Robin Oomkes profiles Berlin’s Kronprinzenpalais…
Despite its splendid location—directly opposite the Neue Wache on Unter den Linden and overlooking Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s Schlossbrücke (Palace Bridge)—as well as the Museumsinsel, Berliner Dom and, nowadays, the Humboldt Forum, you’d be forgiven for missing the Kronprinzenpalais when passing by. Yet the building is one of those places that exemplifies Berlin’s multi-layered history.
Designed by Johann Arnold Nerin and built between 1663-1669 as a private residence for Cabinet Secretary Johann Martitz, and from 1706-1732 used as the official residence of the governor of Berlin, it was acquired by the ruling Hohenzollern royal family in the 1700s. It was given iits current appearance in 1856–57, when it was extensively rebuilt by Johann Heinrich Strack for William I’s son, Prince Frederick William (the future Kaiser Frederick III).
Its distinctive Corinthian pillars and tall columned portico with a balcony on top date back to this reconstruction, as does the colonnade on its Unter den Linden and Niederlagstraße sides. From the start, it was given to Crown Princes (hence its name) for their use until their accession to the throne, which is how young Kaiser Wilhelm II—also known as Kaiser Bill—came to be born on its top floor; his father, Friedrich Wilhelm, although already in his 50s, was still Crown Prince at the time, and lived there with his wife, Princess Victoria, daughter of England’s Queen Victoria.
Wilhelm’s birth was significant in that many historians and psychologists argue it had a profound effect on his personality and his “impulsive” attitude towards making policy and war itself. Born in a breech position, the baby Kaiser had to be turned inside the birth canal and arrived into the world more dead than alive.
His left arm was much shorter than the right, and his left hand was almost devoid of function, leading to torturous ‘cures’ such as electric shocks, braces that …