury awarded a goal design with the first prize. This was awarded to the architect Friedrich Pützer from Darmstadt . Pützer designed a city gate-like building with a 17 meter wide and 11 meter high basket arch for the roadway and two smaller arches for the footpaths. A tower grew up on the northern side of the gate, to which a portico with a flight of stairs was connected to the west.

The second prize went to a design that emphasized the roadside, designed by Josef Welz, and the third went to a gate structure designed by Karl Winter. Even within the jury, opinions differed about the basic design. For the further procedure, the jury recommended “to give the three winners the task of working on the design anew in two directions in a closer competition, one with a building over the main street with a gate, and the other with an architectural emphasis the roadsides with appropriate artistic preparation and adaptation to the landscape. "

Second competition

The city of Charlottenburg finally decided against building a gate. The closer competition proposed by the jury was carried out with this in mind. But even the closer competition, which was concluded in early 1901, did not produce a result with which the city councilors and members of the magistrate in Charlottenburg were satisfied. Another revision of his draft by Friedrich Pützer did not change anything in this situation.

Noteworthy, however, is another design that was presented outside of the competition by the Berlin architect Bruno Jautschus, in which he anticipated elements of the building that was implemented later.

Construction of the gate

Designed by Bruno Jautschus, out of competition

Unsatisfied with the results of the competition, Charlottenburg ultimately commissioned its own building authorities for civil engineering, taking into account the designs acquired, to draw up a final building design. They should then commission a well-known sculptor with the architectural design of the complex. The Berlin architecture world commented laconically on the failure of the competition : "To achieve this result, it really would not have required the effort of a major competition!"

Construction of the new Charlottenburg Bridge began in 1904. In its place there used to be a wooden bascule bridge over the Landwehr Canal , which was owned by the Prussian state . Since 1897, the Royal Water Management Authority has been planning to remove this bottleneck for both ship and road traffic by building a new building. Negotiations with the city of Charlottenburg led to the takeover of the bridge in the possession of Charlottenburg in 1900, since Charlottenburg was planning to redesign this area in connection with a new bridge.

The 55 meter wide bridge spanned the Landwehr Canal with a width of 26 meters with a vault and was completed in March 1907, including the wing walls and banks. The structures for the Charlottenburg Gate took another two years. In total, the entire new system cost 1.572 million marks (adjusted for purchasing power in today's currency: around 9.84 million euros). The construction management of the entire plant was in the hands of Hermann Zangemeister . There is a scale model of the gate in the German Museum of Technology in Berlin-Kreuzberg .

architecture

East side with figures, around 1908
West side with candelabra, around 1908

After the failure of the competition, the architectural design of the bridge was entrusted to the architect Bernhard Schaede , who was not involved in the competition . He also made three very different designs, one after the other, until a design that was satisfactory to the Charlottenburg city administration was found, which was also approved by Kaiser Wilhelm II . The foundation stone for the gate was laid on May 6, 1907.

Schaede's goal design consisted of three elements made from Ettringer tuff . The main part consisted of two slightly curved columned halls, which faced each other on both sides of the roadway at a distance of 15 meters. They ended next to the road with a strong pylon-like wall. Short walls formed the end of the side facing away from the road. Both ends of the portico had ornate superstructures. The design language was based on the strict baroque and is now assigned to the neo-baroque . While the roadway lay between the two porticoed halls, the footpaths and bridle paths laid out separately on each side of the street led through the porticoed halls. The tram tracks, here a section of the first horse-drawn tram in Germany, lay with both tracks on the northern edge of the road.

In front of the porticoed halls from the direction of Charlottenburg, a 20-meter-high, richly decorated candelabra was set up on each side of the street to accommodate the arc lamps. The artistic facility was completed by the design of the bridge parapets. These were pulled up sharply at the ends facing Charlottenburg at the level of the candelabra and closed in a small pylon. At the north-western corner of the bridge, an underground lavatory was created, with the access stairs and rooms also being designed by Bernhard Schaede.

characters

Figure of King Frederick I on the south side
Figure Queen Sophie Charlotte on the north side

In his first draft, Schaede envisaged the depiction of Friedrich I and his wife Sophie Charlotte at the gate, but initially only as relief portraits. In his third draft, he made his way to full-figure still images in human size for the first time. However, even these depictions did not appear sufficiently majestic to Wilhelm II, whereupon the sculptor Heinrich Baucke received a corresponding commission. He created the two imperious and pompous bronze statues about five meters high that were placed on the outside of the gate and were intended to impress travelers arriving in Charlottenburg. In contrast to the gate design, the statues did not meet with approval from experts. The Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung wrote: “Both appear very squat under the canopies floating high above them, the outline of the dark bronze masses from a distance almost shapeless through the fluffy and broadly sloping cloaks. [...] Unfortunately, almost all of the favorable positions for viewing the monuments are on road embankments. "

On the stone pillars facing the street there were originally two bronze sculptures created by the sculptor Georg Wrba , the loss of which has damaged the overall appearance of the building since 1945. The northern figure represented a woman riding a stag with a veil over her head; the southern figure shows a man riding a horse, holding a shield and sword in his hand. The Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung commented on the two bronze sculptures with the words "It is not easy to untangle these intertwined bodies, and it is even more difficult to find their meaning".

