Rathaus Mitte, Municipal administration building in Berlin-Mitte, Germany
Rathaus Mitte is a 14-storey concrete office tower on Berolinastrasse, behind the Kino International, not directly on Karl-Marx-Allee. Architects BHPS (Bassenge, Heinrich, Puhan-Schulz) gave it two base storeys, a top storey and a basement, with slip-formed stiffening cores and a glazed stairwell. Window and concrete bands of the curtain façade run parallel to the avenue. A rear pavilion with large windows holds the district assembly hall.
This building was completed in 1998 as Berlin's first new city hall constructed after German reunification. It replaced the former Hotel Berolina that previously occupied the site.
Inside the Rathaus Mitte is the Kunstgalerie Berolina, which organizes regular exhibitions; in May and June 2021 it showed works by artists with disabilities. The gallery is named after the Berolina hotel that stood on the site until its demolition.
Despite its address, the building does not stand directly on Karl-Marx-Allee but behind the Kino International on Berolinastraße. It houses one of the district's three Bürgerämter, so visits for registration and official paperwork should be booked in advance. The rear pavilion, behind large windows, holds the hall of the district assembly.
The building is only rented: owner Trigon Invest sold it in early 2018 for 87.4 million euros to Union Investment, and the district's rent rose 54.5 percent to 13.50 euros per square metre from 1 March 2018. A concrete sculpture, Der Ratgeber by Christine Gersch, was unveiled beside the main entrance in March 1998.
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