Town hall Pankow
| Town hall Pankow | |
|---|---|
.jpg) View of the "core building" from the town hall |
|
| Data | |
| place | Berlin |
| architect | Wilhelm Johow, Alexander Poeschke, Rudolf Klante |
| Construction year | 1901-1903; 1928/1929 |
| height | 50 m |
| Coordinates | 52 ° 34 '8.9 " N , 13 ° 24' 8.4" E |
| particularities | |
| Architectural mix of styles | |
The Pankow town hall is the administrative building of the former municipality of Pankow and the Berlin district (1920–1990), now the seat of the district council assembly (BVV) of the district of Pankow . The original structure was built in 1901–1903 based on designs by Wilhelm Johow in a mixture of different architectural styles such as neo-Gothic , neo-Baroque and Art Nouveau elements typical of the early 20th century . Its exterior was conspicuously designed through the use of red clinker bricks to cover the brick building. At the corner of Neue Schönholzer Strasse it received an extension from 1927 to 1929 according to plans by Alexander Poeschke and Rudolf Klante. This was adapted to the first building, especially in terms of storey height. The town hall is located at Breiten Straße 24a – 26 not far from the Wollankstraße S-Bahn station . The entire complex is since the 1970s under monument protection .
history
Design and construction of the town hall
The steady population growth and the development of the municipality of Pankow into a popular summer place of residence in Berlin in connection with the expansion of the local transport system at the gates of Berlin led to the fact that the municipal administration decided to build its own representative town hall. An area immediately east of the Angers was specified as the location and an architectural competition was announced, which was won by the local Wilhelm Johow. The foundation stone was laid on July 12, 1901. The event was described in the Niederbarnimer Kreisblatt (Pankow was not yet part of Berlin at the time) as follows:
“The festive laying of the foundation stone was a first-rate historical event for the local population. The building site was decorated with colorful flags and garlands. All members of the community council and other guests marched in a solemn procession to the construction site, led by Mr. Gottschalk, the head of the community and community, where the gentlemen lined up around a raised stage. After a speech by the mayor, a copper capsule was inserted into the cavity of the tower pillar and covered with a sandstone slab . Richard Gottschalk performed the three traditional hammer blows, which he accompanied with the words: 'From life, towards life, alive forever.' After the chorale 'Now thank all God' blown from the chapel, Pastor Beyer recommended 'the building for the protection of the Most High' and wished that the living and future generations may experience the prosperity of the place at all times. "
After just one year, the mayor was able to move into his official apartment on the first floor.
On April 18, 1903, the building was completed and inaugurated in a ceremonial act in the presence of around 100 invited guests, including the District President Friedrich von Moltke , the Berlin Mayor Martin Kirschner and the Berlin Police President Georg von Borries . The town hall building cost the community 396,664.89 marks (adjusted for purchasing power in today's currency: around 3 million euros).
From 1903 to 1927
As a result of the construction of the town hall, further streets were laid out and new buildings were built in the vicinity; the population grew annually by around 5000 people. The First World War, which soon broke out , also had an impact on administrative activities: because many civil servants were called up for military service, women were hired for the first time in the municipal administration. The main task of the office was to issue ration cards and vouchers for everyday items, as well as to process applications for support money for the women whose breadwinners were at the front.
From 1918 an extension was made on the east side of the council building in order to create sensible working conditions for the increased number of employees with the new urban tasks.
After the World War, especially from 1920, when Pankow, along with eight rural communities and four manor districts, became the 19th administrative district of the German capital through the Greater Berlin Act , the area of responsibility of the council employees expanded enormously.
Structural expansion and use of the complex until 1945
So the council decided to build a larger extension to the council building. This building was added directly to the first building in the line of houses in the direction of Neue Schönholzer Straße, for which the temporary extension had to be removed again. The administration decided on designs by the architects Alexander Poeschke and Rudolf Klante and commissioned the local master builder Carl Schmidt with the execution. The construction costs hit 648,000 marks (adjusted for purchasing power in today's currency: around 2 million euros). This building was inaugurated in 1929.
