History of GDR architecture

"Ready to work and to defend peace," says the sign hanging from wooden scaffolding along Berlin's Stalinallee in 1953. The construction of socialist Germany was also reflected in its buildings. Politics and architecture were inseparable in the GDR. Stalinallee (Stalin Boulevard) was a showcase project.

In the 1950s, under utmost secrecy, the GDR built a development complex for aircraft engines in Pirna near Dresden. A canteen building was added for the employees, crafted in post-war modernist style and equipped with a bright, sweeping staircase. Today, the building houses exclusive loft apartments.

Due to its proximity to West Berlin, planners in the young GDR wanted to reorganize rail links from Potsdam to the GDR. The solution was a railway ring around Berlin. Potsdam was given a tiered train station that included a functional reception hall and opened in 1958. It became Potsdam's main station before the Wall was built in 1961, but lost that function after political changes in the GDR.

The Lichtspieltheater der Jugend (youth movie theater) in Frankfurt an der Oder grew out of a UFA cinema in the mid-1950s and was expanded into a cultural center. Facade murals depict a "Trümmerfrau" (woman who helped reconstruct after the war) and a steelworker. The building was in operation until 1998. Since the construction of a modern multiplex cinema, it has clearly deteriorated.

The GDR built its new capital in the East of divided Berlin. By 1957, GDR architecture had returned to international modernism. Huge skyscrapers, often erected as prefabricated buildings, shot into the sky in the center. The television tower at Alexanderplatz, visible from afar, also announced the much-touted "victory of socialism."

The Haus der Elektronikindustrie (House of the Electronics Industry Building) and the Haus des Reisens (House of Travel) displayed the traditional forms of modernism in the East and were part of the larger GDR cityscape near Alexanderplatz in the eastern part of Berlin. Both buildings still stand today.

Up until German reunification, the House of Travel was the main headquarters of the GDR state travel organization and home to the Interflug train and flight offices. The building still captivates with beautiful details, such as the copper relief "Man Overcomes Time and Space" by Walter Womacka and the wave-like shapes above the pedestal. Today, it is protected as an historical monument.

The round cinema in Dresden, designed by the architects Manfred Fasold and Winfried Sziegoleit, was intended to add variety to Prager Strasse. Along the boulevard, destroyed during the war, angular block buildings dominated the scene after reconstruction. Housing two cinemas, the cylindrical building is considered one of the city's most important post-war modernist buildings.

The elegant, playful, shell-like shape of this music pavilion on Sassnitz's beach on the Baltic island of Rügen lends it a maritime feel. Architect Ulrich Müther (1934-2007) from Binz designed an outstanding example of East German beach and spa architecture. It is now a protected as an historical monument.

North of Rostock's Lange Straße, construction of a new development began in 1983 with the "Urban Concrete Slab, 83 Series," in which the architects reverted to historical building forms. With a little imagination, one is reminded of northern German brick buildings that include gables and eaves. Hans Engels captured this image and others for his book "GDR Architecture."