History until 1990

Site plan of the renovation 1937–1939
Canadian soldiers at the damaged gate, 1945
View from the north of the TU to the Charlottenburger Tor, 1965

Transfer

In the summer of 1937, the civil engineering department of the city of Berlin received the order from general building inspector Albert Speer to bring the east-west axis to an alignment width of 50 meters by April 1939 as part of the National Socialist expansion program of the capital. The greatest difficulty here was the renovation of the Charlottenburg Bridge. Speer also demanded that the 1½ meter high hump, which had been heaped up in 1904 in order to achieve a greater clearance for ships under the Charlottenburg Bridge, should be removed. The gate, which was previously a breaking point in the line of sight, should no longer be precisely this. The tram in the east-west axis was also sacrificed to the line of sight, as the overhead line in particular was perceived as a nuisance.

In order to meet Speer's requirements as well as the demands of the Reich Waterways Administration for an improvement in the passage conditions under the Charlottenburg Bridge, the old Charlottenburg arch bridge was demolished and replaced by a new building. This only had a height of 95 cm, which was the absolute minimum of the construction technology at that time. A passage height of 3.30 meters over a width of 25 meters was achieved for shipping. In order to be able to accommodate the required lane widths, the new bridge to the south was made ten meters wider than the previous structure. It is located at the 1.20 kilometer of the canal and has a clearance height of 3.56 meters, which is important for the excursion boats.

The new construction of the bridge including the removal of the ramps could only be accomplished by dismantling the entire Charlottenburger Tor. The repositioning was then carried out at a distance of 33 meters between the columned halls, which made it possible to pass through the two 14.50 meter wide carriageways and the four meter wide median. In order to achieve an architectural unity of the new bridge with the gate, the parapets were made of tuff stone and the bridge structure was clad with sandstone. Bernhard Schaede, the architect of the gate, was involved in this work as a manager.

Street lights designed by Speer were installed along the entire east-west axis for the street lighting. There was a further need for electricity due to the lighting of the festive decorations of the street, which were taken into account during the expansion. Nine underground network and switching stations were installed to supply these systems with power. One of them was built in the immediate vicinity of the northern portico of the Charlottenburg Gate. The access to the maintenance staircase in the gate also served as access to this network and switching station.

As part of the festive decoration of the street, the National Socialists "misused" the gate as a flag holder. Oversized swastika flags were hung between the pillars and across the road on the front sides of the columned halls on appropriate occasions.

War destruction and reconstruction

During the Battle of Berlin in World War II , the 1st Polish Infantry Division "Tadeusz Kościuszko" advanced from Charlottenburg to the Tiergarten at the end of April 1945 and fought with German troops on the Landwehr Canal. On the Charlottenburg Bridge, numerous anti-tank traps were supposed to prevent the Red Army from advancing . During the fighting over the bridge, the west side of the Charlottenburger Tor was particularly badly damaged. After the war, only a makeshift repair was carried out. Georg Wrba’s sculptures were dismantled between February and May 1945 and have been considered lost ever since.

In 1968 and 1970 the remaining damage caused by the war was repaired. For the first time, a method was used for the installation of reproduced stone elements in which the parts were not pegged in the traditional way, but glued on with a plastic-based adhesive. However, this adhesive lost its effectiveness over time and 30 years later the first attached parts fell off as a result. The two heavily damaged stone candelabra pillars were not rebuilt. The remains were broken off.

contest

In 1986, the district office of Charlottenburg, in cooperation with the state curator, planned to erect modern sculptures on the Charlottenburger Tor in place of the lost Wrba figure groups. The aim was to reinforce the goal effect that had been lost due to the separation by raising the towers. The Senator for Construction and Housing launched a closer competition to find suitable designs. Four artists were asked to submit their designs. Denis Oppenheim was awarded the first prize in August 1986. In the jury, however, there were quite different opinions about the integration of the very modern sculptures into the historical architecture and the surrounding urban space. The state curator also reported such concerns. Ultimately, there was no implementation.

restoration

In the run-up to the 750th anniversary of Berlin in 1987, the surface of the Charlottenburg Gate was waterproofed . The aim was to seal the pores of the tuff stone on the surface and thus prevent further penetration of the water into the rock. The consolidation of the rock surface did not, however, lead to the hoped-for protection of the building. Rather, the hardened layers loosened on the moistened substrate and fell off.