With the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists , a new district parliament was formed, Jews , anti-fascists and other unwelcome people were removed from their offices or emigrated . After all, after the Second World War had been instigated and it returned to Germany, the remaining town hall employees had to deal with housing or traffic problems, food supplies and the accommodation of foreign workers . At the end of 1944 the town hall became a "central defense station" with the accommodation of officials and police officers from the disbanded districts. Despite the partial arming of civilians and the erection of a tank barrier on the Anger, the Soviet troops were able to occupy the town hall on April 23, 1945 without a fight.
By May 1945, the end of the Second World War, the respective councilors had repeatedly made structural changes inside the building in order to ensure the best possible use. When the Millennium was drawing to a close in April 1945, the mayor of Ahmels had ordered the archive in the town hall to be destroyed before the building was abandoned.
The town hall as the Soviet headquarters (1945–1949)
A few damage to the town hall at the end of the World War could be quickly removed and then the Soviet city command moved into the building. At the same time the Soviet military tribunal took its seat in the premises. a. carried out the Sachsenhausen trial against supervisors of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp . (see history board )
The (new) district council that emerged from a provisional people's committee met at this time first in Florastrasse, then in the building of the former educational institution for orphan boys of the Jewish religion , Berliner Strasse 121. The new civil administration announced its tasks in a call as follows:
"1. Ensuring food, 2. Ensuring medical services, 3. Housing the refugees, 4. Removing traffic obstacles. A census of the population is carried out to determine the number of eaters. Houses, air raid shelters, courtyards, streets and squares must be cleaned thoroughly to prevent epidemics. In order to resume traffic, barricades and traffic obstacles must be removed. Trenches and funnels are filled with rubble. We also refer to the relevant command office orders, the strictest observance of which is in the best interests of the residents. "
In a very short time, the district administration was expanded from 40 employees to 1,800 people and divided into several community committees that worked closely with the Soviet headquarters. In 1946, after official new elections, the new Pankow district administration under Erich Ryneck started work, but still not in the town hall. The departments were spread over three locations: Pestalozzistraße 41-43, Breite Straße 44 (Mendelsche Villa) and Breite Straße 43a.
The Soviet headquarters withdrew from the town hall complex at the end of 1949, so that the Pankow district administration could take over its ancestral buildings on January 18, 1950.
Pankow Parliament in the GDR era
The official name of the local government changed in 1952 from the district office to the council of the city district . Inside the two parts of the town hall, renovations were carried out, including the vestibule, the stairwell and the access areas. The outside clock had to be repaired and the Soviet star removed from the facade.
The Berlin Wall , erected on August 13, 1961, ran close to the town hall and through the city district, so that there were short-term traffic problems as the Wollankstrasse station was unusable .
In the years 1983–1985, renovation measures were carried out in the town hall buildings, during which the original ambience was largely restored.
From the 1970s on there were further administrative changes; Pankow gave the districts of Heinersdorf , Blankenburg and Karow to the district of Weißensee . Despite submissions and discussions, the restructuring was finalized in January 1986. The responsibility of the council employees was reduced to about half of the previous population.
The general economic and moral decline in the GDR ultimately led to corresponding social changes in Pankow. The first round table met in the Pankow town hall on December 9, 1989, at which 30 representatives from established and newly founded social organizations took part.
After the turn
In May 1990 there was the first local election after the political change , the result of which was a completely new team in the Pankow town hall, headed by Mayor Harald Lüderitz and made up of seven other people. From now on, the Senate of Berlin , to which the district offices were subordinated, was responsible for all matters relating to Berlin . The town hall remained the seat of the district parliament, which has since been called the district council . There was another major turning point in 2001, when the number of Berlin districts was reduced to twelve and the former districts of Prenzlauer Berg and Weißensee were assigned to the new district of Pankow as districts. The number of employees increased to 3030 civil servants, which also influenced the use of the existing service buildings and the room occupancy in the Pankow town hall.
After the gradual renovation of the building and adapted room concepts, the office rooms for the district mayor and for all departments have been located in the two parts of the town hall. The former three city district council houses serve as citizens' offices and are spread over a total of 25 office buildings.
In late autumn 2015, the BVV decided to extensively renovate the facade and roof of the town hall building. In addition, a transformer station was to be relocated and buildings in the town hall courtyard were to be demolished. In the budget of the Berlin Senate, 1.8 million euros have been set for these measures . Construction began in autumn 2016, and the planned completion at the end of 2017 was not met.
