Classicism reaches its climax in the work of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, friend and associate of Friedrich Gilly. Schinkel came to architecture from the theatre, having begun his career as a scene designer and romantic painter. In 1818 he was commissioned to build the new Schauspielhaus in Berlin as the centre of a grandiose new scheme of town planning. The facade is self-consciously monumental—an Ionic portico standing at the top of a steep flight of steps, flanked by wings on a rusticated basement with, rising behind it, another higher portico supporting a bronze quadriga. But the interior is more restrained; in the semi-circular auditorium the orders are conspicuously absent, decoration being pared down to flat panels, medallion heads and similar motifs. The left-hand wing of the building formed a smaller concert-room so cool and chaste that it could easily be a sculpture hall in his own nearby museum. Schinkel built no more theatres, but his thoughts on the subject continued to develop and to influence later architects. He came to believe in a much plainer setting, with the stage projecting into the auditorium.

In: Tidworth, Simon : Theatres: An Illustrated History. London 1973 p. 154

The building was destroyed in the year 1945 and reopened in the year 1984. It is particularly renowned for its sensitive placement in terms of urban planning into the surroundings as well as for its unprecedented integrity. A monumental staircase crowned with Ionic columns is the most prominent feature. Apart from the theatre hall, the building also contains a concert hall.

Author: Simon Tidworth