The Building
The Construction of the Teehaus
The work on the Teehaus itself was to begin in early 1938, with the foundations being prepared by Hochtief, a Munich-based construction company. The engineer in charge of this project was Dr. Alfred Reinhardt, who worked under professor Fick, the architect. To accommodate the foundations as outlined in the plan, a few metres of rock had to be removed. Work on the site was frantic, and took place both during the day and night. To maximise efficiency in getting the building materials to the construction site, a second cable system was installed. The number of workers involved in the project - which included engineers, elevator technicians, bricklayers, carpenters, tilers and an array of general handymen and helpers - was enormous, and special quarters were built nearby to house them.
The Teehaus was designed as a wooden frame structure, and consisted of some eighty percent concrete. Both the inner and outside walls of the house were covered by a stone facade, constructed from huge granite blocks that were hoisted up to the summit on the cable system. These fine stones had been individually crafted by the Phillip Holzmann Company according to the architectural plans as early as 1937, and until they were transported to the summit had been carefully stored in a quarry located near the Danubian town of Passau.
The house was built with two floors, the ground floor (see diagram above) and basement (see below). The latter included four rooms, toilet block, a conference hall and a balcony and viewing platform, while the ground floor was also equipped with a conference hall and balcony, as well as the large octagonal reception hall, the Scharitzkehl room, which offered a stunning view of both the Hohen Göll and Watzmann mountains and the Königsee, the main dining hall which could accommodate up to thirty guests, and a guard room. There was also a fully-equipped kitchen and a study reserved for Hitler, both of which were never used.