The Bauer engineering office was commissioned with the masonry work, and the architect Goller was used for planning and construction supervision. The facade and roof renovation is now to be completed in June 2019.
Architectural details of the town hall complex
overview
The town hall ensemble is a three-storey building (core structure) in a mix of architecture with a clock tower and other ornaments such as an ornamental gable on the street side, a lantern and round turret on the roof attachment. The extension is a simpler clinker facing building in the style of Expressionism with a basement, the corner of which is designed in an open arch shape. Below is the staircase.
Core construction
The core structure is a broad three-storey structure, faced with red clinker bricks and red sandstone with a base made of Silesian granite .
The facade facing the Breite Strasse is a lively structure, finished off with a parapet and corner towers. In facade niches there were four of Pankow sculptor Paul Sponar executed figures as allegories of civic virtues : justice , civil diligence (the work) , citizen of honor and charity . One of the characters disappeared at the end of World War II. In the corner tower facing Mühlenstrasse there is a large town hall clock with round dials in all four directions, closed off with a spire and lantern . The tip had to be shortened a few days after the inauguration because it threatened to break off in strong winds.
Risalites on each side emphasize the structure, which adapt to the road conditions and are shaped differently. The western porch protrudes about two meters and is finished with an ornamental gable, at the top of which two smaller decorative towers have been placed. The eastern porch protrudes only slightly, but it continues in the clock tower with a square floor plan, which has a balcony on each of the four sides.
Access in the middle of the core building is via an outside staircase that ends at a three-arched portal. Above the portal is the inscription "God with us" in a cartouche and above it a Prussian eagle spreads its wings. The foyer is designed as a three-aisled entrance hall. The walls are richly structured, adorned with Art Nouveau-like stucco ornaments, there are also balusters and columns.
The first floor initially housed the mayor's apartment, which included the two bay windows visible from Breite (n) Straße . Later the rooms were converted into service rooms. This is where the conference room is located, the large window of which was made by the art institute for glass painting and room glazing from Wilmersdorf (owner: Josef Scherer, Kaiserallee 112). In the middle part it showed the people of the community administration, in a side panel the blooming horticulture in Pankow and in the other the always ready volunteer fire brigade of the place.
Adjacent windows were originally provided with colored representations of the four civic virtues. These windows were lost in the chaos of World War II; In their place, new symbols, including a GDR coat of arms , were added, which were removed after 1990.
The roof of the first building was initially completely covered with copper shingles, some of which were donated by the German people during the First World War and exchanged for roof tiles. Since then, only the tower roofs still have copper sheets. The top of the central tower is adorned with a gilded imperial crown .
The construction costs for the town hall, inaugurated in 1903, amounted to more than half a million marks .
On the ground floor one were grocery store , whose owner managed an extension of Niederbarnimer Kreissparkasse simultaneously, and iron and haberdashery furnished.
During the National Socialist era , the cellar walls were reinforced with concrete and the ceilings with steel girders and thus transformed into bomb-proof air raid shelters . A 50 square meter and about 2.50 meter high concrete block uncovered in February 2001 between the town hall foyer and citizens' advisory service during construction work filled the room up to a height of 1.60 meters. According to the research carried out, it represented a separate rubble protection against collapsing town hall walls and was then carefully removed by employees of the technical relief organization . After the renovation, the space gained will be used as a citizens' office.
The building decorations, which are now heavily weathered and made of sandstone, such as ornaments, coats of arms and cornices on the facade, were restored between 2002 and 2004.
Extension in 1927
The extension stands out from the original building with a more compact exterior and a somewhat more reserved dark brown color. His architectural style is assigned to expressionism . The architectural decoration here focuses on rich ornaments made of artificial stone above the window arches and on the cornice. This building is closed over the attic floor with a tent roof.
Premises and their use
Council Chamber
As in every town hall, a large conference room is one of the most important features. This is located on the first floor, next to its wooden entrance door, a pair of imitation columns covered with gold leaf draws attention to the importance. The large room is paneled with wood and has a gallery, multi-flame chandeliers adorn the stucco ceiling. The council chamber now also serves as a space for communal and cultural events. In the corridors and foyers there have been regularly interesting and current exhibitions since the late 1990s, for example in 1998 Jewish life in Pankow from the beginning to the new beginning and against forgetting - “Auschwitz” .
