Berlin: area by area – Tiergarten – Potsdamer Platz – Kaisersaal

Until building work began on the new Potsdamer Platz, the Hotel Esplanade was a solitary ruin in the former wasteland between East and West Berlin. In a spectacular feat of engineering, the Breakfast Room and the Emperors' Room were integrated into the Sony Center. The neo-baroque Emperors' Room, weighing 1,300 tonnes, was lifted onto air cushions and moved around 70 metres to its present position. It is now a restaurant.