Museum Island
Messel had long been interesting in the design plan for the Museum Island and since 1907 had been developing plans for the Pergamon Museum. It remains to this day the monumental, austere three-wing neoclassical construction which he conceived but did not live to see realized as he died in 1909. It was constructed with slight modifications between 1910 and 1930 under the supervision of Messel's close friend, the architect and city planning official Ludwig Hoffmann. The museum was badly damaged in World War II, and starting in 2010 modifications of the building will be undertaken as part of the master plan for Berlin's Museum Island.