Although it was never completed, the Congress Hall gives a sense of the dimensions of Nazi Party Rally architecture. Popular leisure facilities like a public swimming pool and the 1906 lighthouse were demolished to make room. Part of the Dutzendteich lake was drained. The foundations for the monumental structure were extremely complex and costly. Architect Albert Speer had designed the Great Avenue to be the central axis of the Party Rally Grounds. It is 60 meters wide and was to be 2 kilometers long. Between 1935 and 1939, 1.5 kilometers of the project were completed – paved with 60,000 granite slabs.
