1660 A name from the 17th century

The square is named after Oliva Abbey near Danzig, where the Peace of Oliva was signed in 1660. It ended Brandenburg's role in the Second Northern War and confirmed the Hohenzollerns' sovereignty over the Duchy of Prussia, a step towards the later kingdom. The name first appears in Berlin in 1892.

1910 The most modern square in Berlin

Between 1907 and 1910 the square was laid out anew to a design by the city's chief gardener Richard Thieme, and at the time it was considered the most modern square in Berlin and its surroundings. Around it, the new, well-to-do West grew with its large apartment buildings.

1961 Room for cars

When Lietzenburger Straße was widened into a main road, the square was completely redesigned in 1961 to plans by Eberhard Fink. Typical of the era: flower beds, pergolas, benches and, above all, parking spaces. It stayed that way for almost 60 years.

2000 The cult corner: New York and Keno

At the corner of Olivaer Platz and Lietzenburger Straße, a café-restaurant called New York was already running in the 1980s, famous for its sunny terrace. People came here to see and be seen, looking out over the square and the Ku'damm. Today Andreas Lanninger runs a New York at the same corner again, as a restaurant, bar and cigar lounge.

I got to know the Keno as a schoolboy. It must have been around the turn of the millennium, when I organized a Sunday brunch for my class, and the owner, a wonderfully warm woman, gave us a special price, I think. For me it was one of the best breakfast places in the city, right on the corner where Phoenicia is today. That is how I got to know the Keno and Olivaer Platz. Back then this was the cult corner: Ferraris parked outside the New York, and anyone who wanted to be seen showed up here.
Daniel

2021 The long fight over the new square

From 2010 the future of the square was debated, for years and at times bitterly. In 2011 the Dresden firm Rehwaldt won the competition with a design without parking, offering large lawns, promenades and a café instead. Almost 800 objections were filed against the plans. Construction began in 2019, and by 2021 the second section was finished too, with new trees and rainwater that soaks away on site.

The square today

Where cars once parked there are now lawns, playgrounds and a café. At Olivaer Platz 2, Aux Merveilleux de Fred, a patisserie from northern France, bakes its pain au chocolat and the merveilleux of meringue and cream. Via Pariser Straße it is a few minutes to Ludwigkirchplatz, the neighborhood's second living room, more in the Kiez atlas.