Nazi & Post-WW2 German Architecture

[Genji]

As a communist it is abhorrant to admit but the architecture of the 3rd Reich was breathtaking in my view. An almost Roman/Gothic look but modern. I read of Nazi architecture years ago and drawings of buildings they planned were gorgeous. Does anyone have photos of this?
I'm thrilled the Soviets crushed Berlin and destroyed Nazism, but they truly thought they were the Chosen People and that pride showed in their architecture.
I wish I remembered the book that had all the photos in it.

[Moderator Note]
Thread title changed to reflect poster contributions since not all architecture depicted is "Nazi".

[Genji]

http://www.answers.com/topic/nazi-architecture

http://www.ihffilm.com/685.html

http://www.geocities.com/rr17bb/hitler.html

Some good links I found on my own!

[redarmy11]

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/7/7a/Neue_Reichskanzlei_exterior_color.jpg
Nice.

If it's photos you're looking for, Genji, try sifting
through these (http://www.google.co.uk/images?as_q=architecture&hl=en&output=images&svnum=10&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=&as_oq=hitler+nazi+reich&as_eq=&imgsz=&as_filetype=&imgc=&as_sitesearch=&safe=off) Google image search results.

[Genji]

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/7/7a/Neue_Reichskanzlei_exterior_color.jpg
Nice.

If it's photos you're looking for, Genji, try sifting
through these (http://www.google.co.uk/images?as_q=architecture&hl=en&output=images&svnum=10&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=&as_oq=hitler+nazi+reich&as_eq=&imgsz=&as_filetype=&imgc=&as_sitesearch=&safe=off) Google image search results.


WOW! Thanks RedArmy! This is what I was talking about. I love the style but not the Reich!

[G. F. Schleebenhorst]

That's one of those buildings that would look great new, but in 100 years time would just look dingy and crap.

[Carcano]

I'm thrilled the Soviets crushed Berlin and destroyed Nazism, but they truly thought they were the Chosen People and that pride showed in their architecture.
The 'master race' you mean...the jews were the 'chosen people'.

There was actually a big debate in Italy at the time of the renaissance about whether churches should adopt the old Roman architecture that was becoming popular again.

Not only was it pagan, it was also the embodiment of human pride...a grave sin in the eyes of the church.

[one_raven]

It's all very cold, dull and sterile.
No personality.
No charm.
No character.
It reeks of bureaucracy and distant, reaching power.
Exactly what the Third Reich would have been aiming for, so I think there were truly successful, but I most certainly would not call it beautiful at all.

I did love, however, that in the Goodle image search for Nazi Architecture, this image came up...
http://www.mouseshoppe.com/custom/Product/MickeyMouseClubSetPins250.gif

[alexb123]

Wasn't it the case that Hitler would have been an Architecture if he had not wanted to take over the world?

[Nikelodeon]

http://www.nyc-architecture.com/ARCH/ger-Welthauptstadt_Germania.jpg

http://www.nyc-architecture.com/ARCH/ger-81346290_edit.jpg

http://www.nyc-architecture.com/ARCH/ger-soldiers_hall1.jpg

[Carcano]

http://www.nyc-architecture.com/ARCH/ger-soldiers_hall1.jpg
Looks almost Egyptian with those huge monolithic pillars and flat roofs.

[Prince_James]

I always found it intriguing that Hitler chose a very pronounced Roman motiff, as opposed to any real semblance of Germanic Gothic architecture.

I think a combinational style would have reflected well the characteristics Hitler was invoking, as opposed to the pure Roman style that, though profundly evocative, nonetheless was lacking in connection to Germanic culture.

As far as I am aware, only Trier was a Roman city of importance in ancient Germany.

[The Conscious]

It's all very cold, dull and sterile.
No personality.
No charm.
No character.
It reeks of bureaucracy and distant, reaching power.
Exactly what the Third Reich would have been aiming for, so I think there were truly successful, but I most certainly would not call it beautiful at all.

I did love, however, that in the Goodle image search for Nazi Architecture, this image came up...


I think Genji is viewing the building as a work of unique futuristic appearance, whereas others may see a cold, sterile, power-centric and soulless architectural development. Culturally and socially, not to mention environmentally, it physically echoes the mentalities of the time, place.

[Carcano]

I always found it intriguing that Hitler chose a very pronounced Roman motiff, as opposed to any real semblance of Germanic Gothic architecture.

