Berlin – 1890 and 2018

Posted on 02/11/2019 by Wirecutter

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15 Responses to Berlin – 1890 and 2018

  1. Brad says:
    02/11/2019 at 12:02

    I believe many of those buildings from the 1890s might have been surgically removed by our Mighty 8th Air Force sometime around 1943-45…

    Reply
    • Wirecutter says:
      02/11/2019 at 12:46

      I don’t know about surgically removed, I’m thinking more like systematically destroyed.
      I’ve been to West Berlin before, right about 1975 and it was a thoroughly modern city, hardly any old structures at all.

      Reply
  2. UH1H CE says:
    02/11/2019 at 12:57

    I’m guessing that hosting a world war in your capital tends to rush the urban renewal and modernization stuff and dispense with the historical preservation.

    Reply
  3. fritz says:
    02/11/2019 at 13:15

    Every time they do some construction they find old bombs and bodies.

    Vae victis

    Reply
  4. Burt says:
    02/11/2019 at 13:23

    A neighbor who grew up in Leipzig told me that after the war they had a choice whether to rebuild the city with the “old look” (narrow streets, little open space) or the “new look” (expansive streets, lots of open space. The “old” won out because the original sewer system was buried so deep into the ground there was little/no damage from the bombing and they felt they could get the city restored faster and at less cost by keeping the old sewers. Reminds me of my German grandfather: the 3 1/2 story house he built on the East Coast at the end of the nineteenth century still looks as good as when he built it.

    Reply
  5. robert smith says:
    02/11/2019 at 13:33

    just perhaps the 60 train loads a day of russian arty ammo may have had an effect also.

    Reply
  6. Daryl says:
    02/11/2019 at 14:28

    I suppose some old bombardier looked at that picture and wondered “How the fuck did I miss that one?”

    Reply
    • Wirecutter says:
      02/11/2019 at 14:31

      That church? They didn’t miss. That’s the Kaiser Wilhelm church and that steeple is the only thing left standing and it’s just a shell. It’s now a memorial to the bombing.

      Reply
  7. Buzz D. says:
    02/11/2019 at 14:31

    Gotta love the SANYO sign. Progress???

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  8. arc says:
    02/11/2019 at 16:09

    Looks so much better in 1920, all the buildings had architecture and class. Now they all look like big, dumb, ugly boxes.

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  9. Padawan says:
    02/11/2019 at 18:28

    I prefer the 1890.

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    • MadMarlin says:
      02/11/2019 at 18:58

      I agree. I’ve always wanted to tour Europe. I especially would like to see the Alps region. Books and internet will have to do though

      Reply
  10. ChuckN says:
    02/11/2019 at 19:42

    Well, the architecture surely didn’t improve.

    Reply
  11. Rickvid in Seattle says:
    02/11/2019 at 22:41

    1890: rich human style, architecture, grace. 2018: Resistance is futile.

    Reply

Play nice.