1842-1848: Early Years
The Kroll story began in the Silesian capital Breslau, where the entrepreneur Joseph Kroll (1797–1848) had opened the “Kroll Winter Garden” in 1837. The Breslau authorities chose this reputable establishment to entertain the new Prussian king Frederick William IV when he visited the city in 1841. The king was impressed by the splendid, flower-decorated rooms and suggested that something similar should be initiated in Berlin to become the social hub for the nobility in the Prussian residence.
After a consultation with his garden director, Peter Joseph Lenné and other members of the government, the king presented an order from the cabinet dated 19 August 1842, which specified the building site on the west side of the parade ground in the Großer Tiergarten park, and laid out the conditions: Kroll was able to use the property without charge, but he would have to return the land and demolish any structures he had built if the project failed. The parade ground, which had stood since 1730, was outside of the city just to the north west of the Brandenburg Gate. It had long degenerated into a sandy field, and the Berliners therefore derisively called it the “Sahara”. Every step on the sandy ground would kick up a cloud of dust on the square. When it rained, the soil would turn into a mass of dirty mud. Yet Kroll took solace in the fact that the greenery of the Tiergarten park lay just beyond the property.
The plans for the new building came from the court architect Friedrich Ludwig Persius, which was a good indicator of the significance that the project had for Frederick William IV, co-working with Carl Ferdinand Langhans and Eduard Knoblauch. After a construction period of only ten months, Kroll’s enterprise opened on 15 February 1844. Forty waiters were to serve up to five thousand guests in the three halls (the main hall, also referred to as the King’s Hall, and two smaller halls), thirteen boxes for at least thirteen people each, and fourteen large rooms (for smaller parties). Sixty musicians provided entertainment. The “Tunnel” was a special attraction and praised as a novelty for Berlin – a hall where one could smoke! A technical innovation was the newly implemented gas lighting, which “consisted of 400 flames”.
During the first year Kroll had satisfactory results. The main attractions were the large exhibitions, concerts and balls, which took place around lavishly constructed stage sets, attracting even the "Waltz King" Johann Strauss Jr. and his orchestra, who guested at Kroll's in 1845. Yet despite its uniqueness in Germany, as noted by the critics, the enterprise became increasingly difficult to sustain. On 15 April 1848, on his deathbed, Kroll regretted that his king had once had breakfast with him."1
Read more about this topic: Kroll Opera House
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