A secondary school for elite athletes housed in converted 1930s buildings of the Deutsches Sportforum, beside Berlin’s Olympiastadion.
At a glance
The school occupies parts of the Haus des Deutschen Sports and the adjacent Schwimmhaus on the Olympiagelände in Berlin’s Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district. The buildings were designed by Werner March and erected between 1934 and 1936 as part of the Deutsches Sportforum ensemble.
Key facts
- Where: Prinz-Friedrich-Karl-Weg 1, 14053 Berlin
- What: School
- When: 1934–1936 (original buildings); school use since August 2015
- GPS: 52.5212, 13.2416 · Open in Google Maps
History
The buildings that now house the school were designed by the architect Werner March and built between 1934 and 1936 as part of the Deutsches Sportforum. After the Second World War the Olympiagelände was used by the British military administration. When the occupation forces left in 1994, the site was transferred to the Land Berlin. The empty parts of the Haus des Deutschen Sports were then converted for school use.
The school itself began as the Poelchau-Oberschule at Halemweg, built to plans by Lothar and Ingrid Juckel and opened in 1973 as a Gesamtschule. In 1997 it developed a sporting profile. The Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund awarded it the title “Eliteschule des Sports” on 11 December 2006. The school is named after Harald and Dorothee Poelchau, who resisted the National Socialist regime. In August 2015 the school moved from Halemweg to the Olympiapark. The school conference decided in 2014 to combine the name Poelchau with the new location, resulting in the name “Sportschule im Olympiapark – Poelchau-Schule”.
What you see
The photographs show a brick-built complex with a symmetrical colonnaded central hall. A broad paved courtyard stretches before it, with rows of blue and white striped loungers set out in a grid. A gilded eagle on a tall column stands in front of the brick facade, with broad steps rising to glass entrance doors. At the street corner the building presents tall vertical windows and a barrier beside the road. The contributor’s notes record two inscriptions: “SCIVEN” near the entrance and the number “20” at the corner.
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Nearby
- Bull and Cow, bronzes by Adolf Strübe — two bronze animal sculptures close to the school
Gallery
Sources
- IPROconsult, Einweihungsfeier Schulgebäudes im Olympiapark Berlin: architectural history of the buildings, dates 1934–1936, architect Werner March, name and type of the school
- Müller Reimann Architekten, Poelchau-Schule Berlin: conversion of the Haus des Deutschen Sports, original 1930s features, British military use, 1994 handover, project dates 2012–2016
- Berlin.de – Bezirksamt Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Sportschule im Olympiapark-Poelchau-Schule: school history, 1973 opening, 2006 award, August 2015 move, name decision in 2014, Poelchau name
- Sportschule im Olympiapark – Poelchau-Schule, Eliteschule des Sports Berlin: current address, school type
- Stefano Vigolo, photographs and notes to the editorial staff (2026): identification of the subject, GPS coordinates, inscriptions SCIVEN and 20. Not a published source
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