Funkhaus Wallrafplatz

The building was among the first major projects in war-ravaged Cologne, launched on the initiative of NWDR director Hanns Hartmann. From 1948 the studios rose on the site of the gutted Hotel Monopol (built 1899/1900 to designs by Ludwig Paffendorf); to save costs and materials, roughly 25 percent of the old structure was folded into the new one. Federal President Theodor Heuss and 700 guests attended the opening on 21 June 1952. With seven storeys and 16,000 square metres, it was then considered one of the most modern in Europe. On the evening of 25 December 1952 the first Cologne television broadcast went out from here, and in 1953 the German Bundestag held one session in the Large Broadcasting Hall while the Bonn plenary chamber was being rebuilt.

The Large Broadcasting Hall entered service on 19 October 1951, was designed by sculptor Ludwig Gies and seats 650 visitors and 150 musicians. Fitted with a large Klais concert organ, it now bears the name of former director Klaus von Bismarck. As the first major concert hall in post-war Cologne, it still hosts more than 200 concerts and events each year. The Small Broadcasting Hall holds 160 spectators and is booked with concerts year-round.

The paternoster lift is famous thanks to Heinrich Böll's story Doktor Murkes gesammeltes Schweigen; today only staff may ride it. From 1997 to 2012 the ground floor housed Café Campi, run by Cologne restaurateur Gigi Campi; since then the venue has traded as Funkhaus. The site gained nationwide fame through the children's TV series Der Spatz vom Wallrafplatz, broadcast in 36 episodes from 1969 to 1976.