Little Castle Potsdam

In the northeast of the city of Potsdam, adjacent to the Tiefen See of the Havel, lies the 114-hectare Park Babelsberg. Commissioned by Prince Wilhelm, later Emperor Wilhelm I, and his wife Augusta, the garden artists Peter Joseph Lenné and, after him, Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau transformed the hilly terrain sloping down to the lake into a park landscape.

The so-called Little Palace, a former simple garden house near the Havel riverbank in Park Babelsberg, was first rebuilt in 1833/1834 according to designs by Ludwig Persius. A second redesign also took place under the direction of architect Persius in 1841/1842, following detailed specifications from Princess Augusta, in the English Tudor Gothic style. The white building served as the residence for the eldest son of the princely couple, Friedrich Wilhelm, later Emperor Friedrich III, until after his marriage to Victoria. Subsequently, it housed ladies-in-waiting and guests.

After the death of Wilhelm I in 1888, the house fell into oblivion for decades until the Potsdam-born composer and conductor Hans Chemin-Petit lived there as a tenant between 1934 and 1945. After the Second World War, its use changed to a DEFA recreation home and, since 1950 – with a brief interruption after the construction of the border facilities in 1961 – it has been used for gastronomic purposes to this day.