Steuben Square

The Steubenplatz is a triangular square in Potsdam, named after the Prussian-American general Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben. The square is bounded by Schloßstraße to the north, the City Palace to the east, the Ringerkolonnade and the Marstall to the south, and Friedrich-Ebert-Straße to the west. In the center of the square stood the Steuben monument until 1945.

The square was called Fiakerplatz until 1911 because horse-drawn carriages waiting for the inner-city transport to and from the City Palace and the numerous inns in the vicinity gathered there. Frederick the Great had the square paved and a drainage channel for the waste of the waiting horses built. Frederick William III had the pavement removed around 1820 and created an ornamental square with trees. In popular parlance, it received the name Kommandanturgarten due to the adjacent commandant's office in the former Plöger inn.

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