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Contents

List of Illustrations xiii Preface xv

General Introduction 1 part one. Booming Metropolis

. 1 The Metropolitan Panorama 9 1. Jules Laforgue, : The Court and the City (1887) 13 2. Wilhelm Loesche, Berlin North (1890) 16 3. Mark Twain, The German Chicago (1892) 17 4. Heinrich Schackow, Berolina: A Metropolitan Aesthetic (1896) 19 5. Alfred Kerr, Berlin and (1896) 25 6. Alfred Kerr, The Transformation of Potsdamer Strasse (1895, 1897) 27 7. Max Osborn, The Destruction of Berlin (1906) 30 8. Werner Sombart, Vienna (1907) 31 9. , Good Morning, Giantess! (1907) 33 10. August Endell, The Beauty of the Great City (1908) 35 11. Oscar Bie, Life Story of a Street (1908) 41 12. Robert Walser, Friedrichstrasse (1909) 41 13. Max Weber, Speech for a Discussion (1910) 44 14. Vorwärts, [Town Hall Tower Panorama] (1902) 44 15. Ernst Bloch, Berlin, Southern City (1915–16) 46 2. Building and Regulating the Metropolis 49 16. Theodor Goecke, Traffic Thoroughfares and Residential Streets (1893) 52 17. Rudolf Adickes, The Need for Spacious Building Programs in City Expansions and the Legal and Technical Means to Accomplish This (1895) 55

v vi Contents

18. Vorwärts, [Deforestation around Berlin] (1908) 57 19. Die Bank, [Speculation in ] (1910–11) 57 20. P. A. A. [Philip A. Ashworth], Berlin (1911) 59 21. Walter Lewitz, Architectural Notes on the Universal Urban Planning Exhibition, Berlin (1911) 62 22. Various authors, The Greater Berlin Competition 1910: The Prize-Winning Designs with Explanatory Report (1911) 64 23. Cornelius Gurlitt, Review of Greater Berlin and The Greater Berlin Competition 1910 (1911) 69 24. Sigmund Schott, The Agglomeration of Cities in the : 1871–1910 (1912) 72 25. Patrick Abercrombie, Berlin: Its Growth and Present State (1914) 73 . 3 Production, Commerce, and Consumption 77 26. Georg Simmel, The Berlin Trade Exhibition (1896) 80 27. Albert Hoffmann, The Wertheim Department Store in Leipziger Strasse (1898) 84 28. Robert Walser, Aschinger’s (1907) 88 29. Karl Scheffler, The Retail Establishment (1907) 91 30. Leo Colze, The Department Stores of Berlin (1908) 94 31. Erich Köhrer, Berlin Department Store: A Novel from the World City (1909) 97 32. Karl Scheffler, Peter Behrens (1913) 98 33. , The Display Window (1913) 101 34. Paul Westheim, Nordstern: The New Administration Building in Berlin-Schöneberg (1915) 104 4. Public Transport and Infrastructure 107 35. Anonymous, The Concourse of the Anhalter Station (1880) 111 36. Alfred Kerr, New and Beautiful!—Bülowstrasse? (1900) 112 37. Richard Peterson, The Traffic Problems Inherent in Large Cities and the Means of Solving Them (1908) 115 38. Karl Scheffler, The Elevated Railway and Aesthetics (1902) 118 39. August Endell, The Beauty of the Great City (1908) 122 40. Anonymous, The Northern Loop: A Journey on the Ring Railway (1913) 125 41. Peter Behrens, The Influence of Time and Space Utilization on Modern Design (1914) 127 42. Karl Ernst Osthaus, The Railway Station (1914) 129 . 5 The Proletarian City 134 43. Theodor Goecke, The Working-Class Tenement Block in Berlin (1890) 137 44. Otto von Leixner, Letter Eight: A Suburban Street in New (1891) 143 45. Heinrich Albrecht, The Working-Class Tenement Buildings of the Berlin Savings and Building Society (1898) 145 46. Alice Salomon, A Club for Young Working Women in Berlin (1903) 148 Contents vii

