The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of GDR located in Schinkelplatz replaced the previous institutional building. The government decided to construct a completely new building in a politically iconic place to reorganize the socialist Berlin city center. The white, 145-meter high ten-storey building was erected between 1964 and 1967, on the former site of the Berlin Bauakademie.

The plans for the three-part building were designed by the architects Josef Kaiser, Heinz Aust, Gerhard Lehmann, and Lothar Kwasnitza. The facade appeared to be made of precast concrete panels. The demolition, however, revealed that the elements were made of white plastic. Between 1995 and 1996, the building was demolished, in order to provide space for the reconstruction of the historical urban masterplan. Nowadays the site hosts a newly designed Schinkelplatz and a shell the Building Academy building, pending reconstruction.