Concerts are held once a month in the council chamber, to which the Pankow Music School and its friends invite you.
The work rooms for the mayor are next to the conference room on Breite Straße.
Ground floor with wedding room
A wedding hall was set up on the ground floor in 1979 , the furnishings of which come from a fire station from the Fischerkiez built in 1901 based on a design by Ludwig Hoffmann and demolished in 1974 . Because the room dimensions were somewhat larger here in Pankow, the wall and ceiling parts were enlarged with pieces reproduced from the original. The wooden panels and ceiling cladding come from the sculptor Ernst Westpfahl . They are lavishly designed in neo-baroque and art nouveau forms and are complemented by a representative chandelier , stucco reliefs and an imitation fireplace . This historic wedding room continues to be used by bridal couples not only from Pankow.
Ratskeller
The Pankow town hall, like many other town halls built at the beginning of the 20th century, has a council cellar , which was opened on October 9, 1902, but did not start operating as an inn for everyone until 1907. The city fathers met in the vaulted cellar before or after meetings. After 1990 it was initially continued by an external operator, but closed in 2000. BVV was looking for a new use. After the sale with the aim of reopening as a Bohemian specialty restaurant was about to be concluded in 2005, this was given up due to excessive renovation costs (estimated at least 500,000 euros) and probably uneconomical management. The premises have served as the publicly accessible depot of the Pankow Museum Association since 2006.
Surroundings
Other municipal facilities
Before the town hall (core) building was built, the first post office was built in 1887 at Breite (n) Straße 24a , which the police later moved into when a new post office building was inaugurated on Berliner Straße.
Also at the end of the 19th century, the municipal administration had a school building built in the depths of the property at Breite Straße 25/26. It was first the community school for boys, then the upper secondary school; from 1939 the Karl-Peters-Schule, high school for boys . This school complex was subsequently expanded in the direction of Görschstrasse. It has been called Carl-von-Ossietzky-Gymnasium since the late 1990s and is a listed building .
_Rathaus_Pankow.jpg)
History board
Immediately in front of the town hall complex, an information board was set up on the pavement on the pavement in the 1990s, which gives the most important points in the history of the town hall in German and English. Above all, it contains a brief report on the trial against the camp commandant and 15 members of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp guard that was carried out here on October 23, 1947 in the Pankow town hall before a Soviet military court . Accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, 14 of them were sentenced to life imprisonment with forced labor.
shopping mall
The social changes of the 1990s were accompanied by the construction of larger shopping complexes. Such a building was built diagonally across from the town hall and was named Rathaus-Center Pankow by its builders and operators .
List of mayors of Pankow
Before the council building shown here went into operation, the then incumbent mayor Richard Gottschalk campaigned for the new building (he held his office from 1900 to 1906).
In the mayor's suite of the town hall, the following persons determined the politics of the district:
| Name (in brackets: party membership) | Term of office | comment |
|---|---|---|
| Wilhelm Kuhr | 1906-1914 | Previously mayor in Burg (near Magdeburg) , then second mayor in Pankow; played a major role in the purchase of the area for the Bürgerpark Berlin-Pankow |
| Gustav Stawitz | 1914-1924 | From 1920 the mayor was additionally supported by a director for the newly formed 19th administrative district (Pankow). The management was entrusted to Ernst Böhm . |
| Wilhelm Kubig | 1924-1924 | |
| Hans Meißner ( DVP / NSDAP ) | 1924-1944 | |
| Bernhard Ahmels (NSDAP) | 1944-1945 | |
| Bruno Mätze ( KPD / SED ) | 1945-1946 | June 1, 1945 to December 6, 1946 |
| Erich Ryneck ( SPD ) | 1946-1948 | December 6, 1946 to mid-December 1948 |
| Otto-Heinz Gahren ( LDP ) | 1948-1950 | by December 1948 |
| Hermann Selbach (LDP) | 1950-1951 | |
| Martin Dietrich (LDP) | 1951-1952 | |
| Frieda White (SED) | 1953-1961 | |
| Gerhard Kirschbaum (SED) | 1961-1971 | |
| Horst Ansorge (SED) | 1971-1981 | |
| Hans Walter (SED) | 1981-1988 | |
| Heinz Mohn (SED) | 1988-1989 | |
| Uwe Hauser ( PDS ) | 1989-1990 | December to February; officiating due to the absence of Heinz Mohn |
| Nils Busch-Petersen (independent) | 1990 | March to May |
| Harald Lüderitz (SPD) | 1990-1992 | from June 1990 first newly elected mayor after reunification |
| Jörg Richter (SPD) | 1992-1999 | |
| Gisela Grunwald (PDS) | 1999-2001 | |
| Alex Lubawinski (SPD) | 2001-2002 | |
| Burkhard Kleinert (PDS / Die Linke ) | 2002-2006 | |
| Matthias Köhne (SPD) | 2006-2016 | From November 2006 |
| Sören Benn (Die Linke) | since 2016 |
Administrative units of BVV Pankow
All departments (finance, human resources and economy; urban development; youth and facility management ; social affairs, health, school and sport; consumer protection, culture, environment and citizen services) as well as the office for citizen services are housed in the Pankow town hall . The former town halls in the Pankow districts of Prenzlauer Berg and Weißensee serve as citizens' offices, a first point of contact for all questions and problems “on site”.
