Fürstenhof

The district president approved the new building only after Cathedral Master Builder Bernhard Hertel had reviewed the design. He checked whether the building was worthy of the cathedral's stature and fitted the unified appearance of the cathedral square. A key concern was the unobstructed view of the cathedral along the street: new buildings were not to be too tall. For this reason, the top floor on Marzellenstraße was not built across the full width but is set back at the rear. On Trankgasse, by contrast, the façade was given five storeys to match the Hotel Ernst Excelsior, completed shortly before.

The ground floor initially housed shops, with a café above offering an open view of the cathedral, which opened on 20 December 1911. Its walls were painted yellow and its furniture was made of dark mahogany. The three upper floors originally offered over 40 hotel rooms with eight bathrooms.

After the building was sold to the Düsseldorf company Aktiengesellschaft Schwabenbräu, Düsseldorf architect Ernst Huhn remodeled every floor in just four months. One aim was to attract more visitors to the café. The shops gave way to the tavern "Zur Pauluswache" and a restaurant that served as a café in the afternoons. Murals by the painters Hans Kirchner and Küppers depicted scenes from Cologne's history and legends, and the wrought-iron lamps were made by the art blacksmith Heinrich Hecker. The hotel now had 62 guest rooms with 85 beds.

The building suffered comparatively little damage in the Second World War and was restored in 1946/1947 under architect Josef Kögl. The hotel closed in 1966. The upper floors were subsequently used as offices, while a series of restaurants occupied the first floor.