The former Postfuhramt in Oranienburger Straße.
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The Postfuhramt (Imperial Mail Delivery Office) on Oranienburger Straße in Berlin-Mitte is one of the most magnificent historicist buildings in Berlin. The former government building was constructed between 1875 and 1881 according to plans by Carl Schwatlo.
The Postfuhramt in Oranienburger Straße was built to provide suitable stabling for the horses of the growing carriage business. Even before the Postfuhramt, there was a residential building on the same site for postillons, private carters who worked on behalf of the post office. The old building could not cope with the ever-increasing demand for carriages. The first step was to build two two-storey stables, the stagecoach stables, in the courtyard. They could accommodate around 250 horses. The main building housed administrative offices, apartments for postal employees, a post office and a telegraph engineer's office. An extension in the courtyard served as a machine and boiler house for the Berlin pneumatic tube system.
A three-storey main building was erected on the corner plot on Tucholskystraße. The wings of the imposing building extend into Oranienburger Straße and Tucholskystraße. The façade of yellow clinker bricks is decorated with blue and red elements. An octagonal tower rises above the main portal. Two small domes rise up to the left and right of it. They make an architectural reference to the domes of the nearby New Synagogue. On both sides of the main portal, figures of children symbolize the areas of the post office that once converged under the roof of the building. On the wing of the building in Tucholskystraße, a terracotta relief of a four-horse stagecoach has been preserved on the side facing the courtyard. When the post office was modernized in 1925, the stable buildings were demolished. Instead, a loading bay and a coach house were built in the courtyard. Neither hall survived the Second World War.
During the Second World War, the Postfuhramt was severely damaged. After initial restoration work from 1973, the building with its tower and cupolas was restored in the 1980s. The Postfuhramt has no longer functioned as a post office since 1995. From 1997 to 2001, the rooms of the post office were used for exhibitions. Today, the Postfuhramt serves as a company headquarters. The building is a listed building.
漏 visitBerlin, Foto: Nele Niederstadt
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