Haus Vaterland
[5] At the northern end, facing the square, was a circular pavilion topped by a copper dome rising 35 metres above the pavement, with a row of Attic statues beneath it;[6] this was essentially a recreation of the mausoleum of the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great in Ravenna.
[7] Behind it, a long, narrow section in a simplified Wilhelmine architectural style, with a mansard roof, extended some 100 metres alongside the Potsdamer Bahnhof.
[7][8] Operated by Heinrich Braun,[9][10] it was an attraction comparable to the Moulin Rouge in Paris,[11] drawing "white collar workers, business people and tourists" by day, "amusement seekers, restaurant and variety patrons and also prostitutes" at night.
[13][15][n 1] Haus Potsdam became less successful during the 1920s, and in 1927 was sold to the Bank für Handel und Grundbesitz, which leased it for ten years to the Kempinski family of restaurateurs.
[16][17][n 2] In 1928, the building was reopened as Haus Vaterland, based on an idea by Leo Kronau, who had visited Coney Island in New York and wanted to emulate the international attractions in the amusement parks there and improve on Berlin's own imitation, Lunapark.
[19] The architect for the conversion, Carl Stahl-Urach, the architect for Fritz Lang's Doctor Mabuse films,[n 3] modernised the exterior by applying stucco and in particular by wiring the domed section to be illuminated at night as an example of Architecture of the Night (Architektur der Nacht) or Light Architecture (Licht-Architektur)[9] which also emulated Coney Island lighting effects.
[20] The lettering around the rotunda was illuminated, and approximately 4,000 bulbs arranged in intersecting arcs on the dome turned on and off to create the illusion of spinning motion.
[24][25] While the main shows took place in the ballroom,[26] each theme restaurant also had musicians of the appropriate origins on staff to complete the dining experience, including at least six dance bands.
[30] It was an enormous and popular establishment,[31] and like Haus Potsdam before it, is frequently alluded to in both artistic and tourist contexts, for example in Irmgard Keun's 1932 novel Das kunstseidene Mädchen (The Artificial Silk Girl).
[29] A 1936 French film, Les Loups entre eux (English title: The Sequel to Second Bureau), features scenes in Haus Vaterland, including "the Horst Wessel song booming from the loud-speaker".
In 1947, Café Vaterland was reopened in an acclaimed gesture of will to rebuild the city, and in 1948 the Communist cabaret Frischer Wind was playing there,[38] while because of its position on the sector lines, it was a hotbed of spying, flight from the East, and black marketing in currency and goods.
[29] In 1966 Der Spiegel described the desolation of the Potsdamer Platz during those years, with birch trees growing out of the rubble of what had been the busiest traffic intersection in Europe and kestrels nesting in the ruin of Haus Vaterland and hunting rats which emerged from locked S-Bahn entrances.
[3] It was one of five Berlin cinemas Sydney Clark recommended to the American tourist in 1933 as worth seeing (the others being the Titania-Palast, the UFA-Palast am Zoo, the Primus-Palast and the Phoebus Palast).
[54] Guests sampled the new wine looking out at the steeple of St. Stephen's cathedral against a starry sky, and a tram with interior lights lit crossed the bridge over the Danube.
[55] The Rheinterrasse (Rhine terrace) on the third floor in the circular section of the building, had a diorama to give the illusion of sitting outdoors overlooking the river between Sankt Goar and the Lorelei rock.
[54] Hourly thunderstorms were created by lighting and sound effects; one American visitor reputedly "beam[ed] like a movie theater façade on Broadway" when told about this.
[20] The Löwenbräu, across from the Türkisches Café on the fourth floor, emulated a Bavarian bierkeller and looked out on a painted view of the Zugspitze, behind which diners could watch the sun set.
Sidney Bechet played there in the early 1930s, with "The McAllan Blackband", which was led by the Somali-German drummer William 'Willi' Mac Allan, and the "Tom Bill Nigger Band".
