Wilhelmplatz
Wilhelmplatz was a square in the Mitte district of Berlin, at the corner of Wilhelmstrasse and Voßstraße. The square also gave its name to a Berlin U-Bahn station which has since been renamed Mohrenstraße. A number of notable buildings were constructed around the square, including the old Reich Chancellery, the building of the Ministry of Finance and the Kaiserhof grand hotel built in 1875.
Wilhelmplatz in the 18th century
Location of the Square
The square was originally laid out in 1721 over the course of the Friedrichstadt expansion and obtained the name Wilhelmplatz in 1749, after King Frederick William I of Prussia. Engineer and chairman of the state building commission Christian Reinhold von Derschau led the project. He was advised by the King's senior and court building directors, Johann Phillipp Gerlach and Johann Friedrich Grael, respectively, who were in charge of the architectural design. Under their influence, the building commission decided on mandatory, narrowly defined guidelines so that the city would give off a harmonious, integrated feel.Initially, the plan was to lay out the streets in a traditional grid formation. Yet, from 1732 onward, plans focused themselves around three primary north–south throughways that each radiated from the same circular public space, known as the Rondell. These major streets would later come to be known as Wilhelmstraße, Friedrichstraße and Lindenstraße. According to a royal patent from July 29, 1734, the location of a large square on Wilhelmstraße was also among the construction projects discussed.
In 1737, for the first time, a Plan of the Royal Capital of Berlin demarcates a public square located in the northern third of the street opening up from its eastern side. The square came to be known as Wilhelms-Markt, a name it carried until 1749, when it was christened Wilhelmsplatz. The origin of its name is the Prussian "Soldier King" Frederick William I, who had an especially heavy influence on the architecture and expansion of the northern part of Wilhelmstraße.
Early plans already dictated a wide connection from the east side of the square to Mohrenstraße, "Am Wilhelmplatz", later to be renamed Zietenplatz. Still, many historical maps show Zietenplatz simply as either a part of Wilhemplatz or Mohrenstraße. It wasn't until the early 20th century that they finally lengthened Mohrenstraße to Wilhelmstraße past Wilhelmplatz and Zietenplatz.
Development on the Square
Going back to a wish of Frederick William I's, thirty large, aristocratic townhouses were built along northern Wilhelmstraße and on Wilhelmplatz itself starting around the 1730s. These functioned as lodging for the military, representatives of the court, and other state authorities. The private contractors were each allocated extremely valuable pieces of land free and the state even subsidized a portion of the construction. In available literature, however, there is still disagreement as to whether these contractors saw this endeavor as a worthwhile honor or rather as a financial burden that they would have rather withdrawn from. In any case, they saw themselves bound by duty to take part in the expansion of Friedrichstadt.One of the earlier construction plans recorded is a pen and ink drawing stemming from architect C.H. Horst in the year 1733. It's clear to see from the drawing that the particularly magnificent townhouses were in the works from the very beginning. And with the exception of the townhouse located in the northeast corner of the square, all of these rendered structures were at some point erected.
The newly featured area was dominated by Gerlach and Horst's Palais Marschall on the square's west side, which also served as focal point of the old Mohrenstraße. The widening of the throughway to Wilhelmplatz – later Zietenplatz – was clearly intentionally conceived so as to allow a sweeping view of the grandiose structure as far as one ventured eastward.
The next building over, Palais Schulenburg at Wilhelmstraße 77, was installed by architect Carl Friedrich Richter. While Friedrichstadt was otherwise characterized by a continuous house facade lining its streets and squares, central buildings were allowed forecourts flanked by peripheral wings of the house. However, in taking the Mohrenstraße into account during the construction of the neighboring Palais Marschall, this ensured that Palais Schulenburg was crowded into the northwest corner of Wilhelmplatz so that no room remained for any court. Beginning in 1878, the Palais Schulenburg became the official seat of the Imperial Chancellor.
