Neustadt church square
| Neustadt church square | |
|---|---|
 |
|
 View from the southeast over the square, 2011 |
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| Basic data | |
| place | Berlin |
| District | center |
| Created | in the 17th century as a church area with a cemetery |
| Newly designed | 2011 |
| Confluent streets |
Dorotheenstrasse, Neustädtische Kirchstrasse, Mittelstrasse, Schadowstrasse |
| Buildings | Lux residential building |
| use | |
| User groups | pedestrian |
| Technical specifications | |
| Square area | 6600 m² / 4200 m² |
The Neustädtische Kirchplatz is a town square in the Berlin district of Mitte in the district of the same name . In its place stood the Dorotheenstädtische Church until 1965, after its removal it was a natural open space. Only since the year 2000, with the progressive redevelopment in the area, has it been landscaped and designed and on May 24, 2011 it was named after the adjacent street and in relation to the history of the square.
history
Name-giving church
The street was named after the Dorotheenstädtische Kirche , also known as the Neustadt church .
The parish church of Dorotheenstadt , founded in the 17th century by the Great Elector , stood, surrounded by its churchyard , in Neustädtische Kirchstrasse between Mittelstrasse and Dorotheenstrasse, in place of a simple previous building, probably by Rutger von Langerfeld from the years 1678–1687. The new building, built by R. Habelt from 1861–1863, was a three-aisled hall church in the arched style of the Stülerschule with a tall, slender church tower . In addition to the bells and some pieces of equipment, it contained famous Berlin tombs such as those of Rutger von Langerfeld, Johann Arnold Nering , Michael Mathias Smids , Karl August Fürst von Hardenberg and Anna Dorothea Therbuschs from the first building. Albert Geyer redesigned the interior from 1902–1903. The tomb of Alexander von der Mark, created by Gottfried Schadow in 1788/1789 by Gottfried Schadow , was considered particularly valuable . It was outsourced during World War II . On November 22, 1943, the interior burned out completely as a result of an Allied air raid . The tomb of Alexander von der Mark found a new place in the Old National Gallery in 1951 . Before the ruins of the Dorotheenstädtische Church were blown up in 1965, the epitaphs of the Thaerbusch and Langerfelds could be expanded. Then the area was leveled and left to itself or to nature.
The Berlin Wall in West Berlin had not been far away since 1961 and finally in the 1970s the American embassy in East Berlin had set up a building complex bordering the square to the east as a diplomatic representation, the former department store for the army and navy , since 1935 House of the German Chamber of Crafts and Commerce .
Area freed up
After the political change , the open space remained for a few years as a wild parking lot , initially because of the massive new buildings and road renovations in the area. After the attack on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001 , the area surrounding the embassy on Neustadtische Kirchstrasse, which was still used by the USA , was converted into a high-security area, and the square and the adjacent streets were now completely cordoned off from the public. Concrete bollards, steel fences and sentry boxes were erected on the square. The situation only eased when the new United States Embassy on Pariser Platz was completed and people moved into in 2008. All safety precautions were dismantled in a short time. The foundation walls of the church and some grave sites have been preserved underneath the area and are designated as ground monuments. Before the site was used again, archaeologists were able to dig on the site. Under the direction of Renate Patzschke from the Archäo Kontrakt company, numerous skeletons from the former burial site were found.
Construction of a town square
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competition
In 2007 the Senate Department for Urban Development announced a limited landscape planning competition for the central and eastern parts of the square; about 70 meters in a west-east direction and 60 meters in a north-south direction should be redesigned. By the time the jury made its decision in October 2008, 42 designs had been received. The joint project by the landscape architects WES & Partner, Schatz, Betz, Kaschke and Wehberg-Krafft (all from Berlin) took first place. The “contemporary and green public space oriented towards today's needs” was then gradually implemented under the management of DSK Deutsche Stadt- und Grundstücksentwicklungsgesellschaft mbH as the fiduciary development agency for the State of Berlin, in conjunction with the Senate Department for Urban Development.
Evaluation of the winning design by the jury
“This 'classic' space design is stylishly reserved, if not spectacular. Thanks to its symmetry, the clearly defined architectural work forms an open space solution appropriate to the urban space. The subtle elevation within the lawn area, which corresponds very well to the scale (this is not a square, but a rectangle) offers an appealing and usable relief. We particularly like the uniformity of the edge formation around the lawn in the form of a double border (concrete and natural stone) including the adjacent lawn slope (incompatible uses are not excluded).
Two paths are very striking and exciting. However, one of the two paths should have the more important connection, namely from Neustadtische Kirchstraße to Dorotheenstraße. In the course of the revision, a location is to be provided for a reference to the historical use as a church square.
The area in front of the new building will have a classic Berlin sidewalk surface, thereby delimiting the square and at the same time integrating the future development into the quarter. 20 of 35 trees will be preserved, the existing trees at the edge will be integrated into planting areas with low underplanting, while new planting will be placed in large areas.
Two water steles are felt to be an appropriate facility for those seeking relaxation. However, the proportions of drinking fountains to people should be checked.
The budget is kept and the maintenance effort for another 'classic' of this kind in Berlin (keyword Lustgarten ) is affordable. The location of the future street trees on Neustadtische Kirchstraße has to be adapted to the design project. "
Completion and official inauguration
The redesign work began in May 2010. The 28 existing trees were pruned and planted, but there were also new plantings, worth mentioning here are the resilient lavender heather and cherry laurel as well as myrtle and 6000 early-blooming elven crocuses . On May 24, 2011, the District Councilor for Urban Development in Mitte, Ephraim Gothe , together with Senate Building Director Regula Lüscher and Magistrate Director Günther Hoffmann from the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development, officially opened the new town square. Around two thirds of the financing came from the capital city development fund.
