In one of those marvellous moments of serendipity, I chanced upon another excellent Rathaus (City Hall) today – just a day or so after exploring the interior of the Rathaus Charlottenburg for the first time.
This time it was Rathaus Wedding, a completely different structure from Charlottenburg – 1930s Neue Sachlichkeit rather than 1890s Neo-Gothic – but still very eye-catching from the outside. I walked inside the lobby and blam: an unexpectedly grandiose scene dominated by gleaming, colourful ceramics.
The rest of the building didn’t quite match up to that first impression – to say the least. The fairly featureless corridors, decorated here and there with signs warning against the possession and consumption of alcohol on the premises, seemed almost solely inhabited by the unemployed, addicted and/or homeless, an under-privileged class that Wedding seems to have a surfeit of.
Before leaving, I used the bathroom – only to find a couple (male/female) apparently using one of the cubicles to jack up. All in all an interesting sociological experience, though perhaps a quick peep at the lobby is enough if you’re passing by…
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