Architecture

Many Centuries ...

of history have not exactly given the capital a traditionally and intact medieval old town. But then, the town's proverbial "chronic" building projects and the damage done in World War II are exactly what makes Berlin special.

The Nikolai quarter is pure Berlin, and has been since 1237 – with all of the consequences deriving from this for the architectural façade of the quarter. It offers a rarely seen diversity spanning eight centuries and different decades since the late 19th century.

Rare historical buildings with unique features, as well as new 1980's buildings, turn the Berlin founding area into a place for architectural explorers, too.

The older original buildings include the Nikolaikirche , which has been rebuilt repeatedly over the centuries, with its medieval cobblestone basis, as well as the Knoblauchhaus , built between 1759 and 61 on a medieval cellar vault, the last bourgeois house from the 18th century still standing in Berlin-Mitte. Another example is the baroque Ephraim-Palais , originally built from 1762 to 66.

In all of these cases, a look inside is just as easy (they all are museums) as it is exciting – and not only from an architectural view.

The newer original buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, some of them typical, others extraordinary examples for their styles and times, are no less interesting. They include the former BEMAG house and its Siegelsburg tile façade (1935), the Lesser & Hardt house (1907) with a light shell lime façade or the Kurfürstenhaus (1895–97), quoting renaissance shapes with its red sandstone.

The large number of reconstructed buildings is also typical for the quarter. Two of them are the Gerichtslaube and the restaurant "Zum Nussbaum". Engravings, old photos and building plans were used for reconstructing whole streets at the Nikolaikirchplatz, along the Mühlendamm and parts of the Post- and Propststraße, so that much of the quarter seems, in fact, made up of extensive, preserved buildings ranging from medieval to 18th century styles.

The new buildings purposefully are not built trying to imitate historical styles. Instead, arcades and Hanseatic gables are stylised and cast in concrete, quoted freely and independently. Originals and replicas therefore provide a subtle contrast for emphasis.

For more information on the early town history of Berlin, reconstruction of the quarter and individual buildings, builders and architects, have a look at the historical road.