I think a combinational style would have reflected well the characteristics Hitler was invoking, as opposed to the pure Roman style that, though profundly evocative, nonetheless was lacking in connection to Germanic culture.

Trouble is, there is no Germanic architecture on a grand scale really.

The gothic style of the middle ages was a broad european and christian genre, not specifically germanic.

Obviously the fascist philosophy of the nazis has little to do with christianity.

It was also based on slow hand craftmanship, which doesnt fit the machine and tech based culture of the 20th century.

[Prince_James]

Carcano:

It is true that there is no explicitly Germanic architecture, yet at the same time, there was aspects of Gothic architecture that were found more prominently in Germany, as well as baroque architecture (see: Dresden) which was similarly Germanic-only in its characteristics.

However, you are quite right that Nazi Germany was heavily pagan in a Wagernian sense, so that the Romanesque characteristics fit heavily into this. Yet it would seem the Romanesque type of paganism is not the type he was going for. The German spirit is less classical, more Romantic.

[Genji]

That's one of those buildings that would look great new, but in 100 years time would just look dingy and crap.As opposed to modern US buildings slapped together with glass cubes and demolished in 25 years, to be replaced with another square tower of glass cubes.

[Genji]

http://www.nyc-architecture.com/ARCH/ger-Welthauptstadt_Germania.jpg

http://www.nyc-architecture.com/ARCH/ger-81346290_edit.jpg

http://www.nyc-architecture.com/ARCH/ger-soldiers_hall1.jpgExcept for the rightwing flags this architecture is beautiful. Compare it to any US skyline today. Glass towers designed to be demolished every other decade to be replaced by more glass towers. Absolutely zero character or quality involved.

[Prince_James]

Agreed. They are beautiful buildings and modern American architecture is nihilistic garbage.

[Genji]

Agreed. They are beautiful buildings and modern American architecture is nihilistic garbage.And that is sad because it wasn't always that way. Old Chicago, NYC, Boston and a smattering of other cities have managed to preserve some great architecture, most was destroyed and made into parking lots or the ticky tacky beige and glass cubes that are void of anything pleasing to the eye. Kansas City had spectacular German inspired architecture until the start of the 20th century. I have a book on Lost KC Architecture.
Instead of glorious buildings with thought, history and character taken into account we have boxes sheathed in the cheapest material available: Glass. The Sears Tower, The WTC and all US high rises built after 1960 look hideous. At least the Petronas Towers have some design.

[Prince_James]

Genji:

Agreed. There are practically no beautiful buildings built post-1940.

I also agree that the Petronas Towers are rather nice. Dubai, too, has some interesting designs, blending well with the Arab foundation for their architectural style.

[Genji]

Genji:

Agreed. There are practically no beautiful buildings built post-1940.

I also agree that the Petronas Towers are rather nice. Dubai, too, has some interesting designs, blending well with the Arab foundation for their architectural style.Even Tokyo and Taiwan use some imagination. It all comes down to expense and profit. The architecture, along with our history and culture pay the price.

[Carcano]

However, you are quite right that Nazi Germany was heavily pagan in a Wagernian sense, so that the Romanesque characteristics fit heavily into this. Yet it would seem the Romanesque type of paganism is not the type he was going for. The German spirit is less classical, more Romantic.
Interesting thing about Roman architecture is that it embodies both the masculine and feminine, unlike the later baroque styles derived from it.

Beauty, love, femininity...these baroque qualities wouldnt fit the nazi vision. They wanted something masculine, militaristic, domineering, angular, modern...and Albert Speer gave it to them.

[Carcano]

The sterility of modern architecture after 1940 is largely derived from the introduction of new building materials, which didnt have to be shaped by human hands and allowed the use of large uniform surfaces.

Modern glass for example was being made much stronger, so you could have a larger cheaper panes without facets and mullions.

Instead of bricks, individually set by a mason, it was now possible to simply pour massive concrete walls in place and just leave it unfinished.

Of course, a new aesthetic philosophy was neccessary to sell this new building technology to the public

Sterility was 'reinterpreted' as refined simplicity...elegant minimalism.

You can accomplish anything with the right buzzwords.:)

[Prince_James]

Genji:

I agree with you: We've placed profit over any semblance of aesthetics. This is destructive to our cultural life.

