Komponistenviertel
Composers’ Quarter
The description of this residential neighborhood, which dates back to the second half of the 19th century, is derived from the names of the streets.
Around 1870, the community of Weissensee, which at the time was not yet part of Berlin, embarked on ambitious housing projects. With the Berliner Alexanderplatz being only six kilometers away it meant that buildings at this location would be very profitable. Entrepreneur Ernst Gäbler (1812-1876) founded a „Building Company for Mid-Level Apartments“ and in 1872 developed a residential neighborhood south of Königschaussee (Berliner Allee) between Antonplatz and Lichtenberger Strasse (Indira-Gandhi-Straße). The streets were named after French regions and towns for the purpose of glorifying the German-French War of 1870-71. The residential quarter was first called the French Quarter. In 1951 these streets were given the names of composers such as Bizet, Borodin, Gounod, Mahler, Meyerbeer, Puccini, Rossini and Smetana. From then on, the quarter was referred to as the composers’ quarter. In 1962, Chopinstrasse was added, and in 1998 Arnold-Schönberg-Platz was established. There were exceptions in the naming of streets, such as Herbert Baum (1912-1942, murdered Jewish anti-fascist resistance fighter) and Otto Brahm (1856-1912, Jewish native of Berlin, literary historian, critic and head of the German Theater), as well as a square named after Markus Reich (1844-1911, Jewish Berlin educator). In 1880 Berlin’s Jewish Community inaugurated its new Jewish cemetery of Weissensee on Lothringenstrasse (Herbert-Baum-Strasse) south of the French Quarter (Composers’ Quarter).