New Town Hall (Wroclaw)

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This building contains the offices of the mayor and city council, as well as the Spiz Brewery.

In the mid 19th century the development of Breslau (which at one point was the third-largest city in Germany) had made the Old City Hall impractical and unable to handle the functions that were required of it. Because of this, the city council was forced to hold sessions in ad-hoc locations, including gymnasiums and town houses. The city, meanwhile, furiously searched for a location to build a new city hall.

In 1857 the city decided on the western side of the block of buildings in the center of the Market Square, which at that time was occupied by the Leinwandhaus, the former seat of the cloth merchant's guild. Although for a time it was considered to remodel that building, which dated to the late Gothic period, an inspection of the building yielded poor results and the idea was abandoned.

It was thus decided to demolish the guildhouse and design and entirely new building. For this project was chosen the Berlin architect Friedrich August Stüler, a student of Karl Friedrich Schinkel and prominent architect of the period. Stüler had already expanded the Prussian Royal Palace in the city, to great success. His design for the new city hall retained the mixed Gothic and Renaissance elements of the Leinwandhaus' façade. His plan also included a mixed-use concept, with a restaurant in the basement (like the Schweidnitzer Keller in the Old Town Hall); commercial spaces on the first floor; and offices, a library and archive, and meeting rooms above.

In November 1859 demolition of the guildhall began, a process that was carefully documented due to the age of the building. Pieces of the building's architectural details were also retained for further use. Construction of the new town hall began in 1860 and was completed by 1864.

Throughout the 19th and early 20th century the building was constantly adapting to the changing needs of the city government. From 1889-1894 the interior was radically transformed by architect Richard Plüdemann in cooperation with Karl Klimm and J. Nathanson, and the archive was transferred to the University Library. A new audience hall for the city council was also built on the first floor. However, the façade remained unchanged, despite plans in the 20s by urban planned Max Berg to demolish the building and construct a Modernist high-rise structure for the city government.

The building was somewhat damanged during the Siege of Breslau in 1945. In the 1990s the building was totally restored, including the reinstatement of the basement dining room.