Rathaus Schöneberg, City hall in Schöneberg, Berlin, Germany
Rathaus Schöneberg is a sandstone building with a dark hipped roof and a 70 m clock tower at its left corner, its two round clock faces above a row of small vertical openings. The main wing runs right with evenly spaced rectangular windows over several floors, a lower wing continues farther right, and a "Flohmarkt" sign stands near the entrance below the tower. Inside, a two-tiered wooden bookcase with a carved balustrade and a fourteen-bulb circular chandelier furnish the panelled hall.
Rathaus Schöneberg was built between 1911 and 1914 to designs by Peter Jürgensen and Jürgen Bachmann, replacing the old town hall of the then independent city of Schöneberg. From 1949 it served as the seat of the West Berlin senate and Governing Mayor until 1991, and the Berlin House of Representatives met here until 1993. Since the 2001 borough reform it has been the town hall of Tempelhof-Schöneberg.
The Freedom Bell in the tower was a gift from the United States and was handed over on 21 October 1950. It hangs in the rebuilt tower, whose clock faces and vertical openings are visible from John-F.-Kennedy-Platz. The bell is rung daily at noon, and its inscription calls for freedom throughout the world.
The main entrance with the Kennedy memorial plaque faces John-F.-Kennedy-Platz, and the building is served by the U-Bahn station Rathaus Schöneberg on line U4. The council chamber and the exhibition hall hosting "Wir waren Nachbarn" can be visited during opening hours; the tower itself is not open to the public.
The room above the main entrance, overlooking John-F.-Kennedy-Platz, is dedicated to Kennedy's 1963 visit, and a large memorial plaque stands on a column at the entrance. The square was renamed John-F.-Kennedy-Platz three days after his assassination, when several thousand Berliners gathered there at night.
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