Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Woohnstadt C
r Berg (Erich-Weinert-Strasse; S-Bahn: Prenzlauer
Allee) For this development (1928-30) in Prenzlauer Berg, Taut arranged rows of
4-to-5-storey-high houses and garden areas in a semi-open space. Approach via
Erich-Weinert-Strasse.
dt Carl L
rl Legiien/P
n/Prenzla
zlauuer B
Nazi Monumentalism
Modernist architecture had its legs cut out from under it as soon as Hitler came to power in
1933. The new regime immediately shut down the Bauhaus School, one of the most influen-
tial forces in 20th-century building and design. Founded by Walter Gropius in 1919, it had
moved to Berlin from Dessau only in 1932. Many of its visionary teachers, including Gropi-
us, Mies van der Rohe, Wagner and Mendelsohn, went into exile in the USA.
Back in Berlin, Hitler, who was a big fan of architectural monumentalism, put Albert
Speer in charge of turning Berlin into the 'Welthauptstadt Germania', the future capital of
the Reich. Today, only a few buildings offer a hint of what Berlin might have looked like
had history taken a different turn. These include the coliseum-like Olympiastadion, Tempel-
hof Airport and the former air force ministry that now houses Germany's Federal Finance
Ministry.
