Berliner Rathaus, A Beacon of Red Brick Renaissance

Rathausstraße 15, BERLIN Berlin, 10178

European countries have all sorts of city halls

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Introduction

Berlin City Hall, also known as Red City Hall, is the seat of the Berlin city government and is located on City Hall Street in the Mitte district. It was built in the 1860s and is designed in the Italian Renaissance style by Hermann Friedrich Waesemann. The design of the building draws inspiration from the Old Town Hall in Toruń, Poland, and the Notre-Dame de Laon in France. During World War II, the building was heavily damaged by Allied bombings. In the 1950s, it was restored according to the original plans. The rebuilt Red City Hall became the seat of the East Berlin city government in the Soviet-occupied zone, while the Charlottenburg district government on the other side served as the West Berlin City Hall. With the reunification of Germany, on October 1, 1991, the Berlin city government officially moved to the Red City Hall. Next to Marx-Engels-Forum, there are statues of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, representing the historical legacy left by the East German era.