Tour

The inside of the Royal reception building comprises three principal rooms with complex, magnificent painted ceilings. In the design drawings these are called ‘Vestibule’, ‘Waiting room for the Emperor’ and ‘Room for the Attendants’. Finally there was a ‘toilet & closet’ as well as an area for the servants.

With the 1920 changes, intermediate partition walls and ceilings were inserted, with the original space remaining hidden above the false ceilings. The original ceilings with their golden painted stucco with narrow ribs, staff bundles comprising oak leaves and shells are again visible and restored now that the 1920 additions have been removed. A stone spiral staircase in the northeast tower gives access to the first floor.

The interior was vastly altered in 1920 to convert the Kaiserbahnhof to civilian use, with the space being converted to 3 apartments, from 13 newly created rooms. These were removed in 2010, as the first stage in the restoration of the building.

The Royal reception building is a rectangular, single-storey building of exposed red bricks with four towers.

The towers each enclose five arched arcades which overlook the free standing area to the east and to the railway tracks to the west. At the track side there are two entrances. From the free standing area by the entrance there was access by horse and carriage. The building is again crowned by an eagle carved out of porcelain, and coloured red.

As with the station reception building, the wall surfaces consist of red clay bricks laid horizontally and broken by bands of yellow clay bricks. All joints are mortared with red mortar. The straight lines and the regularity of the brickwork are emphasised by the joint line.

The upper level is surrounded by a parapet wall, which incorporates the remaining windows and wall openings.