Editing Alexanderplatz (section)

=== {{lang|de|Königs Thor Platz|italic=no}} (1701–1805) ===
[[File:Berlin königsstadt.jpg|thumb|City map showing the {{lang|de|Königsvorstadt|italic=no}} (1789). The {{lang|de|[[Alt-Berlin|Alt Berlin]]|italic=no}} is shown in red, the royal suburbs northeast brown.]]
[[File:Alexanderplatz 1796.jpg|thumb|{{lang|de|Alexanderplatz|italic=no}}, 1796 (in the middle the {{lang|de|Königsbrücke}} (King's Bridge) with its colonnades)]]

After his coronation in {{lang|de|[[Königsberg]]|italic=no}} on 6 May 1701 the [[Prussia]]n King [[Frederick I of Prussia|Frederick I]] entered Berlin through the George Gate. This led to the gate being renamed the [[King's Gate (Berlin)|King's Gate]], and the surrounding area became known in official documents as {{lang|de|Königs Thor Platz}} (King's Gate Square). The {{lang|de|Georgenvorstadt|italic=no}} suburb was renamed {{lang|de|Königsvorstadt}} (or 'royal suburbs' short).

In 1734, the [[Berlin Customs Wall]], which initially consisted of a ring of [[palisade]] fences, was reinforced and grew to encompass the old city and its suburbs, including {{lang|de|Königsvorstadt|italic=no}}. This resulted in the King's Gate losing importance as an entry point for goods into the city. The gate was finally demolished in 1746.

By the end of the 18th century, the basic structure of the royal suburbs of the {{lang|de|Königsvorstadt|italic=no}} had been developed. It consisted of irregular-shaped blocks of buildings running along the historic highways which once carried goods in various directions out of the gate. At this time, the area contained large factories (silk and wool), such as the {{lang|de|Kurprinz}} (one of Berlin's first cloth factories, located in a former barn) and a workhouse established in 1758 for beggars and homeless people, where the inmates worked a man-powered treadmill to turn a mill.<ref name=":0">Serie ''Aus der Geschichte des Alexanderplatzes'', T. 3: ''Tretmühle im Arbeitshaus''.</ref>

Soon, military facilities came to dominate the area, such as the 1799–1800 military parade grounds designed by [[David Gilly]]. At this time, the residents of the {{lang|de|Platz}} were mostly craftsmen, petty-bourgeois, retired soldiers and manufacturing workers.<ref name=":0" /> The southern part of the later {{lang|de|Alexanderplatz|italic=no}} was separated from traffic by trees and served as a parade ground, whereas the northern half remained a market. Beginning in the mid-18th century, the most important wool market in Germany was held in {{lang|de|Alexanderplatz|italic=no}}.

Between 1752 and 1755, the writer {{lang|de|[[Gotthold Ephraim Lessing]]|italic=no}} lived in a house on Alexanderplatz. In 1771, a new stone bridge (the {{lang|de|Königsbrücke}}) was built over the moat and in 1777 a colonnade-lined row of shops ({{lang|de|Königskolonnaden}}) was constructed by architect {{lang|de|[[Carl von Gontard]]|italic=no}}. Between 1783 and 1784, seven three-storey buildings were erected around the square by {{lang|de|[[Georg Christian Unger]]|italic=no}}, including the famous {{lang|de|Gasthof zum Hirschen}}, where {{lang|de|[[Karl Friedrich Schinkel]]|italic=no}} lived as a permanent tenant and {{lang|de|[[Heinrich von Kleist]]|italic=no}} stayed in the days before his [[suicide]].