As with most property on the west of Wilhelmstraße between Unter den Linden and Leipziger Straße, both the Palais Marschall and the Palais Schulenburg possessed sprawling gardens that stretched west to the level of today's Ebertstraße. They were fashioned in the style of a baroque decorative garden, but also reaped plentiful fruit and vegetables for sale on the Berlin markets. After the surrounding buildings were repurposed for government use in the 19th century, this area became known as the "Ministergärten".
The first building erected was the Ordenspalais, serving as the seat of the Order of Saint John on the northern side of the square. The Order had taken over the completion of its construction after the premature death of its original developer.
On the northern end of Wilhelmstraße it became apparent that there weren't enough private contractors for the property available. Frederick William I had to come to grips with the fact that, in order to populate the area, some corporations, guilds, state institutions and societies would need to resettle themselves from the southern part of the street, where they normally frequented. Accordingly, a gold and silver manufacturer set up shop in the southwest corner of Wilhelmplatz at Wilhelmstraße 79, which had been built according to Gerlach's plans from 1735 to 1737. This particular manufacturer was also in possession of the Great Military Orphanage in Potsdam, which would be financed by this new endeavor. An additional building on the south side belonged to the same proprietors. As for No. 79, from 1869 to 1876, it was expanded to include the neighboring property and the property toward Voßstraße. This expansion accommodated the Prussian Minister of Trade and, beginning in 1878, the Minister of Public Works as well. During the Weimar Republic and Third Reich, the Reich's transportation ministry was located there for a time as well as a part of the train administration.
To note, it had been forbidden since 1727 for Jews in the city to acquire houses. Despite the law, the Jewish community was allotted a property, the southernmost corner lot on Wilhelmstraße, to erect their own building. The following three years passed without any progress, however, due to the dire financial circumstances of the group. Between 1761 and 1764, with special allowance from the King Frederick II, Veitel Heine Ephraim, head of the Jewish community, acquired both No. 1 and the factory building No. 2 on the south side as private property as well as the earlier mentioned silver and gold manufacturer through emphyteusis.
Prussian Military Statues
After the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763, a plan was developed to erect statues of those generals who had fallen in battle. From this idea, originated the first four free-standing marble statues of General Field Marshal Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin, General Field Marshal Hans Karl von Winterfeldt, General Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz and General Field Marshal James Keith. They depicted the military in a rather conventional form. Schwerin and Winterfeldt posed in an antique manner with Roman clothing, while Seydlitz and Keith wore contemporary uniforms.In the years 1794 and 1828, 2 further statues were put into place, which had originally been determined for other places in Berlin. The two pieces, done by notable Berlin sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow, depicted Hans Joachim von Zieten and Leopold I, the prince of Anhalt-Dessau, nicknamed "Alter Dessauer". The statue of Zieten was supposed to be erected on Donhöffplatz, while the memorial for the prince had already stood since 1800 on the southwest corner of the Lustgarten. Leopold I was then only moved when both areas were redesigned under the supervision of Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Together, the six sculptures overlooked the square for more than a century.
Based on advice from Christian Daniel Rauch regarding the vulnerability of the materials, the statues were replaced with bronze copies made by August Kiß in 1857. That is, all but Schwerin and Winterfeldt. Kiß designed these completely new and rid them of their antique appearances. The originals, after moving from place to place, eventually found a home in 1904 in the small dome hall at the Bode Museum.
Though both the marble originals and the bronze versions survived World War II, they were hidden from view of the public for decades in different depots. It wasn't until a Prussian Renaissance in 1980s East Germany when a discussion was started about potentially redisplaying them. On the occasion of the 750th anniversary of Berlin in January 1987 the marble originals were once again transported to the Bode Museum, while the bronze versions were placed in front of the Altes Museum in the Lustgarten. The bronze statues have since been stored away again.
After the turn of the millennium, at the urging of the Berlin Schadow Society, it was planned to once again place the statues at or near their historical locations. The bronze copies of the memorials depicting Zieten and Anhalt-Dessau were erected on U-Bahn Island on the lateral axis of the former Wilhelmplatze in 2003 and 2005, respectively. The other four bronze statues found a home in September 2009 on the neighboring Zietenplatz, after its construction, begun in 2005, was finished. As of 2011, the statues are considered to be under protection of historic buildings and monuments.