Where the kaiser used to party - Berlin hotel comes alive

The Esplanade is sited at Potsdamer Platz, which during the first half of this century was not only Europe's busiest traffic intersection but also the spiritual heart of the glittering and lively metropolis. After the end of World War II and the erection of the Berlin Wall, the entire area around Potsdamer Platz became a derelict wasteland on the border between East and West.

But with the construction of the 1.5-billion-mark (718-million- dollar) "Sony Center am Potsdamer Platz" in the 1990s the once barren site has been transformed into a futuristic cityscape of mostly glass and steel buildings in unusual designs and shapes. Potsdamer Platz last year also became the new venue of the Berlin International Film Festival as the historic square is being restored to its old cosmopolitan glory. Partly reconstructed and partly left in its original state, the historic Esplanade - in particular the well-preserved imperial room, the "Kaisersaal", - is being incorporated into the complex and is due to open up this spring. Here rococo meets Star Trek with the flickering neon of the Sony complex bathing the splendid restored rooms behind glass. Originally established in 1908 when horse carriages were rattling through the gas-lit streets of Berlin, the hotel was a meeting place for the top echelons of society. Later on, showbusiness stars like Charlie Chaplin and Greta Garbo resided in the hotel. During the rule of dictator Adolf Hitler, it was used as Nazi guest house until most of the building went up in flames in a bomb attack during World War II. But four rooms, including the Kaisersaal, as well as valuable china crockery for 1,000 guests remained undamaged.

After the war the hotel enjoyed a brief comeback but was closed down after the Berlin Wall went up. The building was in the western sector but its entrance was on the eastern side. The remaining four salons have now been restored for a total of 50 million marks and soon guests will be able to dine where the kaiser once feasted. To the tens of thousands of passersby, including visitors to the February 8-18 film festival, trooping past daily to the futuristic high-rise buildings grouped round a glass-roofed forum, catching a glimpse of the neo-rococco Esplanade interior must seem like a journey back in time. The new Esplanade, comprising a total of 2,500 square metres of new and antique interior designs, will be used entirely to cater to gastronomic needs. The revamped antique breakfast room will be turned into one of the city's most exclusive cocktail bars. A legendary coffee house, the Cafe Josty, where artists, politicians and writers used to meet at the turn of the century, will also be reopened as part of the project. A new Asian restaurant is also set to open up on the premises. Japanese electronics company Sony, which drafted the plan to rebuild Potsdamer Platz as the seat of its European headquarters after the fall of the Berlin Wall, has been keeping the new purpose of the antique Silver Salon and the Palm Garden a secret until this spring.

But the heart of the revived Esplanade is the lavishly decorated Kaisersaal. In an unprecedented engineering operation in 1995, the entire salon was lifted onto an a giant inflatable cushion and moved 75 metres away to its new venue to make room for a new road. Now an oil portrait of the emperor, discovered during restoration work, gazes down on guests. Next to the salon is the place where even emperors have to go. The imperial private washroom, replete with marble walls, champagne coloured porcelain wash basin and a turn-of-the-century style pissoir has also been restored to its former splendour.

(dpa)