Rathaus Pankow

In the second half of the 19th Century, Pankow’s population grew by leaps and bounds to where there were 21,524 inhabitants by the year 1900. The community acquired the property in Breitestraße street in 1896. On 12 July 1901 the foundation stone was laid, and on 18 April 1903 the new town hall was officially dedicated at a banquet at which the wives of the invited dignitaries had to watch from the balcony. In addition to what were originally 90 offices, three conference rooms, and the official quarters of the mayor, the property today houses the town hall cellar and the civil registrar’s office, which were opened in the fall of 1902, six months before the official dedication.
 
Pankow architect Wilhelm Johow (1874-1960) won the architect’s competition to design town hall. The three-storey brick masonry structure contains diverse styles of architecture (eclecticism). It consists of red clinker and red sandstone on a foundation of Silesian granite. The roof of the town hall was originally fitted with copper, which was removed during the First World War, as it was a strategic war resource. The figure, “The Sower”, was sculpted by Pankow sculptor Viktor Burbott. The sandstone sculptures by Pankow sculptor Sponar on the tower-like ledges represent the civil virtues of justice, industriousness, honour and charity.
 
The town hall underwent several phases of remodelling and expansion. Rooms were added from 1908 to 1910 and also in 1919, and an east wing was added from 1918 to 1920 (architects: Carl Fenten and Rudolf Klante). From 1927 to 1930, an annex was completed on the west side (Rudolf Klante, Alexander Poetschke), which housed offices, an administration library, archives, the town bank and a police station. In 1937 roof tiles were replaced by slate and the town hall cellar was expanded. Various expansions and installations (elevator, for instance) were completed between 1952 and 1983, and in 1978 the copper was replaced on the town hall towers. In 1989 the stairwell were redesigned for the third time since 1903.
 
The civil registrar’s office was designed by architect and town planning councilor Ludwig Hoffmann (1852-1932), founder of Berlin’s municipal building projects. The civil registrar’s office had originally been housed in the center of Berlin (An der Fischerstraße 1A) in a building erected from 1899 to 1902 and torn down in 1974. In 1979 that building was totally refurbished and the partially completed civil registrar’s office was located in town hall. The oil paintings are by Ludwig von Hofmann (1861-1945), and the carved oak wall panels and the coffered roof are by Ernst Westphal (1851-1926).