Café Kranzler is a famous

coffeehouse A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Germany. Opened in 1834 on the Unter den Linden boulevard in the central

Mitte Mitte () is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding. It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kreuzb ...

district, its Western branch on Kurfürstendamm in Charlottenburg became an icon of

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

after World War II.

History

In 1825 the Austrian-born confectionist Johann Georg Kranzler (1795–1866) began business in a small pastry shop (''

Konditorei A ''Konditorei'' is a business that typically offers a wide variety of pastries and typically also serves as a café, these are found in many different countries including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Denmark, Sweden, the Czech Repub ...

'') on Unter den Linden No. 25, at the corner of Friedrichstraße (present-day site of The Westin Grand). Refurbished as a coffeehouse according to plans designed by the architect Friedrich August Stüler, the original Café Kranzler was opened in 1834. Including a sun terrace, outside tables on the pavement, an ice-cream parlour and a smokers' room, it swiftly gained the reputation of being one of the city's finest cafés, also after the rivalling Café Bauer opened vis-à-vis in 1877. Café Kranzler was particularly known for its New Year's Eve celebrations that even were broadcast on national radio. In May 1944 the parent house in Mitte was destroyed during the Bombing of Berlin in World War II. The Charlottenburg branch was opened in 1932, in the rooms of the former

Café des Westens The Café des Westens, on No.18/19 Kurfürstendamm in Berlin, was a coffeehouse which operated from 1898 to 1915, and became famous as a meeting place for turn of the century artists. It was known colloquially as ''Café Größenwahn''; the Germa ...

on Kurfürstendamm No. 18/19, which ran till the building's destruction in 1945. After the war, business was resumed at the site in 1951. The current flat-roofed ''Kranzler-Eck'' building, with its distinct rotunda and red-white touched awnings, was erected in 1957/58. The Charlottenburg branch, in what was then West Berlin, went on to become a major tourist attraction of the ''

Wirtschaftswunder The ''Wirtschaftswunder'' (, "economic miracle"), also known as the Miracle on the Rhine, was the rapid reconstruction and development of the economies of West Germany and Austria after World War II (adopting an ordoliberalism-based social marke ...

'' era. However, after the fall of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

in 1989, the Café Kranzler fell victim to the massive redevelopment programme which has since then been changing the face of the city. In 2000 business discontinued and the Kranzler re-opened as a small bar in the rotunda on the second floor above the retail premises of a

Gerry Weber Gerry Weber International AG is a German fashion manufacturer and retailer based in Halle (Westf.), North Rhine-Westphalia. The business which was established in 1973 as Hatex KG by Udo Hardieck and Gerhard Weber is primarily known for its ladi ...

store, built-in the ''Neues Kranzler Eck'' office building and shopping complex designed by Helmut Jahn. Since December 2016, the building’s main tenant is British fashion label Superdry while the cafè is currently leased to local coffee-roasting house The Barn.

References

External links

Café Kranzler – The Barn Coffee RoastersNeues Kranzler EckKranzler memories from 1969-71
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cafe Kranzler Coffeehouses and cafés in Berlin Coffeehouses and cafés in Germany 1834 establishments in Prussia