Haus der Schweiz

Haus der Schweiz stands at the corner of Unter den Linden and Friedrichstraße in Berlin’s Mitte district. The business building combines a steel skeleton with a shell-limestone facade. Round-arched arcades line the ground floor, while a bronze Walther Tell sculpture marks the corner.

Swiss architect Ernst Meier designed the building, which rose between 1934 and 1936. Its monumental form reflects the architectural style of Germany’s National Socialist era. Walther Tell, son of Wilhelm Tell, offered a Swiss reference without depicting the celebrated national hero himself. The structure suffered only slight damage during the Second World War and remains the sole historic corner building at this intersection.

After the war, East Berlin’s Deutsche Außenhandelsbank used the premises. Extensive renovation later transformed part of the building into a hotel, while the structure remains a protected monument. The bronze figure of Walther Tell still watches over the meeting of Berlin’s two historic streets.