History

A part of the Schwanenburg goes back to the former imperial railway station Potsdam-Wildpark, today Halt Park Sanssouci, this was researched by Karl Liebscher from the Panketal History Association https://www.geschichtsverein-panketal.de. The half-timbered house was a reception building of the Imperial railway station built in 1868. There is also a book about it by Barbara Eggers.

From 1905, this station was demolished because it had become too small, and the new Kaiserbahnhof was built, which today stands as the DB Academy in an otherwise barely used station. The old half-timbered buildings were put into storage; their whereabouts had been unknown since 1912. At the same time, an inn called „Schwanenburg“ was built in Schwanebeck on Bucher Chaussee by Otto Pierau. The Schwanenburg was successfully used as an inn and coffee house, but also as a tree nursery and for various dance events.

The old coffered pine ceiling of the Kaiserbahnhof has been preserved to this day, as has the massive entrance door.
After the Second World War, the building, which was at times on the specially guarded border between East Berlin and Brandenburg, was partly occupied by Soviet soldiers, then returned to the Pierau family and used as a restaurant and event venue with different tenants. In the last 15 years or so before reunification in 1989, it fell into disrepair due to a lack of renovation. An heir of the Pierau family renounced the inheritance, so it became the property of the municipality.

After reunification, the entrepreneur Bernd Sparfeld bought it from the municipality and a few superficial renovations were carried out. An office building was built right next to it and both buildings were used for the sale of printers. The old building was used as a warehouse on the ground floor, with offices and company flats on the first floor and in the attic.

Between around 2005 and 2015, the old building, now owned by the widow and daughter Sparfeld, was no longer used.

From 2015, the old building was renovated and has been used as a flat block since 2019.