Café Kranzler

Café Kranzler is a famous coffeehouse in Berlin, Germany. Opened in 1834 on the Unter den Linden boulevard in the central Mitte district, its Western branch on Kurfürstendamm in Charlottenburg became an icon of West Berlin after World War II.HistoryIn 1825 the Austrian-born confectionist Johann Georg Kranzler (1795–1866) began business in a small pastry shop on Unter den Linden No. 25, at the corner of Friedrichstraße (present-day site of The Westin Grand).Refurbished as a coffeehouse according to plans designed by the architect Friedrich August Stüler, the original Café Kranzler was opened in 1834. Including a sun terrace, outside tables on the pavement, an ice-cream parlour and a smokers' room, it swiftly gained the reputation of being one of the city's finest cafés, also after the rivalling Café Bauer opened vis-à-vis in 1877. Café Kranzler was particularly known for its New Year's Eve celebrations that even were broadcast on national radio. In May 1944 the parent house in Mitte was destroyed during the Bombing of Berlin in World War II.The Charlottenburg branch was opened in 1932, in the rooms of the former Café des Westens on Kurfürstendamm No. 18/19, which ran till the building's destruction in 1945. After the war, business was resumed at the site in 1951. The current flat-roofed Kranzler-Eck building, with its distinct rotunda and red-white touched awnings, was erected in 1957/58. The Charlottenburg branch, in what was then West Berlin, went on to become a major tourist attraction of the Wirtschaftswunder era.