"The decision to set up a guard unit on Unter den Linden formed part of the military reorganization undertaken in Prussia after the Napoleonic Wars. This squad was charged with keeping watch over the Brandenburg Gate and, in extremis, protecting the Royal Palace. However, it also served a representative function, which was enhanced by its location on the main avenue in Berlin's political centre. Schinkel gave a distinctive treatment to the building destined to house this new institution, far removed from the designs Ledoux was using in Paris, which had set the standard for urban guardhouses throughout Europe. The building comprises a rectangular mass with a Doric peristyle that opens up in the Facade. A smooth frieze accentuates the building's horizontality, which is only disrupted by sculptures by Johann Gottfried Schadow (1746-1850), winged representations of Victory with laurel crowns that act as an allegory for vigilance. The building was reconstructed after World War II as a monument to victims of Nazism."
--Asensio, Paco (Ed.). (2003). Karl Friedrich Schinkel. New York, NY: teNeues. p. 21.
Keywords: Germany, Berlin, views, military buildings, New Watch House. Submitted by Zachary Snyder.
