If the walls of Columbiahall could speak, they would certainly have exciting stories to tell from their long history. The whole building complex was built in 1951 in post-war Berlin. From the beginning Columbiahall was meant to be a cultural institution and although the use of the building changed from time to time, the halls never lost their charm.

These complex of buildings were established opposite Tempelhof Airport and were meant to be used as a leisure area for the US Air Force, or as it was announced in the press: for "all US Personal and their guests. Both the spacious sports hall (Columbiahall) and the Columbia Theatre (Columbiaclub) with its 400 seats were intended as both an attractive and accessible for deployed US personnel their families and visitors. The official and very glamorous opening took place on the 13^th October 1951 with the movie premiere in the Columbia Theatre of "Captain Horatio Hornblower" which starred Gregory Peck & Virginia Mayo. And with this hugely successful and popular foundation, began a long history of a unique and important cultural institution, which was to have such a firm place in Berlin's cultural scene.

Besides the Columbia Theatre, the allies ran another seven cinemas in Berlin during their presence of almost 50 years. After the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the removal of the Allied presence, a whole scene of cinemas disappeared from Berlin’s townscape, and within that process, the Columbia Theatre unfortunately lost its importance. And after the final removal of the Allied presence in 1994, the whole building complex was returned back to the city of Berlin, and the Columbia Theatre closed.

At the end of the 1990's the estate agent Hans J. Walter acquired the whole property, with the intention that the property would become a modern and multifunctional location. On the 28^th February 1998 the Columbiahall reopened as a cultural venue with a capacity for up to 3000 people for concerts, boxing matches and other sporting events such as volleyball matches.

At the same time the former Columbia Theatre was reopened and becomes Berlin’s first radio club, in cooperation with the local and very popular radio station "Fritz Radio". In the years that followed the Columbia Theatre would become an integral part of Berlin's social history, as a famous and fashionable nightlife club, whose reputation would extend even outside of Berlin.

In 2002 the radio-club-concept moved from the Columbiaclub to start a new chapter of its club history in the halls of "Postbahnhof", a venue located near the train station Ostbahnhof. Two of "Postbahnhofs" shareholders, Norbert Döpp and Axel Schulz, will run the Columbiahall and Club from January 2010.

Written by Jörg Bachmann