Hôtel des Postes

The Hôtel des Postes dominates its corner of the Neustadt with a heavy, neo-Gothic presence that sets it apart from the neighboring buildings. Built in eighteen ninety-nine by Berlin architects Ewald von Rechenberg and Ernst Haake, this massive structure was commissioned by the imperial government under Kaiser Wilhelm the Second. The choice of style was a deliberate departure from the neo-Renaissance designs common in the surrounding area, intended to signal the administrative power of the German Empire in the newly expanded city.