The immaculately-looking white neoclassical palace on the Spreeweg, just off the Tiergarten’s northwestern corner is the official residence of the German President. The palace was erected in 1786 as a private residence for Friedrich the Great’s youngest brother Prince Ferdinand of Prussia as three-winged palace ideally situated on the Tiergarten hunting grounds. It was designed by architect Philipp Daniel Boumann. Over the centuries it became a school under Kaiser Wilhelm II (1888 – 1918) – the last German Kaiser – and a Reich guesthouse in 1939. The round arched windows of the side wings were converted from the original side entrances. The present building is the 1959 reconstructed version and only one room the Oval Saal (Oval Office) from Carl Gotthard Langhans is original. The President’s offices are located in the new building, the Bundespräsidialamt, south of the Palace, a contrasting glass and black granite edifice under heavy guard.
References:The Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg is situated in a strategic area on a rocky spur overlooking the Upper Rhine Plain, it was used by successive powers from the Middle Ages until the Thirty Years' War when it was abandoned. From 1900 to 1908 it was rebuilt at the behest of the German kaiser Wilhelm II. Today it is a major tourist site, attracting more than 500,000 visitors a year.
The first records of a castle built by the Hohenstaufens date back to 1147. The fortress changed its name to Koenigsburg (royal castle) around 1157. The castle was handed over to the Tiersteins by the Habsburgs following its destruction in 1462. They rebuilt and enlarged it, installing a defensive system designed to withstand artillery fire.
The fortification work accomplished over the 15th century did not suffice to keep the Swedish artillery at bay during the Thirty Years War, and the defences were overrun.