Princely train station Bad Homburg
The Fürstenbahnhof Bad Homburg is a separate entrance building at Bad Homburg train station , separate from the public entrance building . It was built together with the new Bad Homburg train station in 1907, especially for Kaiser Wilhelm II - who maintained a summer residence here with Bad Homburg Castle - and his guests. Today the building is a cultural monument according to the Hessian Monument Protection Act .
Predecessor from 1883
A “Kaiserpavillon”, a small, late Classicist building made of yellow brick , had been at the old train station since 1883 . The reason for erecting it was the imperial maneuver , which took place from September 20 to 27, 1883 in the Bad Homburg area. The building was erected in an extremely short time: the building application was submitted on June 25th, approved on July 2nd and completed at the end of August.
Inside the Kaiserpavillon had a 48 m² reception room, an anteroom and two toilets. Heavy oak furniture with red upholstery formed the bulk of the furnishings. Outside there was a semicircular right of way on the street side for the cars of the "highest and highest rulers" . The portal of the building was covered by a gable with a crown placed over the top , accompanied by a Prussian eagle on both sides.
Guests at the maneuver in 1883 who arrived here included - in addition to Kaiser Wilhelm I - King Alfonso XII. of Spain , King Ludwig I of Portugal , King Milan I of Serbia , King Albert of Saxony and numerous other German princes. Other crowned heads later used the imperial pavilion: King Umberto I and Queen Margaret of Italy , Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra of Russia, and King Edward VII of England and King Chulalongkorn of Thailand .
When the new Bad Homburg train station and its royal train station went into operation in 1907, the old imperial pavilion was abandoned and demolished. There is no reliable information about its reuse or that of its interior furnishings.
Princely train station from 1907
Kaiser Wilhelm II had a personal influence on the design of the Kaiserbahnhof. His suggestion (which was of course followed) was to design the building in the Renaissance style, taking up motifs from the town hall of Rothenburg ob der Tauber - this also includes the knight with a shield on the street-side gable. The interior was designed in a neoclassical style using noble materials and in a "simple" style.
The Fürstenbahnhof had - out of protocol to lie at track 1 - reasons. The track was given its own platform hall, which was offset across from the public transport halls. Since the track runs along the embankment here, the street-side access is on the ground floor, the access to the platform is on the level of the first floor. The figures Thusnelda and Arminius , who support the street-side roofing of the entrance, were made by the sculptor Johann Georg Bäumler . On the platform side, the building was adorned with a mural by Carl Nebel : A Germanic prince was received by the Roman general in front of the porta decumana of the Saalburg . It was removed when the station's platform halls were demolished in 1961.
Inside there was a princely salon and a room each for the entourage and servants, as well as four toilets. The building was equipped with all the technical sophistication of the time, with steam heating and electric light to two elevators - one for people and one for luggage.
The construction of the Fürstenbahnhof - with an estimate of 62,000 gold marks - ultimately cost almost twice as much. It was ready to go into operation in October 1907.
The Fürstenbahnhof was used not only by the German Emperor - and this countless times - but also by many other princes and crowned heads, such as Tsar Nicholas II, Emperor Karl I of Austria and numerous German princes. On the afternoon of August 29, 1918, the Kaiser left Bad Homburg for the last time with his court train and drove to Berlin.
Use after the end of the monarchy
After the end of the monarchy, the Fürstenbahnhof was no longer needed for railway operations and was eventually rented for other purposes. After the end of the Second World War , the residence of the Commander in Chief of the US Armed Forces, then the military governor of the US zone of occupation, was in Bad Homburg. This once again gave the Fürstenbahnhof a befitting importance in railway operations. Both General Lucius D. Clay and the High Commissioner John Jay McCloy , who has been in office since 1949, and his wife Ellen used the Fürstenbahnhof for their numerous journeys by train. The express multiple unit VT 06 108 (DR 137 854, US-American name: Special-Diesel No. 222 ) was initially used as a saloon car train . After it burned out in 1951, the VT 06 106 took over this service. In addition, a small diesel railcar was used. When the McCloy family returned to the USA in July 1952, the last special train ran from the Fürstenbahnhof.
After that, the building stood empty for several years, was then rented to an artist and later served as accommodation for the technical relief organization . In 1979 the city of Bad Homburg bought it from the Deutsche Bundesbahn for 100 DM and had it restored in style for 1.4 million DM by 1981. The Gambrinus music bar has been located here ever since .
literature
- State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen (Ed.): Railway in Hessen. Railway buildings and routes 1839–1939 , 3 volumes, 1st edition. Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-8062-1917-6 . Vol. 2.1, p. 259 ff.
- Bernhard Hager: Imperial Power Words . In: Eisenbahngeschichte No. 24 (October / November 2007), pp. 14–21. (With further literature).
- Angelika Baeumerth: The royal train stations of Bad Homburg . In: Ingrid Berg, "Heimat Hochtaunus", Frankfurt am Main 1988, ISBN 3-7829-0375-7 , pages 312-316.
- Angelika Baeumerth: "Great Station". As Majesty was received exclusively at Homburg station . In: From the city archive 1995/1996, pp. 29–71.
- Magistrate of the city of Bad Homburg vd Höhe and the historical working group Gonzenheim e. V. - Issue 16 (Ed.): 100 Years of the Bad Homburg Central Railway Station in front of the height 1907–2007 .
- Walter Söhnlein, Gerta Walsh: Clear the way! - Railways in the Taunus 1860 - 1910 - 2010 . Frankfurt 2010. ISBN 978-3-7973-1223-5 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Hesse (ed.): Fürstenbahnhof, Am Bahnhof 4, Bad Homburg In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hesse
- ↑ On this, especially Söhnlein, pp. 54–56.
- ↑ On this, especially Söhnlein, pp. 56–62.
- ↑ Söhnlein, p. 104.
- ↑ On this, especially Söhnlein, p. 83f.
- ↑ On this, especially Söhnlein, p. 83f.
- ↑ On this, especially Söhnlein, pp. 84, 104ff.
Coordinates: 50 ° 13 ′ 14 " N , 8 ° 37 ′ 11.6" E