Chesham Place - Bonn Style

For Dr. Hans Helmuth Ruete who followed Karl-Günther von Hase in April 1977, London was the last post in a distinguished diplomatic career. He was born in the then Leningrad when it was still St.Petersburg. After his law studies he served as a diplomat in Tokyo, Calcutta, Paris and, before coming to London at an important stage in East-West, indeed German-Polish relations, in Warsaw. He was an expert in relations with the Communist countries. In London he inaugurated the new Embassy annexe in Chesham Place, linked by a road-bridge over the Mews to the Belgrave Square Ambassador's residence. The building work had taken a long time. It was the second major reconstruction after the Embassy was first opened in 1955, and carried out by German architects under the direction of the Bonn Federal Office for Public Buildings, in close cooperation with British architects and engineers.

The Grosvenor Estate strictly guards the late-Georgian character of Belgrave Square and sees to it that it is not changed in any way. As regards the new building backing on to Belgrave Square, an attempt was made to fit in with the surroundings in a beautiful part of the capital. But the Bonn-style of hard-baked red brick was unmistakable in the first major architectural enterprise of the Federal Republic abroad. One person who did not disguise her disapproval of the new building was the Queen, who told the Ambassador that as far as she was concerned it was an "eyesore" and that she was reminded of it constantly when passing it. There was no shortage of other critics but eventually the building was awarded the Westminster City Council's prize for architecture and for keeping a balance between the classical tradition and a modern building. Having to "carry the can" for the finished product, the Ambassador had recourse to quoting Martin Luther at the Inauguration Party, though not, as one might have expected, the famous words spoken at the Diet of Worms which would have been fitting for a new building: "Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise", but - equally realistically - with what Luther was supposed to have said of his wife: "Now that we have to live with her, we have to love her."

Dr. Ruete never allowed a grave physical disability -- the loss of his leg in the campaign against Russia -- to interfere with his duties. He even accompanied Queen Elizabeth II on her second State Visit to Germany, in May 1978, including frequent walkabouts. He was impressed by her popularity and recalled afterwards the scene in front of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin where a tremendous crowd had assembled, applauding and cheering her. That evening, Prince Philip told the Ambassador that on his walkabouts he had spoken to two women who had come over to West Berlin from the German Democratic Republic specially for the occasion.