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| A woman builder makes repairs to the roof of Berlin's town hall (1910) |
As a matter of fact I went to Berlin at a very interesting historical moment. Since 1870, when Berlin had changed from the rather small, sober, and by no means rich capital of the Kingdom of Prussia into the seat of the German Emperor, the homely town on the Spree had taken a mighty upswing. But the leadership in artistic and cultural matters had not yet fallen to it. [...] But ofrecent years, with the rapid economic rise in Berlin, a new page had turned.
It was just at this period of its transition from a mere capital to a world city that I went to Berlin. Coming after the lush beauty of Vienna, inherited from great ancestors, the first impression was rather disappointing. The exodus to the West End, where the new architecture was soon to become manifest as against the pretentious houses of the Tiergarten quarter, had but just begun, and the architecturally tedious Friedrichstrasse and Leipzigerstrasse, with their clumsy ostentation, were still the centre of the city. Suburbs such as Wilmersdorf, Nicolassee, and Steglitz were only accessible by a tiresome journey on the street cars, and it was almost an expedition in those days to reach the lakes of the Mark with their sharp beauty. Other than the old Unter den Linden there was no real centre, no promenade like our Graben and, thanks to the old Prussian thrift, there was no suggestion of general elegance. [...] In every detail one felt the closefistedness of Frederician husbandry. The coffee was thin and bad because every bean was counted, the food was unimaginative, without strength or savour. Cleanliness and rigid and accurate order reigned everywhere instead of our musical rhythm of life.