Edge development and surroundings
Lux residential building
In the years 2011/2012 plans were published to upgrade the as yet undesigned west side of the Neustadt church square with an exclusive eight-storey new residential building, called Lux at the Neustadt church square . The Spanish investor group Triple A Immobilien GmbH acquired the property in 2009 and built condominiums for around 45 million euros, which were ready for occupancy in 2014; the building and its surroundings were completed in 2015. The purchase of an apartment in this building also includes services such as regular cleaning of the panoramic windows and a permanently manned house reception (doorman). With the development, the free space was reduced to 70 m × 60 m.
Dorotheenstrasse
The northern boundary of the Dorotheenstrasse consists of a loosely connected building wing that was built in different years. It belongs to the press and information office of the federal government (side entrances and individual service areas; house numbers 74, 80, 82). The buildings were completely renovated between 1997 and 1999 and converted according to the new purpose. At the corner of Dorotheenstrasse and Neustädtische Kirchstrasse 15, the first construction phase of the press and visitor center (PBZ) was completed at the end of October 1997. The second construction phase included the renovation of the facade of the prefabricated building erected in the GDR era (house number 80). For this purpose, the prefabricated parts that were still installed in 1989 were removed and the facade was cleaned in a strong orange-red. Only offices are housed here, so that essentially only technical, sanitary and painting work had to be carried out inside. The completion took place in December 1998. In the third and last construction phase, listed buildings were prepared, which are located west of the Neustadt church square.
Neustadtische Kirchstrasse
The former embassy of the United States (Neustädtische Kirchstrasse No. 4/5) fell into the property of the German Bundestag after it was vacated . The building needs to be repaired from scratch. The annual maintenance is currently provided at 26,500 euros in the federal financial plan. There were intensive discussions about the fact that the Czech Republic could receive the building as an exchange object for the Lobkowitz Palace in Prague. This is to become the property of the Federal Republic. In 2010, in an interview by Radio Prague with the owner of the Lobkowitz Palace, it was rather doubtful that such an exchange would take place.
Mittelstrasse
The Otto-Wels-Haus of the Bundestag is located on the south side of the town square .
Schadowstrasse / Dorotheenstrasse 85
The Federal Agency for Real Estate Tasks has moved in here (Schadowstrasse 5 / Dorotheenstrasse 85). Initially, the main office in Berlin was housed here, but in 2016 the tax office was restricted .
literature
- Richard Borrmann: The architectural and art monuments of Berlin. With a historical introduction by P. Clauswitz . Gebr. Mann, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-7861-1356-4 .
- U. Müller: New old things from the new town. Church and cemetery on Neustädtischer Kirchplatz in Berlin-Mitte . Pp. 162-164; Publication by the Brandenburg Monument Office 2010.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Felix Zimmermann: The Neustädtische Kirchstrasse is a dead corner - it is not only to blame for September 11th: Street of the Authorized. In: Berliner Zeitung , May 11, 2002.
- ↑ Neustädtische Kirchstrasse . In: Address book for Berlin and its suburbs , 1900, part 3, p. 441.
- ^ Dorotheenstädtische Church . In: District lexicon of the Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein
- ↑ kirchensprengung.de Information about no longer existing churches that were demolished as a result of the war destruction; see "Dorotheenstädtische Church"
- ^ Götz Eckardt: Fate of German architectural monuments in the Second World War. Volume 1, Henschel-Verlag, Berlin 1978, p. 5.
- ↑ View of part of the locked embassy on strassenkatalog.de
- ↑ Archaeological monument Dorotheenstrasse, foundations and burials of the Dorotheenstädtische Church, from the end of the 17th century on Neustädtische Kirchstrasse
- ↑ a b c d illustration of the inauguration of the Neustädtischer Kirchplatz ( memento from April 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) on berlinstory.de, accessed on April 18, 2012.
- ^ Realization competition Neustädtischer Kirchplatz; October 8, 2008. Retrieved May 5, 2019 .
- ↑ Description and evaluation of the winning design
- ↑ Information from WES Architects & Co. on the opening of the Neustädtischer Kirchplatz, accessed on April 18, 2012 ( Memento from May 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Exclusive new residential building in the historic center. New town church square is being built up again. 64 light-flooded apartments for up to 10,500 euros / m²
- ↑ Birgitt Eltzel, Uwe Aulich: Luxury is in demand again. Expensive condominiums are being built in the east and west of the city. There are hardly any free plots left . In: Berliner Zeitung , April 18, 2012
- ↑ Website of the Federal Press and Information Office ( Memento from July 21, 2012 in the archive.today web archive ), as of April 18, 2012
- ↑ Federal Budget 2011 in the Federal Ministry of Finance, p. 231 ( Memento from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF)
- ^ Felix Ehring: Federal government wants "Genscher's balcony". So far, the Federal Republic has only rented the Prague embassy. Now she wants the famous building from the turning point 1989 entirely through a barter deal. In return, it offers an old US embassy . In: Frankfurter Rundschau , September 18, 2009, p. 5.
- ↑ Information about a possible German-Czech embassy exchange on Radio.cz; Retrieved April 18, 2012
- ^ Federal Agency for Real Estate Tasks, Tax Office
Coordinates: 52 ° 31'5.3 " N , 13 ° 23'6" E