After 1870, Wilhelm II commissioned the Berlin architect, Kröger, with the task of making the city of Metz more prestigious and German in appearance. The new imperial quarter, laid out around the wide Avenue Foch, the railway station and administrative buildings, was built out of pink or grey sandstone, granite and basalt in order to break with the tradition of yellow Jaumont stone prevalent in the rest of the town. The result is a veritable hotchpotch of styles: Gothic, Romanesque, Renaissance and Art nouveau.