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Architecture & History
The buildings on the GLS campus display different architectures, all reflecting German history:
The oldest building dates as far back as 1867, the youngest was built ca. 40 years ago:
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German Reich
1871 - 1918 |
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1867
... the oldest house on campus is built - meant to serve as a school.
4 years later Bismarck founds the "German Reich".
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GLS: The old school, now housing studio appartments |
World War I
1914 - 1918 |
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1918
World War I comes to end and and with it the German Monarchy.
The old brick building in Kastanienallee continues to be used as a school.
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GLS: Stairway in the former school |
Weimar Republik
1919 - 1933 |
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1930
... the school gets an additional building.
The style now is a different one: strict, bulky and monumental.
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GLS: The second house on campus, 30ies "classicism" |
Nazi Years
1933 - 1945 |
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1945
During World War II the neighbourhood is bombed.
The houses on campus are only slightly affected and are used again as a school immediately after the war.
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GLS: Basement, used as a bomb shelter in WW II |
Founding of communist GDR in 1949 |
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1949 ...
... the school starts to belong to a different state: to the newly founded communist GDR.
Whatever is built from now on, follows socialist aesthetics: prosaic & functional.
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GLS: Language school, typical GDR modernity |
Construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 |
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1960
... GDR architects add functional buildings to the school -
- among them a cafeteria in Bauhaus-style: form follows function
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GLS: Lounge, GDR architecture at its best |
Reunification in 1990 |
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2005
... the school is closed due to a lack of students.
The Berlin senate sells the school to GLS. GLS renovates all buildings, conserving as much of the building fabric as possible.
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GLS: The campus is temporarily used as setting for TV films and movies |
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