Old Palace, Berlin
Old Palace (Altes Palais), also called Kaiser Wilhelm Palace, is a neoclassical building on Unter den Linden in Berlin’s Mitte district. It was built from 1834 to 1837 by order of Prince William of Prussia, who would become Emperor William I. The architect was Carl Ferdinand Langhans.
Before the Old Palace, the site had a town house built around 1688–1692 by Ernst Bernhard von Weyler, the Brandenburg artillery chief. His family later transformed it into a baroque palace and it served as a residence for leaders of the III Army Corps. Prince William moved in in 1829.
William’s brother wanted to build a grand memorial complex for Frederick the Great, designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, but William refused because it was too expensive and not respectful to the nearby library. Langhans’s simpler neoclassical design was used instead. The palace was finished in 1837 and William lived there with his wife and children. Even after he became king and later emperor, he kept this home, while the Berlin Palace was used for official purposes.
The Old Palace was damaged during World War II. It was rebuilt in 1963–1964 as part of the Forum Fridericianum. Today the building is a protected historic site and houses the law faculty of Humboldt University.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 12:31 (CET).