Bank buildings | Deutsche Bank
The double portrait of the two ministry buildings in Berlin’s Mauerstrasse shows the nucleus and later headquarters of Deutsche Bank in what was then the German Reich. House 1 on the left was built to replace the previous Union Bank building. This was taken over by Deutsche Bank and from 1883 the architect Wilhelm Martens built the new headquarters here, which extended over the entire block until 1902. Building 2, on the right side of the panorama, was built in 1908-1910, also according to plans by Wilhelm Martens, as an extension to the Deutsche Bank complex.
Schwibbogen – connecting bridge
Also in 1910, Wilhelm Martens had two identical, single-storey covered arch bridges built over Französische Strasse to connect the two houses. They are each supported at the sides by two atlases symbolising the four elements of water, fire, air and earth. After the end of the Second World War, one of the two bridges had to be demolished. The remaining bridge is popularly known as the Schwibbogen.
Hence Martens created, in the central Friedrichstadt area, the centre of Berlin’s banking district – in late historicist style with references to Italian Baroque (in House 2).
Subsequent use after 1945
The destruction to both buildings was restored by architect Franz Ehrlich during early GDR times, in a partly simplified and modified form. The complex was then used by the GDR Ministry of the Interior. After reunification, various federal authorities used the building. From 2016, numerous scenes from the series ‘Babylon Berlin’ were filmed in the complex, including during the subsequent refurbishment. From 2017 to 2023, both buildings were finally renovated as modern ministry buildings.
BMG and BMFSFJ
In the meantime, both buildings have been renovated by the construction companies Hochtief and Zech Bau according to a design concept by the architects KSP Engel. The Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) has moved into Building 1 and the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ) into Building 2.
Image editing and manipulation
Our panoramic portrait of both buildings was commissioned by the construction companies. It stretches from Behrenstraße on the left across House 1, the bridge over Französische Straße, then House 2, to Jägerstraße with the Landesvertretung Hamburg (Hamburg State Representation) on the right-hand edge of the picture. However, the street front of House 2 is set back a few metres from House 1, which would normally have meant that House 2 would have appeared unrealistically small in our streetline representation. In order to compensate for this effect and to portray both buildings next to each other in a realistic size, the connecting bridge and its connection to house 1 were slightly manipulated accordingly. In addition, an older, almost identical view of both buildings before the refurbishment from 2017 was created (see detailed images). If you look closely and know the building situation, you can discover a second manipulation. At the front of House 1, to the right of the main entrance at the level of the first floor, there is another building bridge over Mauerstrasse. This was concealed in both panoramas as a walled-up area.
Our archive contains further (unedited) raw images of the building fronts along Behrenstrasse and Glinkastrasse at the rear.