History since 1990

Reconstructed candelabra
Column hall from 1909 and spear lamp from 1939

Restoration of the gate

By a report from the Foundation for Monument Protection Berlin which was Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in 2003 illustrates the poor structural condition of the Charlottenburg Gate. This report also found that individual elements of the gate were no longer securely anchored and threatened to fall. As a result, footpaths and bike paths under the gate were temporarily closed. Only after the removal of loose stones by employees of the building authority were they released again.

For financial reasons, the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district was unable to restore the gate itself. In May 2004, a contract was therefore signed with the Berlin Monument Protection Foundation, which carried out the renovation until 2007. The restoration was financed by enclosing the scaffolding, which, in contrast to the actual gate, also stretched across the street with two 3500 m² advertising tarpaulins.

After the construction of the scaffolding, a dedicated damage assessment was carried out. Every single stone was examined and the goal was documented with millimeter precision with 20 million measuring points. As part of the renovation, the old grout was removed and replaced with a new one in a matching color, which was specially developed by the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing . Necessary repairs to the stones were made and 71 damaged tuff segments were replaced with copies. Finally, the entire building was cleaned by sandblasting with aluminum granulate. In order to reduce future problems caused by rainwater penetrating the rock, drainage systems were installed and missing copper cover plates on the horizontal cornices replaced.

After a 32-month renovation period, the building was accepted by the owner, the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district, on February 22nd, 2007. The completion of the work was to be officially celebrated on May 6, 2007, the 100th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone. The costs amounted to 1.8 million euros.

Reconstruction of the candelabra

Next, the 22-meter-high arched candelabra, which had been destroyed in the war and finally demolished in 1970, were rebuilt in 2007–2010. The contract between Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and the Berlin Monument Protection Foundation, which carried out the work again, was signed on January 11, 2007. The financing takes place in turn by renting the scaffolding as advertising space. The reconstruction was completed on April 30, 2010.

The restoration of the two 22-meter-high candelabra on the west side of the Charlottenburg Bridge, each with eight arc lamps, was completed in April 2010 under the auspices of the Berlin Monument Protection Foundation. In the course of the reconstruction of the stone candelabra columns at the Charlottenburger Tor at the Charlottenburger Brücke, the lighting fixtures made of bronze were restored. These cast bronze rings, which represent a dragon relief, have a diameter of 4.5 meters and weigh one ton each .

In addition, the so-called “Bastion”, the roundabout on the south side of the gate, was redesigned on the initiative of the Friends of the Charlottenburger Tor . Seating was set up and the stone parapet was replaced by an open bridge railing that opens up a view of the Landwehr Canal. The bridge surface was re-paved , following the example of Pariser Platz . Further design ideas of the Freundeskreis Charlottenburger Tor related to the green areas in the immediate vicinity of the gate, the lighting and the bridge railing.

The area of ​​the Charlottenburger Tor is now an area that has been shaped several times. The time shift of the wheelhouses is no longer visible at any point. However, elements from 1909 with the original structure of the gate have been preserved, as well as numerous elements from 1939, such as the bridge parapets and Speer's street lights.

A faithful restoration of the gate is not expected in the foreseeable future, as this would also require moving closer to the historical distance of 14.50 meters in order to restore the gate effect intended by Schaede. The replicas of the arched light candelabra were erected at the places where the gate was moved (1939).

Gate museum

In the “rediscovered” area of ​​the network and switching point, which was formerly used to supply power to the street lighting, the Friends of the Charlottenburger Tor , which is part of the Berlin Monument Protection Foundation , set up a gate museum . Historical views and plans of the gate and the bridge are exhibited in the two rooms. The platform on the north wing of the gate can be climbed on Saturdays between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. The Berlin Monument Protection Foundation has received a free right of use from the district office until the end of 2021.

literature

  • Helmut Engel (Red.): The Charlottenburg Gate. Overlooked monument by the roadside? Monument Protection Foundation, Berlin 2004 ( Berlin Monument Protection Foundation , Issue 6, ZDB -ID 2146850-3 ).
  • Iselin Gundermann, Helmut Engel (Red.): The Charlottenburg Gate - April 30, 1945. Place of German history. Monument Protection Foundation, Berlin 2005 ( Berlin Monument Protection Foundation , issue 6).
  • Helmut Engel : The Charlottenburg Gate. Gateway to one of the “most beautiful streets in the world”. Berlin Monument Protection Foundation, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-00-016993-8 ( Masterpieces of Berlin Architecture , Volume 5).

