The Kroll Opera House (German: Krolloper, Kroll-Oper) in Berlin, Germany, was in the Tiergarten district on the western edge of the Königsplatz square (today Platz der Republik), facing the Reichstag building.
The King was impressed by the splendid, flower-decorated rooms and suggested that something similar should be initiated in Berlin to become the social hub for the nobility in the Prussian residence.
After a consultation with his garden director, Peter Joseph Lenné and other members of the government, the king presented an order from the cabinet dated 19 August 1842, which specified the building site on the west side of the parade ground in the Großer Tiergarten park, and laid out the conditions: Kroll was able to use the property without charge, but he would have to return the land and demolish any structures he had built if the project failed.
The plans for the new building came from the court architect Friedrich Ludwig Persius, which was a good indicator of the significance that the project had for Frederick William IV, co-working with Carl Ferdinand Langhans and Eduard Knoblauch.
Here, among others, Auguste's protégé Albert Lortzing directed his operas Undine, Der Waffenschmied (The Armourer) and Zar und Zimmermann.
The operation of the new Theatre and Opera Company was suddenly disrupted on 1 February 1851, when the curtains were accidentally set on fire while lamps were being lit.
But Auguste Kroll didn't let that stop her; she encashed the fire insurance sum and on 24 February 1852, the theatre already reopened in a completely new building.
One of the creditors, the entrepreneur Heinrich Bergmann, took over the insolvent operation and brought in well known musicians including Jacques Offenbach for one of his first guest appearances in Berlin.
Although the company was still weighed down by debt, Engel was beaming with optimism, and attempted to bring the Berliners back into his establishment in droves with a diverse program – albeit only with moderate success.
In addition, the former parade ground had been refurbished and named Königsplatz ("King's Square") by 18 December 1864, the gardens were redone, and later plans were made for a series of monuments to honour the Prussian victories from 1864-71.
"[1] An 1893 account[2] of attending an opera there written by American pianist Emily McKibbin: "Tuesday, June 27th, 1893...in the evening went to hear Marcelle Lembuch [or Lenebuch?]
Works by young composers like Igor Stravinsky and Gustav Mahler were performed here, but also popular concerts given by Enrico Caruso and operettas like Die Fledermaus.
After the war the authorities of the Free State of Prussia were unable to finance the reconstruction, which was finally carried out by the Volksbühne theatre company according to the plans of a Volksoper ("People's Opera") designed by Oskar Kaufmann.
On 1 January 1924 the building was re-opened again as the Oper am Königsplatz, the second home of the Berlin State Opera, with Erich Kleiber conducting Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
During Klemperer's term the house saw world premières as Hindemith's Neues vom Tage in 1929 and Schönberg's Begleitungsmusik zu einer Lichtspielscene in 1930.
He worked with renowned conductors like Alexander von Zemlinsky and directors like Gustaf Gründgens, as well as Caspar Neher, László Moholy-Nagy, Teo Otto, Oskar Schlemmer and Giorgio de Chirico as stage designers.
On 23 March 1933, the majority of the Reichstag delegates in the Kroll Opera House disempowered themselves passing the Enabling Act that gave Adolf Hitler virtually unlimited authority.
The grandiose plans of Welthauptstadt Germania, prepared by Albert Speer for Hitler, included the demolition of the Kroll Opera House and its replacement by a sumptuous "Führer's Palace", which would have stood on the western side of a "Großer Platz" with an area of around 350,000 m2 (3,800,000 sq ft).
The last session of the Reichstag was held in the Kroll Opera House on 26 April 1942, passing a decree proclaiming Hitler "Supreme Judge of the German People", allowing him to override the judiciary and administration in all matters.
In 1942, the building once again was the site of several performances of the Berlin State Opera, after the Staatsoper Unter den Linden was destroyed in an air raid.