Bellevue Palace (, ), located in Berlin's Tiergarten district, has been the official residence of the President of Germany since 1994. The schloss is situated on the banks of the Spree river, near the Berlin Victory Column, along the northern edge of the Großer Tiergarten park. Its namethe French for "beautiful view"derives from its scenic prospect over the Spree's course. Overview Designed by architect Michael Philipp Boumann (1747–1803), Schloss Bellevue was erected in 1786 as a residence for Prince Augustus Ferdinand of Prussia, Master of the Knights of the Order of Saint John and youngest brother of King Frederick II of Prussia. There were preexisting structures on the site, including the manor house which King Frederick's architect Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff had built for himself in 1743, which was demolished, and a leather factory on the Spree river waterfront which was converted into the right side-wing. The palace was named Bellevue as its view reached the tower of Schloss Charlottenburg before the viaduct of the Berlin Stadtbahn was built nearby in the 1880s. It was the first Neoclassical building in Germany, characterized by its Corinthian pilasters, with wings on either side ("Ladies' wing" and "River Spree wing"). The only room that kept its original decoration is a ballroom on the upper floor designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans, the architect of the Brandenburg Gate. The Palace is surrounded by a park of about 20 hectares. In 1843, King Frederick William IV of Prussia inherited Bellevue from Prince Augustus of Prussia, a son of the builder. In 1865 it became the residence of his niece Princess Alexandrine after her marriage to Duke William of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. It served the royal and imperial princes of the Hohenzollern dynasty until the German Revolution of 1918–19. The last German Emperor Wilhelm II used it as a guest house as well as a private school for his seven children. The Free State of Prussia acquired the property from the former Emperor in 1928 and used it as a museum of ethnography during the 1930s before being renovated as a guest house for the Nazi government which had purchased it in 1938. However, from 1939, it was occupied by Otto Meissner, the head of the Office of the President of Germany. It was there that Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov stayed with his retinue during his visit to Berlin in November 1940. During World War II, the Palace