literature
- Institute for Monument Preservation (Ed.): The architectural and art monuments of the GDR. Capital Berlin-II . Henschelverlag, Berlin 1984, p. 23 ff .
- Arwed Steinhausen, Dieter Geisthardt, Hans Klockmann: Town Hall Pankow 1903-1993 . Circle of Friends of Chronik Pankow e. V., 1993. Updated version
Web links
- 10 years Rathaus Pankow ( Memento from December 31, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- Entry in the Berlin State Monument List
- History of the Pankow town hall (as of February 2019)
Individual evidence
- ↑ From the laying of the foundation stone to the inauguration . BA Pankow, on the history of the town hall, accessed on March 24, 2011
- ↑ a b c From the Pankow community life until 1927 . BA Pankow, on the history of the town hall, accessed on March 24, 2012
- ^ The fateful years 1933–1945 . BA Pankow, on the history of the town hall, accessed on March 24, 2012
- ↑ a b The difficult post-war years 1945–1949 . BA Pankow, on the history of the town hall, accessed on March 24, 2012
- ↑ Development and decline 1949 to 1989/90 . BA Pankow, on the history of the town hall, accessed on March 24, 2012
- ^ Decade of a new beginning . BA Pankow, on the history of the town hall, accessed on March 24, 2012.
- ^ The town hall for the new fusion district . BA Pankow, on the history of the town hall, accessed on March 24, 2012
- ↑ The roof and facades are being renewed . Brief information in the weekend extra edition of the Berliner Morgenpost , 14./15. November 2015, p. 1.
- ↑ Data sheet on the work on the Pankow town hall. (PDF) Bauer Civil Engineering; accessed on March 3, 2019.
- ^ Sponar, Paul . In: Address book for Berlin and its suburbs , 1900, part 1, p. 1521. “N Adolfstrasse 10”.
- ↑ Scherer, Josef, glass painter . In: Address book for Berlin and its suburbs , 1900, part 1, p. 1349.
- ↑ Impressive town hall architecture . BA Pankow, on the history of the town hall, accessed on March 23, 2012.
- ^ Mathias Raabe: Town hall block was rubble protection . In: Berliner Zeitung September 12, 2001.
- ↑ Rathauskonzerte Pankow, accessed on March 25, 2012 ( Memento from September 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Stefan Strauss: The Ratskeller was empty for five years. Now a Dresden restaurateur wants to open a restaurant there. The rats are gone - there will be bohemian food soon . In: Berliner Zeitung , February 26, 2005
- ↑ Pankower Ratskeller becomes a depot . In: Die Welt , September 3, 2005
- ↑ Architectural monument school complex Görschstrasse 42–44
- ↑ Berlin's district mayor . In: Berlin monthly magazine ( Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein ) . Issue 7, 1997, ISSN 0944-5560 , p. 127 ( luise-berlin.de ). (partly corrected and updated based on web links from the BA Pankow)
- ↑ College of the Pankow District Office of Berlin, as of 2012 ( Memento from October 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive )