George C. Marshall House

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Marshall house
Exhibition Grounds George C Marshall House 008.jpg
Data
place Berlin-Westend
architect Bruno Grimmek , Werner Düttmann
Client American High Commission
Architectural style Post-war modernity
Construction year 1950
Coordinates 52 ° 30 '13.9 "  N , 13 ° 16' 24.1"  E Coordinates: 52 ° 30 '13.9 "  N , 13 ° 16' 24.1"  E

The George C. Marshall House (shortened: Marshall-Haus ) with ERP pavilion is an exhibition pavilion at the exhibition center in Berlin district Westend the district Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf . It was built in 1950 as the US exhibition pavilion for the German Industrial Exhibition in Berlin 1950, named after the then US Secretary of State, General George C. Marshall .

Emergence

DBPB 1950 71 industrial exhibition
Construction site of the Marshall House, September 14, 1950,
drawing by Hugo Möhl
Exhibition grounds, 1952

In October 1950, the German Industry Exhibition 1950 opened the first major exhibition on the exhibition grounds after the Second World War . For this purpose, a large part of the destroyed exhibition halls was rebuilt, within 85 days emergency workers erected five large exhibition halls in steel and glass construction from bomb crater fields, whereby 75% of the covered exhibition space from the pre-war period could be restored. The Marshall House was also built in record time on the occasion of the industrial exhibition. Planning began on June 18, 1950, the laying of the foundation stone on July 26, 1950, completion on September 30, 1950 and the opening took place the next day, October 1, 1950.

The building owner was the American High Commissioner , the architect was Bruno Grimmek with the assistance of Werner Düttmann , and the project was financed through ERP funds . The naming honors the US statesman George C. Marshall, to whom the extensive economic reconstruction program - European Rescue Program, ERP for short - of the USA for Western Europe goes back. The Marshall House was built as a symbol of the special importance of the Marshall Plan for German reconstruction. The Marshall House is not only interesting from an architectural point of view, but also an important historical testimony because it symbolically embodies the political relations of the divided city with the United States of America as one of four Allied forces after 1945.

Location and description

The Marshall House is centrally located in the exhibition center and forms the southern end of the summer garden. It enables a quick transition to the surrounding exhibition halls.

The building consists of the hall and the connected glazed gallery, called a snail , resting on slender supports . The hall is a two-storey steel frame building with half-timbered girders and a steel-glass facade that extends over the 35 meter long and 10 meter high north and south walls. On the west side of the hall there is an unglazed part of the building with a cinema, on the east side there are various utility rooms. The filigree steel construction with its generous glazing is the greatest possible contrast to the monumental buildings of National Socialism and the existing buildings on the exhibition grounds.

A spacious staircase leads from the ground floor to the gallery, which covers around half of the lower hall and continues the elegant curve of the stairs. On the west side is a gallery , which is supplemented by a spacious balcony above the cinema, while on the east side there are again utility rooms and the transition to the snail. On the north side is a second balcony that extends over six of the seven rows of windows on the glass front.

The transition to the snail, the attached gallery, is also on the upper floor. It is glazed in two rows all around and rests on slender pillars. The gallery is closed off by a circular building at the back, which also has a staircase as a separate exit. Originally there was a flagpole on the rotunda (see drawing from the construction site) on which the flags of the participating countries were shown.

Revitalization in 1988

Over the years, various renovations took place, which, together with years of wear and tear and neglect of the building, led to a dilapidated condition, so that there were considerations for demolition. In 1988 the building was listed as a historical monument . In October 2007, Messe Berlin decided to revitalize the building, which was then comprehensively renovated and reopened on October 13, 2008 for IFA 2008 .

In cooperation with the State Monuments Office and the Lower Monument Protection Authority of the District Office Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf , an attempt was made to bring the design qualities of the 1950s architecture into harmony with the requirements of today's trade fair and exhibition operations. In this way, the economic interests of the operators could be brought into line with the monument preservation concept in an ideal way .

For this purpose, all later additions and conversions were removed, the floor coverings and wall surfaces were renewed and the doors, including fittings, railings and lights were refurbished. The filigree steel and glass window construction of the Marshall House and the pavilion, which could not withstand modern double glazing and was damaged by corrosion in the base areas , could not be saved . For cost reasons, a replica of the entire facade was made using an aluminum construction, which was carried out on a 1: 1 scale and corresponded to the original state of the steel construction with centimeter precision. Planning and construction was carried out by Modersohn & Free Life Architects .

  • North side

  • South side

  • slug

  • Entrance to the gallery

  • Cinema room with balcony

use

Today the building is used for all kinds of events accompanying exhibitions, for lectures, festivities and television shows. The open and spacious design of the Marshall House offers organizers optimal framework conditions. Depending on the seating, the building has a total of up to 650 seats, both on the lower and upper floors.

literature

Web links

Commons : George C. Marshall House  - Collection of Pictures, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ BERLIN: Greetings . In: Der Spiegel . No. 41 , 1950 ( online - 11 October 1950 ).
  2. ^ Diethelm Prowe: Cosmopolitan City in Crises: Berlin 1949-1958 . Ed .: Historical Commission to Berlin. De Gruyter , 1973 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  3. ↑ a b c d Marshall House. In: berlin.de. Retrieved October 19, 2018 .