[Prince_James]

Carcano:

Whereas you are correct that the Roman style is suitable to many "hard" structures, a mix of Gothic and Baroque does not strike me as feminine. The fearsome majesty of Gothic, especially, seems especially apt to represent the religiosity of the Nazi movement, as well as its emphasis on soaring heights and massively ornated exteriors gives a semblance of conquering. Wed this to a replacement of religious imagery with militaristic, and one could have quite the structure devoted to that task.

[iam]

Wasn't it the case that Hitler would have been an Architecture if he had not wanted to take over the world?


No, a priest. Still, there is a connection. preaching, controlfreak, godwannabe.

[Prince_James]

Iam:

No, he was never to become a priest. It was an architect.

[pragmathen]

Wasn't it an artist? Or is architect lumped in with artist?

[Prince_James]

A mix of both. He was rejected from art school and told to pursue architecture. He failed to do either and got involved in WWI then politics.

[Roman]

Hitler pulled most of his imagery from imperial Rome, which is far more powerful than conjuring up images of barbarians, heathens, and ignorant clergy.

Gothic- for barbarians, by barbarians (with a healthy dose of the superstition)

[Prince_James]

Roman:

You fail to remember his obsession with Wagner, which was all about heathenry. Hitler was strongly Romantic. He even had pseudo-pagan ritual imagery sanctioned and supported.

[Roman]

Roman:

You fail to remember his obsession with Wagner, which was all about heathenry. Hitler was strongly Romantic. He even had pseudo-pagan ritual imagery sanctioned and supported.

Imperial buildings ought to appeal to the left hemisphere, while rhetoric to the right.

[Vega]

Hitler was a devout occultist too.

[DJ Erock]

I think one of the best things to come from Albrecht Speer's time as Nazi architect is the Berlin Olympic Stadium.

http://olympics.ballparks.com/1936Berlin/aerial.jpg
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/02/sports_stadiums/image/berlin.jpg
http://www.aarronwalter.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/DSCN2518.jpg

It's recently been through a major renovation that included the adding of a roof to prepare for hosting the 2006 world cup. The original design gave a very heavy and monumental feel, like most of nazi architecture. I don't feel like the roof really took that away much. The stadium has a feel of a modern day colliseum, including a place for the oppressed (the may-field, on which german youth were required to gather while Hitler spoke from the tower opposite the stadium) as well as a place for the 'emporer'. The thick columns surrounding the stadium give it the roman type look that Speer used so often.

[River Ape]

London has a rather fine Nazi building! (I used to live almost opposite it.) It has been described as "London's Number One example of Nazi architecture." It is said that Hitler had plans to make it his HQ after the invasion.
Google "Senate House London" for pictures and further information.

[Oli]

London has a rather fine Nazi building! (I used to live almost opposite it.) It has been described as "London's Number One example of Nazi architecture." It is said that Hitler had plans to make it his HQ after the invasion.
Google "Senate House London" for pictures and further information.

Art Deco is "Nazi architecture"?

[john smith]

No, thats a pretty ridicoulous paraody.

[Oli]

No, thats a pretty ridicoulous paraody.

Of?

Senate house is Art Deco...

[OilIsMastery]

You know you're bored when you spend time looking at Nazi architecture.

http://schikelgruber.net/tmp/pics/ahar14.jpg

http://www.dataphone.se/~ms/speer/mosaic2.jpg

http://blog.miragestudio7.com/wp-content/uploads2/2007/07/albert_speer_dome_domed_hall_hitler_architect2.jpg

[kmguru]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/Reichstagsgebaeude.jpg/800px-Reichstagsgebaeude.jpg

Reichstag building, Berlin

[kmguru]

http://germany.archiseek.com/brandenburg/berlin/images/marie_elisabeth_luders_building_lge.jpg

Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus, Berlin

Architect: Stephan Braunfels

OOps...these are German architecture...could not find anything between 1906 and 1956

[CheskiChips]

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1408/657131342_e4338f3015.jpg?v=0

[inzomnia]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/Reichstagsgebaeude.jpg/800px-Reichstagsgebaeude.jpg

Reichstag building, Berlin


I just took a photo in front of it last month:

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc247/x_inzomnia/SSA45232.jpg


Closer look of the building (the white thing on the grass is thin snow/ice):

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc247/x_inzomnia/SSA45223.jpg

[inzomnia]

