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Hitler used architecture as another avenue to advance the power of the state. Nazi buildings were designed to intimidate and overwhelm. Architects like Albert Speer, Hermann Giesler, and Fritz Todt worked on projects that used stark facades with columns, pilasters, and clean lines on a massive scale to create a new aesthetic. Like the Fascist "New Man," this new building style would exude power and domination. Anyone who ventured into one of these buildings would see in their size the irresistible wealth and power of the Third Reich. Berlin was to become "Germania," a city to dominate the world. It needed monuments. In their greatest flight of fancy, Hitler's architects created a model of this new city, one with public buildings on a scale never seen, to celebrate the power of the German state. Though this massive project never succeeded, many buildings survive that show the unique tendencies of the regime. In Nuremberg, seat of the Nazi party, the rally grounds show the particular style of intimidation architecture found throughout the party's building efforts. Images of the New Reich Chancellery demonstrate deliberate attempts to use architecture to intimidate foreign diplomats. Other buildings not representative of the Nazi style nonetheless reference Nazi aims by glorifying both the Teutonic past and rural culture. Always, Nazi architects worked to ensure that their buildings served the purposes of the regime. Influenced by classical Greece and Rome, they cultivated an aesthetic of order, using minimal decoration and emphasizing straight lines.
Perhaps the most archetypical of Nazi buildings was the New Reich Chancellery in Berlin. The building housed administrative offices for senior officials of every branch of the Nazi regime. This building, designed by Albert Speer, was the nerve center of the government. Speer and Hitler agreed that this building needed to be impressive and intimidating, and wanted it to express Nazi ideals of order and strength. The Chancellery, actually an extension to the Kaiser-era Reichskanzlei, displayed all the features that have since come to be associated with the Nazi architectural style. The Voss-strasse entrance, seen below, used high columns and massive doors (topped with an eagle) to create an awe-inspiring entrance to the seat of Nazi power. (Speer Architecture). The long facade, noticeably lacks decoration. There are no columns or statues, only rows of windows, evenly aligned. These parallel rows, with small stone ridges running along them, emphasize the formal element of line. There is nothing exciting happening on this facade, no writhing sculptures or twisting baroque decorations. Instead, Speer's design focuses on line. Nothing pushes against the lines and nothing curves. There is no opposition in row after row of horizontal lines, only order. Speer's design reinforces the Nazi ideal of order, leaving no space for dissent. Everything is totally controlled.
Hitler used architecture as another avenue to advance the power of the state. Nazi buildings were designed to intimidate and overwhelm. Architects like Albert Speer, Hermann Giesler, and Fritz Todt worked on projects that used stark facades with columns, pilasters, and clean lines on a massive scale to create a new aesthetic. Like the Fascist "New Man," this new building style would exude power and domination. Anyone who ventured into one of these buildings would see in their size the irresistible wealth and power of the Third Reich. Berlin was to become "Germania," a city to dominate the world. It needed monuments. In their greatest flight of fancy, Hitler's architects created a model of this new city, one with public buildings on a scale never seen, to celebrate the power of the German state. Though this massive project never succeeded, many buildings survive that show the unique tendencies of the regime. In Nuremberg, seat of the Nazi party, the rally grounds show the particular style of intimidation architecture found throughout the party's building efforts. Images of the New Reich Chancellery demonstrate deliberate attempts to use architecture to intimidate foreign diplomats. Other buildings not representative of the Nazi style nonetheless reference Nazi aims by glorifying both the Teutonic past and rural culture. Always, Nazi architects worked to ensure that their buildings served the purposes of the regime. Influenced by classical Greece and Rome, they cultivated an aesthetic of order, using minimal decoration and emphasizing straight lines.
Perhaps the most archetypical of Nazi buildings was the New Reich Chancellery in Berlin. The building housed administrative offices for senior officials of every branch of the Nazi regime. This building, designed by Albert Speer, was the nerve center of the government. Speer and Hitler agreed that this building needed to be impressive and intimidating, and wanted it to express Nazi ideals of order and strength. The Chancellery, actually an extension to the Kaiser-era Reichskanzlei, displayed all the features that have since come to be associated with the Nazi architectural style. The Voss-strasse entrance, seen below, used high columns and massive doors (topped with an eagle) to create an awe-inspiring entrance to the seat of Nazi power. (Speer Architecture). The long facade, noticeably lacks decoration. There are no columns or statues, only rows of windows, evenly aligned. These parallel rows, with small stone ridges running along them, emphasize the formal element of line. There is nothing exciting happening on this facade, no writhing sculptures or twisting baroque decorations. Instead, Speer's design focuses on line. Nothing pushes against the lines and nothing curves. There is no opposition in row after row of horizontal lines, only order. Speer's design reinforces the Nazi ideal of order, leaving no space for dissent. Everything is totally controlled.
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