1: The station hall was originally built in 1882 but after severe damage in WWII redesigned in 1962 with a more austere socialist look. This look was mostly kept during the reconstruction finishing in 1998. The hall is to this day quite impressive. 2: The large department store (“Kaufhaus Tietz”) was built in the early 20th century but again badly damaged during bombing raids. It was rebuilt between 1967 and 1970 under socialist leadership as “Centrum Warenhaus” with a unique metal honeycomb facade. It was sadly removed and replaced by a boring stone facade between 2004 and 2006 which is visible on this image. Now there expanding the building and also adding a high-rise, it’s construction site again is visible on the image. 3: The hotel in the background was finished almost together with the department store in 1970. It was a most prestigious hotel often used to house diplomatic delegations from other countries.
Let’s get up the escalator and enjoy a view from one of Berlin’s most frequented, most disgusting and most fascinating train station. See the spiked clock. This is to keep the doves away. It does not matter there are bird droppings everywhere.
Fading into the bright sun is this example of modern socialist architecture. I call it socialist living and it is just on a larger scale and somewhat less luxurious than it’s modern counterpart.
This man is just waiting lost in thoughts and probably does not even think about this places history. Why should he right?