Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe station

Geschichte

Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe is a railway station in the city of Kassel, in the German state of Hesse. It is the city's most important railway station, as it is connected to the Hanover-Würzburg high-speed rail line, with InterCityExpress services calling at the station.HistoryKassel-Wilhelmshöhe station was opened as Wahlershausen station with the last section of the Frederick William Northern Railway on 29 December 1849. Whether a station was required at this point on the line was initially controversial. Trains running between Kassel and Gerstungen stopped here as did services running on the Main-Weser Railway a little later. The station was immediately adjacent to the Wilhelmshöher Allee crossing, ensuring good road connections. The underpass originally planned under the Allee was, however, replaced by a level crossing for cost reasons. The station served not only the village of Wahlershausen, but also Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, which was two kilometres away. The station building's southern avant-corps therefore included a Fürstenzimmer ("prince's room"), a "waiting room for the nation's leaders." Julius Eugen Ruhl produced a series of designs for the station building. These had very different dimensions. A smaller version was finally built, with a two-storey brick building decorated with terracotta with five opening on each side, avant-corps and a spire, which emphasised the central axis, in the Italianate Renaissance Revival style. On the ground floor there were the waiting rooms and offices and on the first floor there were two residences for officials. The building was remodelled several times over the years and lost much of its decoration. It was finally demolished immediately before the construction of the new Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe long-distance station.