Friedrichswerder town hall

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The Friedrichswerder town hall (No. 25) on Werderscher Markt on Friedrichswerder; to the right of the Palais Danckelmann; Detail from the colored Berlin cityscape by Johann Bernhard Schultz (1688)
The Friedrichswerder town hall (left) with the adjoining palace of the Brandenburg Minister Danckelmann (right), 1690; Drawing by Stridbeck the Elder J.

The Friedrichswerder town hall was the main building of the city ​​of Friedrichswerder, which was founded in 1662 alongside its sister cities Berlin and Cölln and was initially independent . The town hall was built between 1673 and 1678 by the electoral plasterer Giovanni Simonetti ; it was destroyed by fire in 1794.

Friedrichswerder, an ambitious residential city

The city center of Berlin-Cölln expanded rapidly under the Great Elector . The first expansion area was the marshy and initially drained Friedrichswerder, which in 1658 was included in the fortifications of Berlin and Cölln operated by the Elector. On September 19, 1662, Friedrichswerder received town charter and officially became the third royal seat on the Spree, alongside Berlin and Cölln. Johann Gregor Memhardt , the builder of the Berlin Fortress , became the first mayor . He also took up residence on the Friedrichswerder.

Around 1673, the Great Elector ordered the construction of a separate town hall for the new royal seat by the builder and plasterer Giovanni Simonetti (1652-1716). The building was ready to move into in 1678. Its location was near the (old) Packhof at the lock bridge . Directly in front of the town hall was the Werdersche Markt , planted with lime trees , at that time the center of the Friedrichswerder. As the market square of the Friedrichswerder, the square in front of the town hall was initially only called the market or, due to the animals that were mainly traded there, also the calf market or goose market .

Building description

The building was two stories high and had projections ( risalites ) on all four sides . There was a clock tower on the roof with a bell ringing . The bell was used to draw attention to the imminent closure of the city gates.

Location of state institutions

The Friedrichswerder experienced a rapid upward development in the following years. Many court officials lived here, but also immigrant Huguenots . As early as 1688, the new urban area was largely built on, not least because the Great Elector granted the citizens financial incentives in the form of exemption from taxes . In the vicinity of the Friedrichswerder town hall was the electoral, later royal mint, the residence of the Brandenburg minister Eberhard von Danckelman , which later assumed the function of a state guest house for the Prussian government as a princely house . The royal riding house was also adjacent .

Association of Municipalities

Friedrichswerder's town hall has been used as a court and school building since 1720.
Attachment to Schleuen's Berlin city map

In 1710, all (now five) originally independent residential cities, each with their own magistrate , seal and coat of arms, were combined under a single city administration: Berlin, Cölln, Friedrichswerder, Friedrichstadt and Dorotheenstadt have since formed the city of Berlin .

From 1720, the formerly separately acting magistrates officially gathered together in the Berlin City Hall as the common center. With this, the Friedrichswerder town hall had lost its original function. In the building, the Friedrichswerder Gymnasium, founded in 1681 and later with its school library, was housed on the upper floor . A courtroom was set up on the ground floor and was also used by the city's health department. At times the building also housed a church (the German parish of Friedrichswerder Church ).

Destruction by fire

On the night of November 26th to 27th, 1794, the former town hall burned down and was not rebuilt. Its place was taken by the extension built between 1798 and 1800 for the royal mint by Heinrich Gentz , later known as the old coin , which in turn was demolished in 1886 for the new Werderhaus building . Today the newly built front section of the Foreign Office is located here .

literature

  • Richard Borrmann : The Princely House and the old mint on Werderscher Markt in Berlin. In: Zeitschrift für Bauwesen , Volume 38, 1888, Col. 287 ff.
  • Johann Christian Gädicke: Lexicon of Berlin and the surrounding area. Berlin 1806.
  • Friedrich Nicolai: Description of the royal royal cities of Berlin and Potsdam, all the peculiarities located there, and the surrounding area. (4 vol.) Berlin 1786.
  • Erika Schachinger: The Berlin suburb Friedrichswerder 1658–1708. Verlag Böhlau, Cologne 1993, ISBN 3-412-13992-0 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Erika Schachinger: The Berlin suburb Friedrichswerder 1658–1708 . Verlag Böhlau, Cologne 1993. p. 4.
  2. ↑ On Simonetti cf. Dirk Herrmann: Zerbst Castle in Anhalt. History and description of a destroyed residence. Published by the State Office for Monument Preservation Saxony-Anhalt. 2. revised and exp. Ed., Verlag Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2005, ISBN 3-7954-1776-7 .
  3. ↑ cf. Johann Christian Gädicke: Lexicon of Berlin and the surrounding area. Berlin 1806. Vol. 1, p. 643 f.
  4. ↑ cf. Friedrich Nicolai: Description of the royal residence cities Berlin and Potsdam. Vol. 1, p. 160.
  5. ↑ cf. Friedrich Nicolai: Description of the royal residence cities Berlin and Potsdam. Vol. 1, p. 160 as well as on the Friedrichwerdersche Gymnasium: Johann Christian Gädicke: Lexicon of Berlin and the surrounding area. Berlin 1806, p. 197 f.
  6. ↑ See Nicolai, Vol. 1, p. 160.

Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 54 ″  N , 13 ° 23 ′ 56 ″  E