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Berlin

The architectural icon that was never built

Mies van der Rohe, 'Glasturm', 1921. Project to build a high-rise in Friedrichstrasse, Berlin

Mies van der Rohe, Friedrichstrasse Skyscraper project; Berlin, 1921. Image: plansofarchitecture.tumblr.com

In 1921, a competition was held to design Berlin's first ever skyscraper.

The proposed tower was earmarked for a site on Friedrichstrasse, just north of the station, and would provide a striking new landmark to reflect the city's growing reputation as a modern, innovative metropolis.

The challenge attracted over 140 entries and did, indeed, provide ample evidence of the extraordinary talent of Germany's Weimar-era architects.

Karl Schneider, 1921 project to build a high-rise in Friedrichstrasse, Berlin

Karl Schneider. Image credit: karl-schneider-archiv.de

Wilhelm Ernst, 1921 project to build a high-rise in Friedrichstrasse, Berlin

Wilhelm Ernst

Hugo Häring, 1921 project to build a high-rise in Friedrichstrasse, Berlin

Hugo Häring. Image credit: fontecedro.it

Hans Poelzig, 1921 project to build a high-rise in Friedrichstrasse, Berlin

Hans Poelzig. Image credit: wikiartis.com

And even though the development was ultimately shelved, several of the proposals have passed into history as modern classics - ideas only, but superb in conception.

None, however, proved more revolutionary than a design submitted by then little-known architect Mies van der Rohe, whose angular, glass-walled pinnacle was so ahead of its time that decades would pass before a similar building was actually constructed.

Berlin secret sights: a cafe right beneath the famous Sony Centre roof

Mies van der Rohe Image: cloud-cuckoo.net

Few tourists to the Sony Centre in Berlin even realise this cafe with fabulous views exists

Mies van der Rohe Image: bdonline.co.uk

Mies' proposal to suspend sheets of glass from a supporting steel frame was unprecedented; a new aesthetic as well as a radical technological undertaking.

The design never progressed to the final stages of the competition, and it was only years later that his futuristic plans were hailed as an icon of modernity.

Yet in 1992, history had a chance to repeat itself when a similar competition was launched to create a building for exactly the same site.

Options included finally constructing Mies van der Rohe's translucent tower, but a design by Berliner Mark Braun was eventually chosen instead.

Spreedreieck- high rise office building in Friedrichstrasse, Berlin

Spreedreieck, 2006: Image credit: Lotse/commons.wikimedia.org

Plagued by controversy and subject to constant alteration, even the architect ultimately declared the result a 'disappointment'.

Friedrichstrasse finally had its high-rise tower - but nothing that could compare with the building that might have been.


See also:
An Expressionist theatre
Secrets of Friedrichstrasse station
How to visit 1920s Berlin
Stunning views from a high-rise student canteen

Vanished Berlin


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