New Town Hall (Bremen)
Located behind the Unser-Lieben-Frauen-Kirchhof cemetery, it is adjacent to the older section of the Town Hall with which it forms a harmonious ensemble.
In 1891, Franz Schütte, the so-called "petroleum king" of Bremen, proposed replacing the Stadthaus with a more representative building.
Another limited architectural competition in 1907/08 resulted in the selection of a proposal from the Munich architect Gabriel von Seidl.
The finish consisted of clinker bricks from Oldenburg and Muschelkalk limestone from Bavaria while Obernkirchen sandstone was used for the interior.
In the middle of the roof, there is a small ridge turret crowned by a Fortuna sculpted in gilt bronze and designed by Georg Roemer.
To the left, the three-storey glass façade with five bays contains a proclamation window which it was customary to include in old town halls but was more symbolic than practical.
In accordance with Hanseatic practice, a Neoclassical triangular gable bears a globe in the form of an armillary sphere, designed by Georg Roemer.
Julius Seidler and Fidelis Enderle from Bavaria executed the work on the main and Grasmarkt façades while, on the insistence of the Senate, those on the other walls were created by the Bremen artist Heinrich Erlewein.
Gabriel von Seidl used biblical subjects for the five double windows on the cathedral side, from left to right: Adam and Eve's Fall from Grace, Susanna in the Bath, Abraham with Sarah and Hagar, David fighting Goliath, King Ahab with Jezebel and Naboth.
The mayor's window on the left is decorated with mythological birds representing the qualities of Jesus Christ: the owl for wisdom, the eagle for strength, the pelican for love, and the phoenix for rebirth.
The façades are also decorated with various figures and ornaments such as four children playing with domestic animals, the staff of Mercury, the trident of Neptune for trade and shipping, two playing angels on the Domshof architrave, squirrels nibbling at the national property, a lion killing a basilisk, several lions with rings in their mouths, one with the key from the Bremen coat of arms, several other animals, a siren tempting sailors and a man with a shield.
The sculptors Max Josef Rebhan and Hermann Lüdecke crafted the stuccoed ceilings and related work.
Alfred Glaser from Munich created the children's frieze, some of the other ornaments in the entrance hall and a wooden sculpture of Abundantia, the goddess of (Bremen's) abundance.
Georg Roemer created a relief depicting Archbishop Giselbert while Johann Rode produced copper casts of two members of the council, the "Vergangenheit und Zukunft" (Past and Future) sculpture in the Great Hall, and a mirror in a gilt carved frame with figures.
Fritz von Miller (Munich) designed a light fixture donated by the Bremer Wollkämmerei consisting of two whale jaws in the entrance hall.
The Entrance Hall (Wandelhalle) on the ground floor displays an oil painting by Alexander Kirchner depicting the first east–west flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1928 by the Junkers W 33 plane Bremen.
The richly decorated Upper Lobby (Obere Wandelhalle) leads to the mayor's rooms on the cathedral side of the building.
A white stucco ceiling, dark red damask wallpaper, large 17th-century portraits and crystal chandeliers contribute to the character of the room.
