Berlin - Town Halls Rathäuser

Berlin's first Town Hall is believed to have stood in the Molkenmarkt, or Whey Market in the 13th C. From 1307-1442, when the towns of Cölln and Berlin were united, the Town Hall serving both towns stood by the Long Bridge (Lange Brücke).

Later, the Town Hall, with an open arcade where the municipal court sat, and a clock tower (dated to the beginning of the 15th C.), was in Königstrasse (later Rathausstrasse).

After being damaged by fire it was rebuilt in 1583 and provided with a new court room and a torture chamber (in the basement). The place of execution was in the square in front of the arcade previously used by the court, until an Electoral decree in 1694 moved it elsewhere - on account, as the decree phrased it, of the disturbance it caused to traffic.

By the middle of the 19th C. the deteriorating condition of the structure and lack of space made a new building necessary. This was to be the present-day Rote Rathaus (Red Town Hall), which housed the Berlin municipal authorities. After Berlin was divided, East Berlin laid claim to the title of City Council and Chief Burgomaster, duly ensconced in the Red Town Hall. The government of West Berlin, the Senate, occupied the Schöneberg Town Hall. Since Oct. 1, 1991, there has been one main governing body for the whole of Berlin, housed in the Red Town Hall. The individual districts of the city will continue to be administered from their local town halls. Some of these are architecturally interesting, such as that in Charlottenburg, which possesses the highest tower of any Berlin town hall.