After ascending the throne in 1740, Frederick II initiated the transformation of Potsdam into a royal residence city. During his 46-year reign, numerous prestigious palaces and artistic garden ensembles were created, which still significantly shape the cityscape today. The old Potsdam City Palace was rebuilt between 1744 and 1756 based on plans by architect G. W. von Knobelsdorff. Between 1745 and 1747, Sanssouci Palace was constructed on the "Deserted Hill" near the Brandenburg Gate, also designed by Knobelsdorff. This palace became the starting point for further building activities: the New Chambers (1746/47), the Picture Gallery (1755/63), the Chinese Tea House (1754/56), and other structures complemented the overall ensemble, which culminated in the construction of the New Palace and the Communs (1763/69), the largest and final palace of the 18th century.
While the monarch affectionately known as "Old Fritz" resided in the City Palace during the winter months, he preferred to spend the time from May to September at Sanssouci. There, he welcomed notable personalities and scholars of his era, including Voltaire, Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and Johann Sebastian Bach.
In addition to the developments at Sanssouci, many prestigious buildings were erected in Potsdam’s city center during Frederick the Great’s reign. The construction of a new city hall at the Old Market began in 1753, and the city gates, such as the Berlin Gate, the Neustadt Gate, and the Nauener Gate, were redesigned in the 1750s. The city canal received a stone lining. Architectural masterpieces from this period also include the Hiller-Brandt Houses (1769) on Breite Strasse and the Barberini Palace (1771) at the Old Market. In 1767, Potsdam’s small Jewish community built its first synagogue on Wilhelmsplatz. Of the 11,705 inhabitants counted in Potsdam in 1740, approximately 3,500 were soldiers. By 1786, the number of military personnel living in Potsdam had risen to nearly 9,000. Consequently, Frederick II ordered the construction of solid townhouses in the city center to serve as barracks for soldiers.
Frederick, who regarded Potsdam as "his" city, oversaw the construction or reconstruction of over 600 residential buildings. After 1750, he also ordered the establishment of the weavers’ and spinners’ colony of Nowawes outside the city gates. The religiously persecuted immigrants from Bohemia built small rural houses that still mark this part of Babelsberg as a former weavers’ quarter.
The immense building activity, as well as the supply and provisioning of the garrison, required numerous craftsmen and tradespeople of various specialties. Frederick the Great—like his father before him—recruited many of them from across Central Europe. Key industries included spinning and weaving, tailoring (for uniforms and textiles), tanning, firearms manufacturing, and workshops for ceramics, wire, and needle production, all of which shaped Potsdam’s industrial character.
Under Frederick II’s successor, his nephew Frederick William II, fewer changes occurred in the cityscape. Beginning in 1787, the New Garden was laid out along the Holy Lake, and the Marble Palace was constructed as a residence. His reign also saw the opening of the first paved road ("Prussian art street") in 1790, connecting Potsdam to the Prussian capital of Berlin via the Glienicke Bridge. In 1795, the new theater opened, inscribed "for the pleasure of the inhabitants."
With Napoleon’s entry into Potsdam in 1806, a period of hardship began. The city became the main cavalry depot for the French army, accommodating up to 6,000 soldiers and 12,000 horses, whose upkeep burdened the residents through in-kind deliveries, contributions, and forced loans.
Following the defeat of Napoleon’s troops, Potsdam gained self-governance through the Prussian municipal reform of 1808. In the following year, 947 eligible voters elected the first city council and magistrate. The relocation of provincial administrative offices in 1809 and the Prussian Supreme Audit Office to Potsdam affirmed the city’s role as an administrative center.
This new status required improved transportation links, including new roads to Brandenburg (1799), Beelitz (1804), Fahrland (1837), Nauen (1840/42), Bornim, and Saarmund (1852). Starting in 1821, the steamship Princess Charlotte of Prussia shuttled between Potsdam and Berlin. In 1838, the first Prussian railway line was inaugurated between Potsdam and Berlin, followed by the Potsdam-Magdeburg line eight years later. A horse-drawn omnibus line was introduced in 1850, connecting the train station with Charlottenhof and Wildpark. Another line soon linked Wildpark with the Glienicke Bridge. By 1856, gas lanterns illuminated the city’s streets at night.
In 1832, the Telegraph Hill (Telegrafenberg) gained its name from the establishment of Station No. 4 of the optical telegraph line stretching from Berlin to Koblenz on the Rhine. This system of 61 stations allowed messages to be transmitted from the capital to the Rhine in just one and a half hours.
In 1826, in memory of the Prussian-Russian alliance against Napoleon, the Alexandrowka colony was built, featuring twelve wooden houses as homes for the remaining Russian soldiers of a military orchestra. Over the following decades, Potsdam developed a vibrant cultural and civic life, with numerous associations such as the "Classical Singing Society" (1814), the "Music Society" (1816), the "Potsdam Singing Table" (1826), and the "Men’s Choir Association" (1841). Cultural venues like the Barberini Palace, converted into a society house in the late 1840s, hosted many of these groups.
Under King Frederick William IV, crowned in 1840, architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel and royal garden director Peter Joseph Lenné created numerous magnificent projects in the mid-19th century. Notable examples include Charlottenhof Palace (1826/28), the Orangery at Sanssouci Park, the Belvedere on the Pfingstberg (1847/63), the Church of Peace (1845), the Church of the Redeemer in Sacrow (1841–1844), and Babelsberg Palace (1834–1849). Additionally, the construction of barracks replaced the practice of quartering soldiers in civilian homes, further shaping the cityscape in the mid-19th century.
In late 1848, Potsdam experienced minor revolutionary unrest. Max Dortu, a Potsdam native, was executed in Freiburg for fighting alongside the Baden revolutionaries. One outcome of the revolution was the signing of the Prussian Constitution by Frederick William IV at Sanssouci Palace in December 1848, transforming Prussia into a constitutional monarchy. In 1862, during a political crisis with the Prussian National Assembly, Wilhelm I appointed Otto von Bismarck as Prussian Prime Minister at Babelsberg Palace. Bismarck would play a decisive role in shaping Prussian politics and driving the unification of Germany in 1871.
Author: Dr. Johannes Leicht (Geschichtslotsen)
