This building was made to house the…

• • North American Treaty Organization
• • West Edmonton Mall
• • South Pole Harbor Authority
• • East German Parliament

The Palace of the Republic was built on the site of a war-damaged Prussian palace that had stood across the street from the Berlin Cathedral. When it opened in 1976, it was a showcase for what the Communists held to be a modern and durable style. By the middle of the next decade, it looked flimsy and dated. It was decommissioned in 1990 as the walls were found to be packed with asbestos and the East German state was succumbing to rot. It enjoyed a brief second life from 2003 to 2005, when the gutted interior was opened to guided tours and art installations. It was shut down for good in 2006 and demolished—not by dynamite or wrecking ball, but by patient disassembly, so as to avoid damaging the historic neighborhood.