Lucius D. Clay Headquarters

On 4 July 1945 the U.S. troops entered Berlin and took charge of their occupation sector in southwest Berlin. They installed their headquarters on the 85.000-square-meter site of the German Air Force district headquarters III situated at Kronprinzenallee in Berlin-Zehlendorf. The compound was built between 1935 and 1937 and was one of the first monumental structures designed after the Nazi seizure of power. The buildings were only slightly damaged during the battle of Berlin. The complex also housed the offices of the American military governor General Lucius Clay, who helped to direct the rebuilding of the city and played a central role during the Soviet blockade of Berlin in 1948/49 and the Airlift conceived to alleviate its consequences. After the end of the blockade, the Kronprinzenallee, on which the compound was located, was renamed Clayallee in his honor. The complex itself was known from 1952 on as Headquarters Berlin Command, and later as U.S. Headquarters Berlin Brigade. After Clay’s death, it was renamed General Lucius D. Clay Headquarters on 12 May 1979, the thirtieth anniversary of the lifting of the Berlin blockade. Other users of the compound were the American city commandant and the U.S. Mission, the consular department of the U.S. Embassy in Bonn. After the withdrawal of the Allied forces in 1994 the American consulate remained on the site. Today a large part of the compound houses exclusives maisonnettes and suites.