A. Hahn, “Schaufenster in den Hofgarten,” Süddeutsche Zeitung
January 13, 1953
New life is awakening in Galeriestraße. The arcades that border the Hofgarten on the north side have now been rebuilt or — at least — the shell has been completed. A new, friendly street and cityscape is emerging.
Previously, the 230-meter-long front of the building—from Café Ludwig to the entrance to the Hofgarten opposite the former statue of the Harmlos (Harmless) — was monotonous, dead, gloomy. Almost resembling a prison wall, the double row of newly installed shop windows now provides charming views of the Hofgarten, the Diana Temple, and the Ball Room Building of the Residence. Galeriestraße will gain even more in terms of traffic and shops when Hofgartenstraße closes in the future. The first shops have already moved into the new arcade building: a fashion salon, “exquisite custom tailoring,” and a specialty store for color photography, cinema, projection, and portrait photography. Soon, four galleries— Gurlitt (Linz), Hielscher, Stangl, and Stempfel— will also move into the prestigious rooms, creating a new “art street” in Munich. The elongated arcade building with one or two upper floors will accommodate twenty-three apartments in addition to the shopfronts. The first apartments in Building A, next to Café Ludwig, are already occupied. The apartments range in size from eighty to 180 square meters, are very well equipped, have south- and north-facing outlooks, and offer a magnificent view of the Hofgarten, the Theatiner church, and the Finanzgarten. However, prospective tenants had to make high upfront rent payments (10,000 to 26,000 marks). (Incidentally, a new passageway to the Hofgarten was created at Café Ludwig). The Bavarian School of Adminis- tration wants to move into offices on site, and the Bavarian Automobile Club has already taken up residence.
A large hall with three passages is cur- rently being built in the central section, which will further lighten up the overall building. It will also serve as an entrance hall for the Kunstverein and the Theater Museum (Clara Ziegler Foundation), both of which will have a new home in Galerie- straße. Both the Kunstverein and the Theater Museum were granted a permanent right of use by the Bavarian state.
The new construction and conversion came to at least two million marks. It must be acknowledged that the Bavarian state took the initiative to transfer the reconstruction to a private company in heritable build- ing right, after it was financially unable to raise the sum itself. The company Fries & Co. Münchener Baugesellschaft is the private builder and financier. Government Building Director Otto Hertwig of the palace administration was responsible for the overall planning and design of the arcades. The architects Josef Wiedemann and Otto Roth are signifi- cantly involved.
The construction of the north wing of the arcades on Galeriestraße dates back to 1613, to the time of Prince-elector Maximil- ian I. The west wing on Ludwigstraße was built in 1822. The north wing, now housing shops, used to be home to the art gallery of Prince-elector Karl Theodor (hence the name Galeriestraße). In 1836 this gallery moved to the Alte Pinakothek; thus the rooms were freed up for the Museum für Abgüsse (Museum of Casts) and the Eth- nographisches Museum (Ethnographic Mu- seum). Karl Theodor had the arcade build- ing raised by one floor. Leo von Klenze, however, made the arcade arches higher and slimmer.