Web links

Commons : Charlottenburger Tor  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Julius Kohte : The wheelhouses at the Charlottenburg Bridge . In: Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung , Vol. 28, Issue 94, November 21, 1908, p. 625
  2. ^ A b F. Schultze: The competition for the artistic design of the Charlottenburger bridge . In: Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung , Vol. 20, Issue 53, July 7, 1900, pp. 322–324 and Issue 55 (July 14, 1900), pp. 336–338
  3. ↑ Entry of the pillars of the wheelhouses in the Berlin State Monument List
  4. ↑ Competition to obtain drafts for the artistic design of the Charlottenburg Bridge . In: Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung , Vol. 20, Issue 14, February 17, 1900, p. 80
  5. ↑ a b c Ernst Spindler: The competition for the Charlottenburger bridge . In: Berliner Architekturwelt , 3rd year, issue 8, November 1900, pp. 277–286
  6. ↑ Ernst Spindler: Tighter competition for the Charlottenburger bridge . In: Berliner Architekturwelt , 4th year, issue 3, June 1901, pp. 78–85
  7. ^ The competition for the new construction of the Charlottenburg Bridge . In: Berliner Architekturwelt , 3rd year, issue 12, March 1901, p. 455
  8. ↑ a b c d e Brüstlein: The new construction of the Charlottenburg Bridge . In: Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung , Vol. 29, Issue 43, May 29, 1909, pp. 290–293
  9. ^ Hermann Zangemeister: The underground lavatories in Charlottenburg . In: Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung , Volume 31, Issue 3, January 7, 1911, pp. 12–15; zlb.de
  10. ↑ Sophie Charlotte and her castle . Catalog of the exhibition “Sophie Charlotte and Your Castle. A court of muses of the Baroque in Brandenburg-Prussia ”of the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg in Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin from November 6, 1999 to January 30, 2000. Prestel Verlag, Munich 1999. ISBN 3-7913-2225-7
  11. ^ The restoration of the Charlottenburg Gate. ( Memento from July 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ^ Information from the Berlin Waterways Office on the LWK bridges
  13. ^ H. Langer: The expansion of the Berlin east-west axis from the Brandenburg Gate to Mussolini Square . In: Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung , vol. 59, issue 47/48, November 25, 1939, pp. 1133–1147
  14. ^ H. Langer: The Berlin east-west axis as a traffic route . In: Verkehrstechnik , Vol. 20, Issue 17, September 5, 1939, pp. 409-415
  15. ↑ Claudia Fuchs: Charlottenburger Tor is being researched . In: Berliner Zeitung , September 27, 2005
  16. ↑ a b Stefan Grell: Damage pictures . Monument mirror (quarterly journal for monument protection and preservation), 3rd year, No. 1, January 2005, stiftung-denkmalschutz-berlin.de (PDF; 300 kB)
  17. ^ Charlottenburger Tor / narrower competition art in urban space: call for applications . Ed .: Senator for Building and Housing, Berlin 1986
  18. ^ Charlottenburger Tor / narrower competition art in urban space: minutes of the jury and report of the preliminary examination . Ed .: Senator for Building and Housing, Berlin 1986
  19. ↑ Answer from Dr. Stimmann for the Senate Department for Urban Development from April 16, 2003 in response to a small request from MP Christa Müller (SPD) Restoration of the Charlottenburg Gate from March 13, 2003, parlament-berlin.de (PDF; 97 kB)
  20. ↑ Carolin Brühl: Charlottenburger Tor is falling into disrepair: danger from loose stones / renovation necessary - city council closes the sidewalk . ( Memento from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) In: Berliner Morgenpost , March 1, 2003
  21. ↑ Claudia Fuchs: A model from 20 million data . In: Berliner Zeitung , October 18, 2004
  22. ↑ Claudia Fuchs: The vase came in slices / The southern wing of the Charlottenburger Tor has been renovated / Everything should be ready by the end of the year . In: Berliner Zeitung , July 27, 2006
  23. ↑ Charlottenburger Tor is ready . Press release from the district office of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, February 26, 2007
  24. ^ Signing of the contract for the restoration of the historic candelabra on the Charlottenburg Bridge . Press release from the district office of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, January 11, 2007
  25. ^ The reconstruction of the candelabra at the Charlottenburg Gate . Berlin Monument Protection Foundation; Retrieved June 26, 2010
  26. ↑ Project description candelabra at the Charlottenburger Tor . Project description by the Berlin Monument Protection Foundation
  27. ↑ Reconstruction of the dragon relief . bronzegiesserei.net
  28. ↑ Brigitte Schmiemann: The covers will fall this year / Charlottenburger Tor: Circle of friends wants to use basement rooms for exhibition . ( Memento from December 1, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) In: Berliner Morgenpost , October 27, 2006
  29. ↑ Birgitt Eltzel: Charlottenburger Tor will soon drop its covers / Small delays in the renovation work . In: Berliner Zeitung , January 11, 2007

Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 48 ″  N , 13 ° 19 ′ 53 ″  E