ABSTRACT
The Kroll-Oper was located to the northwest of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and near the German parliament, on the square known as the Platz der Republik. Designed by the architects Ludwig Persius, Carl Ferdinand Langhans — architect of the Brandenburg Gate — and Eduard Knoblauch, the building was constructed between 1843 and 1844. The Kroll-Oper was situated at the heart of Berlin’s cultural life for almost four decades, not only as a result of its prestigious location near the Reichstag, but also because it variously functioned, from 1896 onwards, as the Neues Konigliches Opernhaus. Corresponding to the spatial layout of the auditorium, in which the upper stalls were located above the central hall, the ground floor of the Kroll-Oper’s gastronomic wing was predominantly dedicated to utility rooms and the operational facilities of the restaurant. In early 1927, the new owners of the Kroll-Oper, the Preubische Bau- und Finanzdirektion commissioned the architect to create a grand ballroom for 5,000 people.
