Architectural history of the Red Town Hall

The Red Town Hall was built from 1861 to 1870. The bright red façade stands out not just for its color, but for the building style and level of detail. Located in the heart of Berlin, this four-winged structure was designed in the style of the Italian Early Renaissance with some Norman elements. Its location at Rathausstraße (formerly Königstraße) between Spandauer Straße and Jüdenstraße was also the site of its predecessors. There were four in all, making the current Town Hall the fifth such building on this spot. Its striking tower rises 94 meters into the sky.

The history of the current building, which has been a designated historical landmark since 1979, stretches back to the 19th century. It reflects the development of the city itself, marked by disruption and new beginnings. Berlin’s first town hall was built in the 13th century.

Construction of the City Town Hall in the 19th century

At the beginning of the 19th century, Berlin’s old town hall – a simple building that had fallen into disrepair – no longer met the needs of a burgeoning capital and royal city. After the city’s financial situation improved in the 1850s, a competition for the design of a new town hall was announced in 1857. When none of the entries proved convincing, the experienced architect Hermann Friedrich Waesemann (1838-1879) was entrusted with the project. Supporting him were Friedrich Wilhelm Otto Reißner and Bernhard Friedrich Daniel Kolscher, both architects, and Johann Wilhelm Schwedler, a leading Prussian civil engineer. A bust of Hermann Friedrich Waesemann is on view on the upper floor of the foyer.

First sessions of the city government and city council

In 1865, even before the topping-out ceremony for the second phase of the building took place, the city government met for the first time in the Red Town Hall. From that point, the building was the seat of Berlin’s government and administration. The first meeting of the city council (municipal parliament) followed in 1870, accompanied by ceremonial opening speeches. However, the building was still not complete. In the 1870s, terracotta reliefs were added to the fronts of the balconies. They tell the history of Berlin from the 12th to the 19th century. Technical advances were introduced as well: telephones were installed in 1882 and electric lighting a few years later.

The Red Town Hall in the 20th century

In 1920, surrounding communities were incorporated into the city to create the municipality of Greater Berlin. The administration grew in size as a result and the city council required a larger meeting room. Later, the Red Town Hall underwent extensive renovation and modernization for the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, which took place during the Nazi regime. During the Second World War, bombs and artillery fire caused extensive damage to the building. After the defeat of the Nazis in 1945 and the division of the city in 1948, the Red Town Hall – now the seat of the East Berlin city government – was rebuilt from 1951 to 1955. Significant changes to the interior were made at this time: many rooms were repurposed, redesigned in a simpler form, or remodeled in a 1950s style. For example, a lower ceiling was installed in the originally two-story room used by East Berlin’s city council (now the Main Hall). However, a decision was made to recreate the façade in its original form. In a major undertaking, a detailed catalogue of the different bricks used in the structure was compiled. The required bricks were later fired at a brickyard in southern Brandenburg.

The Red Town Hall from 1990 to today

The reunification of Germany and Berlin was a turning point for the Red Town Hall as well. After the fall of the Wall, the city’s political heart remained in Schöneberg Town Hall, in the Western part of the city, for about one-and-a half years. In 1991, the offices of the Governing Mayor returned to the Red Town Hall and the building was extensively modernized and renovated once again. Elevator towers were built in the courtyards and features such as modern hallway lighting were added. Solar panels were installed on the roof in 2010.

Memorial plaques

Memorial plaques for Heinrich Wilhelm Krausnick, Lord Mayor of Berlin from 1834 to 1862, and Hermann Friedrich Waesemann, the head architect of the Red Town Hall, are located on the exterior Judenstraße façade. The main courtyard, on the Judenstraße side of the building, contains plaques commemorating the first session of the city government in 1865, the first assembly of the city council in 1870, and the celebration of the First German Reichstag (Parliament) that took place here on 17 April 1871.

Timeline

Year	Red Town Hall	Berlin
1237		First documented reference to the city of Berlin
1861	Cornerstone laid
1865	Following the initial phase of construction, the city government meets for the first time in the Town Hall, which becomes the official seat of the mayor
1867	Topping-out ceremony
1869	Opening of the Ratskeller Completion of the Town Hall
1870	First session of the city council
1871		German Empire founded with Berlin as its capital
1879	Completion of the ‘Chronicle in Stone’
1914-1918		First World War
1920	City council meeting room enlarged	Creation of the new municipality of Greater Berlin
1933	Interiors and grand staircase redesigned	National Socialists strip the city government of its powers and enforce political conformity throughout the city administration
1939-1945		Second World War
1945	Building left severely damaged by the war; new city government appointed by the Soviet occupying power	Berlin occupied by the Allies
1948/1949	Non-communist city council members leave and take up office in Schöneberg Town Hall	Berlin Blockade; division of the city
1951	Reconstruction (until 1955); major interior remodelling; rooms repurposed	Reconstruction of the two halves of the city begins separately
1955	SED-led city government and city council move into the reconstructed Red Town Hall
1961		Construction of the Berlin Wall
1987	Renovation of the exterior	Berlin’s 750th anniversary celebrated in both halves of the city
1989	First ‘Round Table’ meeting in Berlin (4 December) on the future of the GDR	Fall of the Berlin Wall (9 November)
1990		Reunification of Berlin; joint administration of the two halves of the city
1991	Extensive renovation and modernization; seat of the Governing Mayor from 1 October on	German Bundestag votes to move the German capital from Bonn to Berlin
1999		Government and parliament take up their work in Berlin
2011	Archeological excavations; remains of the old town hall uncovered
2012		Berlin celebrates its 775th anniversary
2019		30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall
2020	The Town Hall celebrates its 150th anniversary	100 years of Greater Berlin The “Rotes Rathaus” (Red Town Hall) station opens on the U5 subway line
2024		35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall

An Inside View of History: The Red Town Hall in German and English

• The history of the Red Town Hall in as a German-English flipbook

  150 years of the Red Town Hall
  Accessible document

  PDF-Document (8.0 MB)