Bismarckstraße is a

Berlin U-Bahn The Berlin U-Bahn (; short for , "underground railway") is a rapid transit system in Berlin, the capital and largest city of Germany, and a major part of the city's public transport system. Together with the S-Bahn, a network of suburban train li ...

station on lines U2 and U7, located in the

Charlottenburg Charlottenburg () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Prussia, it is best known for Charlottenburg Palace, the ...

district. It was opened in 1978 on the eponymous street, a major

arterial road An arterial road or arterial thoroughfare is a high-capacity urban road that sits below freeways/motorways on the road hierarchy in terms of traffic flow and speed. The primary function of an arterial road is to deliver traffic from collector r ...

named after Otto von Bismarck.

History

At the time when the first U-Bahn line (''Stammstrecke'') opened in 1902, the road was laid out in a lavish

boulevard A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway. Boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former city walls. In American usage, boulevards may ...

style as the western continuation of Charlottenburger Chaussee (now

Straße des 17. Juni The Straße des 17. Juni (, en, 17th of June Street), is a street in central Berlin, the capital of Germany. Its name refers to the 1953 East German uprising, 17 June 1953 uprising in East Germany. It is the western continuation of the boule ...

) and part of a direct connection between the Berlin city centre at Brandenburg Gate to the western suburbs of Charlottenburg and

Spandau Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smallest borough by population, but the fourth largest by land ...

along Kaiserdamm and

Heerstraße ''Heerstraße'' is the German word for military road, a type or road that was built to enable the rapid movement of armies. Specific roads built for this purpose include the: * Aachen-Frankfurter Heerstraße * Bernauer Heerstraße * Lüneburger ...

. On 14 December 1902, '' Knie'' station opened at present-day

Ernst-Reuter-Platz Ernst-Reuter-Platz is a town square in Charlottenburg, Berlin, Germany. It is named after Ernst Reuter, mayor of West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin duri ...

; the western extension to Bismarckstraße (now

Deutsche Oper The Deutsche Oper Berlin is a German opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. The resident building is the country's second largest opera house (after Munich's) and also home to the Berlin State Ballet. Since 2004, the D ...

) and the Wilhelmplatz (now Richard-Wagner-Platz) terminus near

Charlottenburg Town Hall Charlottenburg Town Hall (german: Rathaus Charlottenburg) is an administrative building situated in the Charlottenburg locality of Berlin in Germany. It was built between 1899 and 1905 at the behest of the then independent city of Charlottenburg in ...

was inaugurated on 14 May 1906. On 29 March 1908, the western continuation of the present-day U2 to Reichskanzlerplatz (now

Theodor-Heuss-Platz Theodor-Heuss-Platz (; colloquially called Theo by locals, ) is a large city square in the Westend district of Berlin, Germany. It is named after Theodor Heuss (1884–1963), the first President of Germany after World War II. Location The sq ...

) in Westend was opened. It branched off at ''Bismarckstraße'', which remained the original name of present-day Deutsche Oper station until 1929. Today's Bismarckstraße station, located about to the west, was not built along the U2 until the 1970s, when the construction of the new U7 line from Fehrbelliner Platz to Richard-Wagner-Platz (formerly Wilhelmplatz) required a two-level station at the intersection. The old tunnel at the site was completely rebuilt as a reinforced concrete construction, with the new U7 tunnel running under it in a north-south direction. The station was opened with the new U7 section on 28 April 1978. Bismarckstraße station is currently undergoing an overall refurbishment.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bismarckstrasse (Berlin U-Bahn) U2 (Berlin U-Bahn) stations U7 (Berlin U-Bahn) stations Buildings and structures in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf Railway stations in Germany opened in 1978