Stadtbad Charlottenburg

The Stadtbad Charlottenburg is a three-storey brick building in the Jugendstil style with some Historismus elements. It stands in Charlottenburg, its long north façade facing a park. The entrance is on Krumme Straße, where the building forms one unit with a later swimming hall added in 1974. Built in the 1880s, it was the second public bath in what later became Greater Berlin. Designed by city building councillor Paul Bratring and completed after three years, it opened to relieve pressure caused by rapid population growth. The original 25-metre pool was later fitted with a stainless-steel tub, and a chlorination plant was installed in 1923. Damaged by shellfire near the end of the Second World War, it reopened in 1946 and was restored in the mid-1970s. Inside, large porthole windows and round-arched openings let in daylight. A five-part mural on one gable shows scenes inspired by antiquity. Outside, glazed bricks and reliefs depict water plants and stylised fish. The roof is an open steel framework glazed to flood the hall with light. Today the building houses a modern sauna area and rooms used for physiotherapy and gymnastics.