Mossehaus is an office building on 18–25 Schützenstraße in

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 constitu ...

, renovated and with a corner designed by

Erich Mendelsohn Erich Mendelsohn (21 March 1887 – 15 September 1953) was a German architect, known for his expressionist architecture in the 1920s, as well as for developing a dynamic Functionalism (architecture), functionalism in his projects for department ...

between 1921 and 1923. The original Mosse building housed the printing press and offices of the newspapers owned by Rudolf Mosse, mainly liberal newspapers such as the ''

Berliner Tageblatt The ''Berliner Tageblatt'' or ''BT'' was a German language newspaper published in Berlin from 1872 to 1939. Along with the ''Frankfurter Zeitung'', it became one of the most important liberal German newspapers of its time. History The ''Berline ...

''. The sandstone-fronted historicist 1901 building by Cremer & Wolffenstein was badly damaged in 1919 during the

Spartacist uprising The Spartacist uprising (German: ), also known as the January uprising (), was a general strike and the accompanying armed struggles that took place in Berlin from 5 to 12 January 1919. It occurred in connection with the November Revolutio ...

; held by the insurrectionists, it was laid under siege by government troops. In 1921, on the strength of his Einstein Tower, Mendelsohn was hired to add extra storeys and a new entrance to the building. The new frontage made prominent use of aluminum and

modern typography Modern typography was a reaction against the perceived decadence of typography and design of the late 19th century. It is mostly associated with the works of Jan Tschichold and Bauhaus typographers Herbert Bayer, László Moholy-Nagy, El Lissitz ...

, and the new upper floors were made from

ferro-concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low ultimate tensile strength, tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion ...

. The experimental nature of the structure led to a disaster during construction in 1923, when one of the slabs of the new extension fell into the newspaper offices, which were still in use, killing 14 people. The use of strips and sculpted elements in the fenestration gave it a dynamic,

futuristic The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currentl ...

form, emphasised by the contrast with the

Wilhelmine style The Wilhelmine Period () comprises the period of German history between 1890 and 1918, embracing the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II in the German Empire from the resignation of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck until the end of World War I and Wilhelm's ...

below. It was one of the first examples of a streamlined building, and hence a great influence on

Streamline Moderne Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial desig ...

. The effect on American architecture is perhaps unsurprising, as Mendelsohn's partner on the Mossehaus and the designer of the interiors was

Richard Neutra Richard Joseph Neutra ( ; April 8, 1892 – April 16, 1970) was an Austrian-American architect. Living and building for the majority of his career in Southern California, he came to be considered a prominent and important modernist architect. H ...

. The building was very badly damaged during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The entire wing along Jerusalemerstraße was destroyed, as was the façade on the corner of Schützen-/Jerusalemerstraße, which was elaborately constructed by Mendelsohn. After the war, it was rebuilt in a simplified form. The building was very close to 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 gover ...

, so it became dilapidated. Though Mossehaus was at one time the tallest non-church building in Berlin, it is now dwarfed by the nearby

Fischerinsel Fischerinsel (, ''Fisher Island'') is the southern part of the island in the River Spree which was formerly the location of the city of Cölln and is now part of central Berlin. The northern part of the island is known as Museum Island. Fischeri ...

tower blocks on the former East side and the

Axel Springer AG Axel Springer SE () is a German digital and popular periodical publishing house which is the largest in Europe, with numerous multimedia news brands, such as ''Bild'', ''Die Welt'', and '' Fakt'' and more than 15,000 employees. It generated tot ...

buildings on the former West side. The building was restored to its original splendor in the 1990s.

References

* Kathleen James, ''Erich Mendelsohn and the Architecture of German Modernism'' (CUP, 1997, ISBN, pp. 88–102)

External links

*
Mossehaus at Berlin.de Sights
{{coord, 52, 30, 31.86, N, 13, 23, 48.86, E, type:landmark_scale:3000, display=title Art Deco architecture in Germany Buildings and structures in Berlin Cremer & Wolffenstein Erich Mendelsohn buildings Expressionist architecture Modernist architecture in Germany Office buildings completed in 1923 Streamline Moderne architecture