Prinzenstraße (Berlin U-Bahn)

Prinzenstraße is a Berlin U-Bahn station on lines U1 and U3.

Prinzenstraße
General information
Location	Gitschiner Straße/Prinzenstraße Kreuzberg, Berlin Germany
Coordinates	52°29′54″N 13°24′22″E
Owned by	Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe
Operated by	Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Connections	: 140, N1
Construction
Structure type	Elevated
Bicycle facilities	Yes
Accessible	Yes (eastbound only)
Other information
Fare zone	: Berlin A/5555[1]
History
Opened	18 February 1902; 123 years ago (1902-02-18)
Services
Preceding station Berlin U-Bahn Following station Hallesches Tor towards Uhlandstraße U1 Kottbusser Tor towards Warschauer Straße Hallesches Tor towards Krumme Lanke U3
Route map Kottbusser Tor Hallesches Tor
Location Prinzenstraße Location within Berlin

Overview

The station is located roughly where the eponymous street crosses the Landwehrkanal in Kreuzberg. The nearby Böcklerpark, a small park with a hall where music events are often held, and the Sommerbad Kreuzberg swimming pool, colloquially called Prinzenbad, are among the most popular venues in central Kreuzberg. The street and subsequently the station were named after Prince William I, the later German Emperor.

U-Bahn station Prinzenstraße, about 1900

The station on the first U-Bahn line from Potsdamer Platz to Stralauer Tor was opened on 18 February 1902. Because the station is on a viaduct above the junction of Prinzenstraße and Gitschiner Straße, a street level entrance hall could only be erected on its south side on the grounds of a gas plant, while the stairs to the northern platform had to be included in the opposite residential building.

Destroyed in World War II on 28/29 January 1944 and 3 February 1945, the station was rebuilt in the 1950s. It later received new entrance halls in a hotly disputed Postmodern style, in 1984^[2] for the north wing and 1991 for the south wing. Inside, a preserved detail of the old station is found at the northern platform, a small sculpture of a frog with a crown and a ball, alluding to the Frog Prince fairy tale.