47. Werner Sombart, Domesticity (1906) 150 48. Albert Südekum, Impoverished Berlin Dwellings— (1908) 153 49. Clara Viebig, Our Daily Bread (1907) 157 50. Karl Scheffler, The Tenement Block (1911) 158 51. Käthe Kollwitz, Diary Entry, 16 April 1912 163 52. Max Jacob, From Apartment House to Mass Apartment House (1912) 164 53. Victor Noack, Housing and Morality (1912) 167 6. Public Realm and Popular Culture 172 54. Paul Lindau, Unter den Linden (1892) 176 55. Anonymous, The New Prison for Berlin at (1900) 179 56. Alfred Kerr, In the New Reichstag (1900) 180 57. Freisinnige Zeitung, [A Military Parade] (1900) 181 58. Berliner Tageblatt, [A Sunday in Berlin] (1903) 182 59. Hans Ostwald, Berlin Coffeehouses (c. 1905) 183 60. Brüstlein, The Rudolf Virchow Hospital in Berlin (1907) 187 61. Jules Huret, Bruno Schmitz’s “Rheingold” for Aschinger (1909) 189 62. Anonymous, New Buildings Planned for Museum Island, Berlin (1910) 190 63. Wilhelm Bode, Alfred Messel’s Plans for the New Buildings of the Royal Museums in Berlin (1910) 192 64. Paul Westheim, Ludwig Hoffmann’s School Buildings in Berlin (1911) 193 65. Max Wagenführ, The Admiral’s Palace and Its Bathing Pools (1912) 196 66. Fritz Stahl (pseud. Siegfried Lilienthal), The Berlin City Hall (1912) 199 67. Else Lasker-Schüler, The Two White Benches on the Kurfürstendamm (1913) 200 68. , The Problem of Building an House (1914) 201 69. Anonymous [Joseph Adler?], The Opening of the Tauentzien Palace Café (1914) 204 . 7 The Bourgeois City 206 70. , The Treibel Villa (1892) 210 71. Alfred Kerr, Herr Sehring Builds a Theater Dream (1895) 211 72. Alfred Kerr, Up and Down the Avenues (1898) 212 73. Walther Rathenau, The Most Beautiful City in the World (1899) 214 74. Alfred Kerr, New Luxury, Old Squalor (1900) 217 75. , The Modern Country Home (1905) 218 76. Edmund Edel, Berlin W. (1906) 221 77. Max Creutz, Town Hall (1906) 223 78. Max Creutz, The New Kempinski Building (1907) 225 79. Maximilian Rapsilber, Hotel Adlon (1907) 229 80. Robert Walser, Berlin W. (1910) 230 81. Robert Walser, The Little Berlin Girl (1909) 232 82. Walter Lehwess, The Design Competition for Rüdesheimer Platz (1912) 237 83. Wilhelm Borchard, The Picnic Season (1914) 239 84. Paul Westheim, Building Boom (1917) 242 viii Contents

8. The Green Outdoors 245 85. Wilhelm Bölsche, Beyond the Metropolis (1901) 248 86. Heinrich Hart, Statutes of the German Garden City Association (1902) 250 87. Hans Kampffmeyer, The Garden City and Its Cultural and Economic Significance (1906–7) 251 88. Heinrich Pudor, The People’s Park in Greater Berlin (1910) 256 89. Karl Ernst Osthaus, Garden City and City Planning (1911) 258 90. Anonymous, Lietzensee-Park in Charlottenburg (1912) 260 91. Hannes Müllerfeld, Down with the Garden City! (1914) 260 92. Max Osborn, The Fairy-Tale Fountain in the , Berlin (1914) 261 93. Paul Westheim, Workers’ Housing Estate at (1915) 264 94. Martin Wagner, Urban Open-Space Policy (1915) 267 95. Bruno Taut, The Garden Suburb near Berlin (1919–20) 268 part two. and the City

9. City in Crisis 273 96. Bruno Taut, A Necessity (1914) 276 97. Vorwärts, [War or Not] (1914) 278 98. General Gustav von Kessel, Berlin in a State of War: Proclamation of the Commander-in-Chief in the Marches (1914) 279 99. H. B., [War Fever in Berlin, August 1914] 280 100. Berliner Tageblatt, [Berlin Potato Shortage] (1915) 281 101. Anonymous, Competition for Greater Berlin Architects (1916) 282 102. Berliner Tageblatt, Demonstration in Berlin (1918) 283 103. Friedrich Bauermeister, On the Great City (1918) 284 104. , The New Architectural Idea (1919) 286 105. Leopold Bauer, The Economic Unsustainability of the Large City (1919) 288 10. Critical Responses 291 106. Paul Wolf, The Basic Layout of the New City (1919) 293 107. Bruno Taut, The City Crown (1919) 295 108. Otto Bartning, Church Architecture Today (1919) 302 109. Peter Behrens and Heinrich de Fries, On Low-Cost Building (1919) 303 110. Käthe Kollwitz, Diary Entry, 11 September 1919 307 111. Hermann Muthesius, Small House and Small-Scale Housing Development (1920) 307 part three. Weltstadt—World City

11. Planning the World City 315 112. Martin Mächler, The Major Population Center and Its Global Importance (1918) 319 Contents ix

