Built according to plans designed by Otto March, it was opened on 8 June 1913, on the occasion of Emperor Wilhelm II's silver jubilee, due to host the 1916 Summer Olympics that were cancelled after the outbreak of World War I.

From 1907 the terrain on the sandy Teltow plateau between the Heerstraße road and the Spree river, west of the then independent city of Charlottenburg, was leased to the Union-Klub horse racing organisation.

The aristocratic association had the Berliner Rennverein established to lay out a large race-course (Rennbahn Grunewald) at the site, designed by Otto March, which was inaugurated on 23 May 1909 in the presence of Emperor Wilhelm II (progressively arriving in a motor car) and his consort Augusta Victoria.

Even at this stage, the German government prepared for hosting Olympic Games, and March's plans already provided a large space within the 2,400 m (7,900 ft) circuit, accessible via a tunnel and suitable for the construction of a proposed stadium.

The public celebrations of Reich President Paul von Hindenburg's 80th birthday were held here on 2 October 1927; Adolf Hitler spoke at the stadium during his 1932 campaign trail on 27 June.

In 1920 the campus of a sports college (Deutsche Hochschule für Leibesübungen, DHfL), a branch of the Berlin Frederick William University initiated by Carl Diem and Theodor Lewald, was instituted in the premises of the swimming arena.