The Marmorhaus was a movie theater where several classic silent German films were premiered, as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. The building still exists althought it is no longer a cinema. It has a priviliged situation, at the beginning of the Kurfürstendamm, just some meters from the Gedächtniskirche. On the other side of the street, another iconic theater : the Gloria-Palast.
It opened in 1913 and the name translates as ‘Marble House’, as its facade was completely fronted with white marble. Original seating was for 620 in orchestra and balcony levels, the architect was Hugo Pál.
"The vestibule with the gilded dome and the wall paintings by Cesar Klein, the ticket office in mahogany and the beautiful glass hall, from which four stairs lead up to the stalls and the gallery, makes a magnificent impression. The lighting is particularly appealing, creating an intimate and cozy atmosphere with its veiled character and soft effects. The lounge chairs are very comfortable and a majolica oval ceiling spreads out over mahogany walls with paintings and sculptures." (a press article from 1913)
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| Interior of the Marmorhaus theatre |
During the silent era it was frequently a venue for premieres of new films. These included, besides the already mentioned "Caligari", directed by Robert Wiene, Johannes Goth (Karl Gerhardt), The Woman in Heaven (Johannes Guter), The Head of Janus (F. W. Murnau), Genuine (Robert Wiene), Four Around a Woman (Fritz Lang), Wandering Souls (Carl Froelich) and The Haunted Castle (F. W. Murnau). Behind all the above films, from 1920-1921, was the famous producer Erich Pommer (The Blue Angel, Dr. Mabuse the Gambler, The last laugh, Metropolis), who led the Decla-Bioscop company.
The sets for Genuine were designed by Cesar Klein, an expressionist artist, also responsible for the decoration of the Marmorhaus. This was a time, in the film industry's infancy, when an actor could also be director or producer.
Even in later years premieres were staged at the Marmorhaus : G. W. Pabst’s The devious path in 1929 and The queen of spades by Aleksandr Razumny in 1927.
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"Of the large theaters built before the First World War, the one of greatest significance was the Marmorhaus (Marble House), designed by Hugo Pál. Its solemn monumentality and the imperial geometry of its facade, divided as it is into large surfaces, still sets the tone of the Kurfiirstendamm near the Kaiser- Wilhelm Church today. Pál sought to link old Egyptian and Greek elements with "Germanic" weight. Part royal palace and part cult temple, the Marmorhaus was in the same class as the museums and theaters of the Wilhelmine era, evoking 'the sublime and the sacred, as if it contained images that would endure forever.'"(The text above is from The Ufa Story, A History of Germany's Greatest Film Company 1918-1945, by Klaus Kreimeier, University Of California Press )
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| The Marmorhaus today, no longer a cinema |
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