This one is a memorial of the Jews cemetery (a kind of cemetery museum). It's just right next to the Brandenburger Tor (Berlin gate), few hundred meters from the previous building (Reichstag Bundestag / parlemen building).


http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc247/x_inzomnia/SSA45212.jpg

[inzomnia]

This one is not architecture from Nazi era, but it is also quite historical. The remaining of the paralel Berlin wall:

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc247/x_inzomnia/SSA45261.jpg

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc247/x_inzomnia/SSA45255.jpg

[inzomnia]

I love this one, it's very beautiful to me. Under the bridge, on the side of Berlin hauptbahnhof (Berlin central station). Not sure though, when was it built:

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc247/x_inzomnia/SSA45243.jpg

[John99]

nice pics.

[inzomnia]

Thanks, it's a romantic city to me :). I love the most the Brandenburger Tor:

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc247/x_inzomnia/SSA45205.jpg

http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc247/x_inzomnia/SSA45208.jpg

[inzomnia]

Actually Hitler was also meritorious for building the German autobahn (high-speed road / freeway):

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/03/16/world/europe/16autobahn.600.jpg

[inzomnia]

Nazi Construction (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_architecture):

* Atlantic Wall or Atlantikwall
* Autobahn
* Berghof
* Brown House or Braunes Haus
* Carinhall
* Congress Hall
* Deutsches Stadion
* Ehrentempel
* Flak Tower or Flakturm
* Fränkischer Hof
* Führerbau
* Führerbunker
* Gaubunker
* Gauhaus
* German Air Ministry
* Hall of Models
* House of German Art or Haus der Kunst
* Hitler Youth Clubhouse or Hitler-Jugend Heim
* Jena Brücke
* Königsplatz in Munich
* Eagles Nest or Kehlsteinhaus
* Nazi War Memorials
* Nazi party rally grounds
* Obersalzberg
* Olympic Stadium, Berlin
* Ordensburg Krössinsee
* Ordensburg Sonthofen
* Ordensburg Vogelsang
* Prora:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Panorama_KDF-Block.jpg

* Reich Chancellery or Reichskanzlei
* Soldatenhalle
* Tempelhof International Airport:

http://www.mimoa.eu/images/2323_l.jpg
* Thingplatz or Thingstätte
* Triumphal Arch
* Volkshalle:
http://www.zwoelf-apostel-berlin.de/images/fotos/601nordsuedachse01_395.jpg
* Winkeltürme
* Zeppelin Field or Zeppelinfeld

[kmguru]

Long ago, I went to "Technische Universität Darmstadt", but got home sick and left...it has a nice architecture

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/33/Darmstadt_TU_Stadtmitte.jpg

[inzomnia]

Oh, I've just noticed that the title of this thread is slightly changing.

Long ago, I went to "Technische Universität Darmstadt", but got home sick and left...it has a nice architecture

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/33/Darmstadt_TU_Stadtmitte.jpg


Yea, the building is quite old and beautiful. If you like old romantic building, you should visit Trier (http://images.google.de/images?um=1&hl=en&q=trier&btnG=Search+Images), it's an old but pretty city.

[inzomnia]

Post-WW2 German Architecture? Postdamer platz in Berlin:

http://www.berlin2009.com/files/berlin/potsdamer_platz.jpg

http://www.eveandersson.com/photos/germany/berlin-potsdamer-platz-buildings-large.jpg

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/Places/Images/berlin-2-potsdamer-platz-42-16424867-ga.jpg

[spidergoat]

Nazi architecture seemed excessively grandiose and impersonal, much like the furer himself.

[CheskiChips]

Much of the German culture at the time was focused around this quazi-philosophy that Humanity had conquered and became greater than nature.

The mix of natural-supremacy and modern efficiency was the architectural motto...so it seems.

However...I personally believe that artisanship (of any kind) supersedes the shallow notions of the time. The German philosophy was truly great, and truly Greek in many aspects.

[Lairdkeir]

Thanks for sharing your pics. That's a spectacular picture of the Thingplatz! I teach history here in Peking and created a site using the pics I took of Nazi architecture when I travelled around Germany if you're interested at "Traces of Evil"

[Acid Cowboy]

Except for the rightwing flags this architecture is beautiful. Compare it to any US skyline today. Glass towers designed to be demolished every other decade to be replaced by more glass towers. Absolutely zero character or quality involved.

I agree, except that the flags are actually left-wing. :cool: