Reichspostzentralamt, Expressionist architectural monument in Tempelhof, Germany

The Reichspostzentralamt is a five-storey steel-skeleton building clad in blue-red clinker bricks, completed in 1928. Its 172-metre south facade on Ringbahnstraße is divided by two projecting corner wings and two seven-storey towers with crystalline pointed-arch tops marking the main entrance. Inside, a four-storey stair hall with turquoise ceramic tiles and a light well forms the architectural highlight.

The Reichspostzentralamt grew out of the Telegraphentechnisches Reichsamt, founded on 1 October 1920, which moved into two former Garde-Train-Bataillon storehouses rented in June 1922. Architects Edmund Beisel and Karl Pfuhl designed the new main building, begun in May 1925 and completed in 1928 at a cost of 4.85 million marks. Since July 2021 it has housed parts of the Berlin police anti-terror center.

The building takes its name from its original role as the central postal authority and features ornamental interior details including turquoise ceramic tiles on the main staircase. These decorative elements reflect the care that was invested in public workplaces of that era.

The building is easily visible from the outside and located on Ringbahnstraße in Tempelhof with good public transport connections. The interior is not open to the public as the building currently serves as a police facility.

This structure played a central role in developing German radio, telephone, and telegraph systems through its specialized laboratories and research facilities. This function made it an important site for technical innovation of its era.