City Hall Schöneberg

City Hall Schöneberg

The town hall building

The building was constructed between 1911 and 1914 according to plans by architects Jürgensen and Bachmann. The old town hall on the former Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz had become too small for the populous Schöneberg.
The town hall tower originally had a height of 80 meters, but was badly damaged during World War II. It was subsequently rebuilt in a simplified form. Since 1950, it has housed the “Liberty Bell” donated by American citizens. Today it still rings daily at 12:00 noon for two minutes.

Political center of West Berlin

For decades, the City Hall was at the center of world political events. During the years of division, it housed the Schöneberg district office as well as the House of Representatives of West Berlin and the Berlin Senate. From 1949 to 1991, the city hall was the workplace of the governing mayors, including Willy Brandt. Since 2001, it has served as the seat of the district mayors of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. It also houses the district assembly and the district office.

John-F.-Kennedy-Platz

Until 1963, the square in front of the city hall was called Rudolph-Wilde-Platz, named after the first mayor of Schöneberg.
After the assassination of American President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, the square was renamed in his honor. Kennedy had given his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech on the square just a few months earlier. He spoke before 450,000 people at the time. His beautifully carved lectern still stands on the second floor in the John F. Kennedy Room.

• The town hall houses the free permanent exhibition “We were neighbors”, which tells about the fates of murdered Schöneberg Jews.
• The restaurant in the Ratskeller is a popular film location, among other things, some scenes of the cult series “Babylon Berlin” were shot here
• On October 1, 2017, the first same-sex marriage in Germany took place at the Schöneberg registry office
• The fountain in the adjacent Rudolph Wilde Park is considered a special (wedding) photo backdrop: the golden stag set up is also Schöneberg’s heraldic animal.