Our first architecture walk after the long break took place on a wonderful sunny day of 8 October 2021. We visited only one single street: Chausseestraße, but it is amazing how many architectural treasures are located on this street! Chausseestraße is a major street in the center of Berlin in Mitte district). Stretching for 1.7 kilometers long, the street was one of the main crossing points between West Berlin and East Germany during the Cold War.

Our walk led to Berlin’s most famous cemetery of illustrious personalities of German culture, the “Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof”. Right next to the cemetery stands the Brecht-Haus: the last place where the famous author Bertolt Brecht and Helene Weigel lived and worked. Today, the site is home to the Literaturforum im Brecht-Haus, the Brecht-Weigel-Museum, and the Bertolt-Brecht-Archiv. Our guide, Mr. Meyer showed several of the famous Berliner „Hinterhöfe“ (courtyard). Interesting to know: the courtyards must have a radius of 12.5 m and may have a maximum height of 21 m. Thus they could be considered as high-rise buildings according to the building law. The height is measured from ground level to the upper floor surface of of the top storey that is suitable for residential purpose.

Other landmarks were the new, huge construction of the Headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst) and the Sapphire, the first residential project of Architect Liebeskind in central Berlin.