Lessing Theater

The Lessing Theatre stood on a narrow riverside plot in Berlin’s Mitte district, once occupied by Circus Krembser. It opened in 1888 and was designed by architects Hermann von der Hude and Julius Hennicke in a Renaissance Revival style. The building faced the Spree on one side and the Stadtbahn viaduct on the other, its angled site making the layout unusual. A cupola hid the neighbouring firewall, while a portico turned the street corner into a small vestibule. The triangular gardens at the front were enclosed by lattice gates, and the rear yard served as a delivery courtyard. Horse-drawn trams passed directly outside, linking the theatre to every part of the city. The theatre was the first new playhouse built in Berlin since 1864, financed for about 900,000 Mark. Oscar Blumenthal, its first director, commissioned the building in less than a year. The opening night featured Lessing’s Nathan the Wise, performed in a hall shaped like a stretched semicircle with a radius of 18.46 metres. The auditorium held 1,170 seats across stalls, two galleries and 18 boxes along the walls. The rococo interior was mainly white and gold, with bronze rear walls and blue silk curtains. The stage measured 20 by 18.33 metres, allowing six set changes, and rose 18 metres to the fly system. Visitors entered through a vestibule with three doors and a roof to shield arriving carriages. The main lobby measured 15.40 by 9.00 metres, with ticket counters on either side and doors to the balconies. A separate foyer above the lobby offered space for prominent guests, measuring 9.45 by 15.60 metres and 6.80 metres high. The stalls had 350 seats in 17 rows, while the first gallery provided 140 box seats and the second gallery held 316 rows plus standing room for 70. Dressing rooms lined the side additions, with management offices on the third floor and storage above.