Kleines Schloss / Damenhaus

Kleines Schloss / Damenhaus stands in Park Babelsberg, Potsdam, as a two-storey Tudor Gothic building. Pavilion-like east and west wings frame gabled projections, bay windows and corner turrets. A hillside annex at the rear forms a courtyard beside the main building, adding depth to its compact silhouette.

Around 1800, the structure began as a simple one-storey weaver’s house. Ludwig Persius expanded it between 1833 and 1834, using part of it as his architectural office. Sketches by Crown Princess Augusta guided further changes between 1841 and 1842, carried out by Eduard Gebhardt. Prince Friedrich Wilhelm lived here until the late 1840s, before Countess Luise von Oriola moved in as Augusta’s lady-in-waiting.

Hans Chemin-Petit lived here from 1934 to 1945 as composer and conductor. After the Second World War, DEFA employees used the building as a recreation home. Since 1950, the ground floor has served gastronomic purposes, while two apartments occupy the upper floor. Exterior restoration addresses the plaster, windows, cornices and roof surfaces, with a historically appropriate balcony planned.