Prinz-Carl-
Palais

Patron Salabert, architect Karl von Fischer

The Lorraine abbé Pierre de Salabert, tutor of Elector Max IV Joseph (the future King Max I Joseph), acquires extensive plots along the former city fortifications at the start of the 19th century. In March 1803 he gives the commission for his palais — originally Palais Salabert — to the 21-year-old Karl von Fischer (1782–1820). Construction 1804–1806. Style: early classicism, a garden villa modelled on Palladio’s Renaissance villas; rusticated base, colossal pilasters running across floors, a projecting central avant-corps with two Ionic columns. The building establishes Fischer’s reputation as one of the leading Munich classicists.

From Palais Salabert to Prinz-Carl-Palais

On 14 November 1825 — shortly after acceding to the throne — King Ludwig I transfers the palais to his brother Prince Carl of Bavaria (1795–1875), field marshal and commanding general of the Bavarian army. The palais has been named after the king’s brother ever since. Prince Carl has it significantly enlarged by Jean-Baptiste Métivier. Residential history through the 19th and early 20th centuries: from 1876 to 1919 it is the seat of the Austro-Hungarian legation; from 1925 the official residence of the Bavarian Minister-President.

Reichsstatthalter Franz Ritter von Epp

On 12 April 1933 Franz Xaver Ritter von Epp (1868–1947), former Freikorps leader and NSDAP official, is appointed Reichsstatthalter in Bavaria by Reich President Hindenburg — the first Reichsstatthalter at all under the Gleichschaltung law. His office consolidates the Reich/state interface: appointment and dismissal of the Minister-President, the right to dissolve the state parliament, enactment and promulgation of state laws, the power of pardon.

Epp first takes up residence in the Prinz-Carl-Palais. But only for a few months: as early as early August 1933 he moves into the former Prussian legation building at Prinzregentenstraße 7. The Prinz-Carl-Palais thus stays under shifting Nazi use until 1937, without permanently housing the office of the Reichsstatthalter.

1937 — conversion for Mussolini

The occasion for the major 1937 conversion is the upcoming state visit of Benito Mussolini to Munich. Architect Fritz Gablonsky converts the palais into a representative guest house: substantial extension to the west, demolition of the north wing (because of the simultaneous widening of Von-der-Tann-Straße), reconstruction of the north wing on the model of the south wing, doubling of the building volume, closure of the former east–west passageway in favour of a central staircase in the middle of the building. Bombing only lightly damages the palais; after 1945 it first serves the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts, from 1968 as the official residence of the Bavarian Minister-President — for representational purposes only, not as a private home.

Today: Bavarian State Chancellery

In 1971–1975 the palais is restored and renovated by the Munich State Building Authority under the direction of Hans Heid for around 87 million DM. Today it is used by the Bavarian State Chancellery for receptions, state guests and official occasions; the palais is not open to the public. There is no specific panel at the building about the Epp use of 1933 — the information is publicly available via the Historical Lexicon of Bavaria and Wikipedia.