So much of the old Berlin is gone - even more became completely unrecognisable. This 1887 photo made by the unsurpassed visual chronicler of the city, F.A. Schwartz shows a place that, strangely enough, falls into both of those categories.
Nearly every Berlin visitor has either seen or heard of the Berliner Dom - the largest Protestant church in Germany’s capital (and referred to as a “cathedral” even though, technically speaking, it is none). Many fans of Berlin’s history are aware of Berlin’s Stock Exchange (Berliner Börse) - a building which stretched along the river Spree just east of Friedrichsbrücke.
Interestingly, even though F.A. Schwartz’s photo shows both the Berliner Dom and the Berliner Börse (the destroyed Stock Exchange building east of the Friedrichsbrücke), none of them is what most people have in mind.
Let’s have a closer look: on the right, behold the so-called “second” Berliner Dom. It replaced the first one, which once stood on the other side of Berlin’s Stadtschloß (Royal Palace), on today’s Schloßplatz. The 1887 cathedral - originally designed in the eighteenth century by Boumann and von Knobelsdorff - was a result of a series of “facelifts” performed by Berlin’s über-architect, Karl Schinkel. Our photo shows it several years before the demolition - Kaiser Wilhelm II would have it replaced with something more, well, impressive.
On the left the picture features the former “second” Berlin Stock Exchange, while in the middle you are looking at the old Hohenzollern cemetery, known as Campo Santo and hidden behind an extremely high wall. At the time when FA Schwartz arrived with his camera, the building housed the Berlin University Institute for Oriental Studies.
All buildings lined the northern edge of the Lustgarten. And all were demolished for the “third” Berliner Dom. The new Berliner Börse would be built on the opposite bank of the Spree, in Burgstraße - a new city railway line, the Stadtbahn, would have one of its stations named after the new stock exchange building. Today the station “Börse” is called “Hackescher Markt”.
By the way, the Straßenmöbel (Street Furnishings) in Schwartz’s photo are equally fascinating: from left to right it presents Protz’sches Toilettenhäuschen (Protz toilet-booths), a small tobacco and sweets kiosk, and a typical Trinkhalle (soda stand). Before them, on the edge of the pavement, you will find a "Greiner I" street pump, a dung-and-sand box as well as Schinkel gaslights (named after their designer, the inescapable Karl Friedrich Schinkel).
Just like none of the buildings captured by F.A. Schwartz survived beyond the end of the nineteenth century, neither did the above Straßenmöbel make it for much longer. You might occasionally stumble upon one or the other gaslight but if so, cherish the sight - they are as good as gone, too.
As for the Berliner Dom in its pre-demolition form, it was admittedly rather modest. Contemporaries often complained about its uneasy proportions, while the Kaiser complained about its lack of grandeur. He definitely did not mourn it when in 1893 the demolition began.
It would take another decade (feels like a typical Berlin construction schedule) to complete the new temple. Although, it must be said, it was quite worth the wait.
Fulminant, liebe Beata! Where is the mentioned "dung-and-sand box"?
Thanks for the interesting photo and story, Beate.