Berlin - Leipzig Street

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Spindler back in 1891 -- was re-erected here in 1980. West of the Spittelmarkt a section of the old Leipziger Colonnade (built in 1776 by Gontard) has been reconstructed using parts of the original. At the junction with Jerusalemer Strasse (Leipziger Str. No. 60) can be found the Czechoslovakian House of Culture in the building which was once housed the Tietz department store. At Leipziger Strasse 26, on the left on the far side of its junction with Friedrichstrasse, is the International Music Library. On the opposite corner (junction with Mauerstrasse) stands the former Ministry of Postal and Telephone Services, now the home of the Postal Museum. On the western side of Otto-Grotewohl-Strasse (formerly Wilhelmstrasse) is the erstwhile Imperial Air Ministry of 1934-36, used by the East Germans as their "House of Ministers." It is now the headquarters of a trust company and adjoins the old Prussian Upper Chamber (1904). Taking up almost the whole of this section of the opposite side of the street is the massive Wertheim store, once the largest in Europe.

Leipziger Strasse enters Leipziger Platz, which was once surrounded by large townhouses and - together with Potsdamer Platz-- was then Berlin's most important traffic intersection. There are plans to rebuild it in its original octagonal Baroque form, based on the historical plans, with hotels, cinemas, houses and shops.