Palazzo Pompei, Contemporary residential building in Potsdam, Germany
The Segersches Haus, known as Palazzo Pompei, stands on the Alte Markt in Potsdam, built 1754 to a design by Carl Ludwig Hildebrandt for the innkeeper Johann Friedrich Schmidt and his inn Zum Roten Adler. Its facade follows the Palazzo Pompei in Verona: seven column bays, a rusticated ground floor, an added attic storey, six ornamental vases on the attic and a mascaron above the entrance portal.
Frederick the Great commissioned the original building in 1754 as a reference to the palace of the same name in Verona. The structure was destroyed in 1945 and later rebuilt as a contemporary version.
The house is named after the innkeeper Seger, who ran the inn "Zum Roten Adler" there; it was built for the publican Johann Friedrich Schmidt. Its model is the Palazzo Pompei in Verona, built 1535–1540 to designs by Michele Sanmicheli, which is why the Potsdam building borrows the Italian name. Since 2021 Olaf Scholz has lived here.
The building is accessible from street level where the facade is clearly visible from the public walkway along Alte Fahrt. Keep in mind this is a private residential complex, so interior areas are not open to general visitors.
Three of the seven original carved masks from the pre-war building were preserved and integrated into the new facade, recognizable by their darker stone color. These salvaged pieces create a physical link to the site's past.
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