Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
PRUSSIA'S BUILDING MASTER: KARL FRIEDRICH SCHINKEL
Few architects have shaped the Berlin cityscape as much as Karl Friedrich Schinkel
(1781-1841). After studying under David Gilly at the Prussian Building Academy in
Berlin, he decamped to Italy for a couple of years to examine classical architecture in
situ. He returned to a Prussia hamstrung by Napoleonic occupation and was forced to
scrape by as a romantic painter and furniture and set designer.
Things improved dramatically as soon as the French left Berlin in 1808, allowing
Schinkel to quickly climb the career ladder within the Prussian civil service and even-
tually to become chief building director for the entire kingdom. He travelled tirelessly
throughout the land, designing buildings, supervising construction and even develop-
ing principles for the protection of historic monuments.
Drawing inspiration from classical Greek architecture, Schinkel very much defined
Prussian architecture between 1810 and 1840. His designs strive for the perfect bal-
ance between functionality and beauty, achieved through clear lines, symmetry and
an impeccable sense for aesthetics. Berlin, which came to be known as 'Athens on the
Spree', is littered with his buildings.
Schinkel fell into a coma in 1840 and died one year later in Berlin. He's buried on the
Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof in Mitte.
Berlin's architectural growth was notably influenced by advancements in transportation.
The first train chugged from Berlin to Potsdam in 1838, the first S-Bahn rumbled along in
1882 and the U-Bahn kicked into service in 1902.
Housing for the Masses
In his 1930 book
Das Steinerne Berlin
(Stony Berlin), Werner Hegemann fittingly refers to
Berlin as 'the largest tenement city in the world.' The onset of industrialisation in the middle
of the 19th century lured hundreds of thousands to the capital who dreamed of improving
their lot in the factories. Something had to be done to beef up the city's infrastructure and
provide cheap housing for the masses, and quick. A plan drawn up in 1862 under chief city
planner James Hobrecht called for a city expansion along two circular ring roads bisected by
diagonal roads radiating in all directions from the centre - much like the spokes of a wheel.
The land in between was divided into large lots and sold to speculators and developers.
Building codes were limited to a maximum building height of 22m (equivalent to five stor-
ies) and a minimum courtyard size of 5.34m by 5.34m, just large enough for fire-fighting
equipment to operate in.
