The Ufa-Pavillon at Nollendorfplatz

 

1927

The Ufa-Pavillon am Nollendorfplatz was a cinema located at 4 Nollendorfplatz. Built in 1912–13 and designed by architect Oskar Kaufmann, it was Berlin’s first purpose-built, free-standing cinema, seating 650 and boasting technical innovations such as an opening roof and a daylight projection screen. Its architecture, in a modern Berlin-style, is plainer and more severe than earlier styles like New Classicism and Art Nouveau, and includes 'modern' sculptural and artistic motifs. 

Smaller than the Ufa-Palast am Zoo, Berlin's premier cinema, the Ufa-Pavillon seems to have been used more for press showings. The inauguration in 1913 of this "palace of unheard-of luxury" made a sensation. The main attraction was the German premiere of the blockbuster epic of Ancient Rome Quo Vadis? by Enrico Guazzoni.              

The well-known film-score composer Giuseppe Becce (1877-1973) conducted the orchestra from 1922, having been transferred from a neighbouring cinema, the Mozartsaal at the Theater am Nollendorfplatz on the other side of the street.

The cinema was built by a group of US investors allied with an Italian film company, one of whose directors was Ernesto Pacelli, who was close to Pope Leo XIII and cousin of Pope Pius XII. For this reason, the movie theater was said to have been "paid by the Pope."

The theater was first called Cines Nollendorf-Theater, then Union-Theater Nollendorfplatz, Ufa-Theater Nollendorfplatz and finally Ufa-Pavillon in 1927. Badly damaged during World War II, it doesn’t exist anymore.

It is unclear whether Fritz Lang's iconic film Metropolis (1927) was premiered here or at the Ufa-Palast am Zoo. Most probably in both simultaneously; in the Palast for the political elite of the Reich, in the Pavillon for a broader audience. Anyhow, the Ufa-Pavillon was the only cinema in Germany where Metropolis could be seen after its premiere, during four months. And this seems to have been the only time the full length version of the film was shown. So that, memories of UFA-Pavillon are inseparably connected to Metropolis.

 

 

1926