113. Bruno Möhring, On the Advantages of Tower Blocks and the Conditions under Which They Could Be Built in Berlin (1920) 324 114. Siegfried Kracauer, On Skyscrapers (1921) 326 115. Martin Mächler, On the Skyscraper Problem (1920–21) 329 116. , If Berlin Were to Build Skyscrapers: Proposals for Easing the Housing Shortage (1921) 332 117. Adolf Behne, The Competition of the Skyscraper Society (1922–23) 334 118. Egon Erwin Kisch, The Impoverishment and Enrichment of the Berlin Streets (1923) 336 119. Ernst Kaeber, The Metropolis as Home (1926) 337 120. Karl Scheffler, Berlin Fifty Years from Now: Perspectives on One of the World’s Great Cities (1926) 340 121. Martin Wagner, Werner Hegemann, and Heinrich Mendelssohn, Should Berlin Build Skyscrapers? (1928) 344 122. Martin Wagner and Adolf Behne, The New Berlin–World City (1929) 347 123. Martin Wagner, The Design Problem of a City Square for a Metropolis: The Competition of the “Verkehr” Company for the Remodeling of Alexanderplatz (1929) 349 124. Max Berg, The Platz der Republik in Berlin (1930) 352 125. Werner Hegemann, Berlin, City of Stone: The History of the Largest Tenement City in the World (1930) 353 126. , A Jacobin of Our Time: On Werner Hegemann’s Das steinerne Berlin (1930) 358 127. Hannes Küpper, The “Provinces” and Berlin (1931) 363 128. , Speech at Foundation-Stone Ceremony of the Faculty of Defense Studies, Berlin (1937) 365 12. Berlin Montage 367 129. Käthe Kollwitz, Diary Entry, 25 January 1919 370 130. , “Berlin! Berlin!” (1919) 371 131. “Sling” (pseud. Paul Schlesinger), The Telephone (1921) 374 132. Käthe Kollwitz, Diary Entry, 1 May 1922 375 133. Friedrich Kroner, Overstretched Nerves (1923) 375 134. Adolf Hitler, My Struggle (1926) 376 135. Joseph Roth, The Wandering Jew (1927) 378 136. Ernst Bloch, Berlin after Two Years (1928) 379 137. Alfred Döblin, Berlin (1928) 381 138. Franz Hessel, I Learn: Via Neukölln to (1929) 386 139. Carl Zuckmayer, The Berlin Woman (1929) 390 140. Moritz Goldstein, The Metropolis of the Little People (1930) 391 141. Karl Scheffler, Berlin: A City Transformed (1931) 392 142. Siegfried Kracauer, The New Alexanderplatz (1932) 397 143. Siegfried Kracauer, Locomotive over Friedrichstrasse (1933) 400 x Contents

144. Jean Giraudoux, Berlin, Not ! (1931) 402 145. Ernst Erich Noth, The Tenement Barracks (1931) 404 146. Siegfried Kracauer, A Section of Friedrichstrasse (1932) 404 147. Gabriele Tergit (pseud. Elise Reifenberg), Home is the 75 (or the 78) (1930) 406 148. Christopher Isherwood, A Berlin Diary (Winter 1932–33) 409 13. Work 411 149. Alfred Döblin, General Strike in Berlin (1922) 414 150. Ludwig Hilberseimer, Buildings for the Metropolis (1925) 415 151. Franz Hessel, On Work (1929) 416 152. Peter Panter (pseud. Kurt Tucholsky), Hang on a Moment! (1927) 418 153. Fritz Stahl (pseud. Siegfried Lilienthal), The Klingenberg Power Station at Berlin- (1928) 420 154. Hermann Schmitz, Introduction to Siemensbauten (1928) 424 155. Egon Erwin Kisch, Berlin at Work (1927) 425 156. Anonymous, A New High-Rise Building in Berlin: Architect Peter Behrens (1931) 428 157. , Gilgi—One of Us (1931) 429 158. Else Lasker-Schüler, The Spinning World Factory (1932) 430 159. Hans Fallada, Little Man, What Now? (1933) 432 160. Herbert Rimpl and Hermann Mäckler, A German Aircraft Factory: The Heinkel Works in Oranienburg (1938) 434 14. Commodities and Display 437 161. Alfred Döblin, Berlin Christmas (1923) 441 162. Alfred Gellhorn, Advertising and the Cityscape (1926) 442 163. Gerta-Elisabeth Thiele, The Shop Window (1926) 445 164. Peter Panter (pseud. Kurt Tucholsky), The Loudspeaker (1927) 447 165. Hans Cürlis, Night and the Modern City (1928) 450 166. Hugo Häring, Illuminated Advertising and Architecture (1928) 452 167. Joseph Roth, The Really Big Department Store (1929) 454 168. Alfred Wedemeyer, Berlin’s Latest Department Store (1929) 456 169. Ludwig Hilberseimer, The Modern Commercial Street (1929) 458 170. Alfons Paquet, City and Province (1929) 462 15. Housing 463 171. Fritz Schumacher, The Small Apartment (1919) 468 172. Kurt Tucholsky, 150 Kaiserallee (1920) 471 173. Bruno Taut, The New Home: Woman as Creative Spirit (1924) 473 174. Martin Wagner, Vienna—Berlin: Housing Policies Compared (1925) 476 175. Ludwig Hilberseimer, On Standardizing the Tenement Block (1926) 480 176. Leo Adler, Housing Estates in the Britz District of Berlin (1927) 482 177. Walter Gropius, Large Housing Estates (1930) 484 178. Werner Hegemann, Berlin and World Architecture: On the Berlin Building Exhibition (1931) 486 Contents xi

