Rathaus Schöneberg

Geschichte

Rathaus Schöneberg is the city hall for the borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg in Berlin. From 1949 until 1990 it served as the seat of the state senate of West Berlin and from 1949 until 1991 as the seat of the Governing Mayor.HistoryThe sandstone building was constructed between 1911–1914, when it replaced the old town hall of Schöneberg, at that time an independent city () not yet incorporated into Greater Berlin, which took place in 1920. The Nazi authorities had a series of war murals by Franz Eichhorst added to the interior in 1938. In World War II the building was severely damaged by Allied bombing and during the final Battle of Berlin.After the war the undestroyed Neues Stadthaus, former head office of Berlin's municipal fire insurance Feuersozietät, on Parochialstraße in Mitte, served as intermittent city hall, replacing the ruined Rotes Rathaus (Red City Hall, also in East Berlin), the traditional seat of the Berlin government. With the division of Berlin's city government and administration in September 1948 the Neues Stadthaus was in the Communist Ostsektor (eastern sector) and became off limits to West Berlin. As a "temporary" measure the barely repaired Rathaus Schöneberg on Rudolph-Wilde-Platz became the city hall for West Berlin. In 1950 the Freedom Bell (Freiheitsglocke), a gift by the United States, was installed in the rebuilt tower.