179. Martin Wagner, Administrative Reform (1931) 491 180. Ilse Reicke, Women and Building (1931) 493 181. Siegfried Kracauer, Building Exhibition in the East (1931) 495 182. Heinz-Willi Jüngst, Housing for Contemporaries (1932) 497 183. Gottfried Feder, The German Housing Development Board (1934) 500 184. Herbert Hoffmann, The Residential Estate on Berlin’s Große Leegestrasse (1936) 502 185. Anonymous, The Construction of Communities on the Basis of the People, the Land, and the Landscape (1940) 504 16. mass and Leisure 508 186. Bruno Taut, On New Theaters (1919) 512 187. Egon Erwin Kisch, Elliptical Treadmill (1919) 514 188. Adolf Behne, Großes Schauspielhaus, Scalapalast (1928) 518 189. Siegfried Kracauer, Rollercoaster Ride (1921) 520 190. Berliner Börsen-Courier, [Cinema] (1923) 521 191. Alfred Flechtheim, Gladiators (1926) 522 192. Gerhard Krause, The German Stadium and Sport Forum (1926) 524 193. Matheo Quinz, The Romanische Café (1926) 525 194. Hans Poelzig, The Capitol Cinema (1926) 528 195. J-S, Review of Walther Ruttmann’s Film Berlin: The Symphony of a Great City (1927) 529 196. Leo Hirsch, Cinemas (1927) 530 197. Billy Wilder, Berlin Rendezvous (1927) 533 198. Siegfried Kracauer, Under Palm Trees (1930) 534 199. Curt Moreck (pseud. Konrad Haemmerling), A Guide to “Licentious” Berlin (1931) 537 200. Siegfried Kracauer, Radio Station (1931) 540 201. Hermann Sinsheimer, Boxing Ring (1931) 543 202. Siegfried Kracauer, Berlin as a Summer Resort (1932) 546 203. Werner March, The Buildings of the National Sport Arena (1936) 548 17. technology and Mobility 551 204. Friedrich Krause and Fritz Hedde, Swinemünder Bridge (1922) 554 205. Berliner Tageblatt, [Cycling in Berlin] (1923) 554 206. Joseph Roth, Declaration to the Gleisdreieck (1924) 555 207. Ignaz Wrobel (pseud. Kurt Tucholsky), Berlin Traffic (1926) 558 208. Billy Wilder, Nighttime Joyride over Berlin (1927) 561 209. Bernard von Brentano, The Pleasure of Motoring (c. 1928) 563 210. Vicki Baum, Grand Hotel (1929) 565 211. Siegfried Kracauer, Proletarian Rapid Transit (1930) 566 212. Peter Panter (pseud. Kurt Tucholsky), Traffic Passing over the House (1931) 568 213. Siegfried Kracauer, The Cult of the Automobile (1931) 571 214. Siegfried Kracauer, On Board the “ Flier”: Special Press Trip, Berlin to Hamburg (1933) 573 xii Contents

215. E. Neumann, Object—Subject (1934) 576 216. Anonymous, The Intercontinental Airport at Tempelhof (1938) 577 217. Jakob Werlin / , On the Autobahns of the Reich (1938) 579 218. Hans Stephan, The Autobahn (1939) 581 18. From Berlin to Germania 582 219. Siegfried Kracauer, Screams on the Street (1930) 586 220. Irmgard Keun, The Artificial Silk Girl (1932) 589 221. Heinrich Hauser, The Flood of Humanity at Tempelhof (1933) 590 222. Joseph Goebbels, Berlin Awakes (1934) 594 223. Herbert Hoffmann, The Air Ministry Building (1936) 597 224. Adolf Hitler, The Buildings of the Third Reich (1937) 599 225. Anonymous, The New Berlin Cityscape (1938) 601 226. Adolf Hitler, Speech at the Topping-Out Ceremony for the New Reich Chancellery (1938) 602 227. Hans Stephan, Berlin (1939) 605 228. Albert Speer, Replanning the Capital of the Reich (1939) 607 229. Adolf Hitler, Table Talk (1941) 609

Acknowledgments 611 Photo Credits 619 Index 621