This imposing brick-built school building on the shore of the Pfaffenteich dates from the 1860s; until then the school had been accommodated in the transept of the Cathedral. It was intended as a superior educational institution for the training of future civil servants and officers of state, such as jurists, senior officials and church dignitaries.
The school building on Pfaffenteich in August-Bebel-Strasse is a rectangular brick building with a three-by central projection and single-bay side projection, which was erected between 1868 and 1870. Commissioned by Grand Duke Friedrich Franz II in the “Johann-Albrecht style”, it consists of a Principal’s house - the Director's Villa - and a school building and also later extensions such as a gymnasium and additional classrooms. The terracotta medallions on the façade allude to historic ruling personalities from Mecklenburg’s history who were connected with the educational institution, such as the humanist Renaissance prince Johann Albrecht I (1525-1576), Duke Ulrich III (1527-1603), Friedrich Franz I (1756-1837), and finally the builder of the grammar school on the Pfaffenteich, Grand Duke Friedrich Franz II himself.
With its structure of projections and tower-like corner elevations, together with the Director's Villa and gymnasium, the Fridericianum relates archtecturally to the Armoury on the opposite, west bank of the Pfaffenteich.
The interior retains the original floor plan. A central access corridor leads to the classrooms, which face the street and the courtyard. The doors and wall panelling are original. In the course of the conversion, the previoulsy large classrooms were subdivided with lightweight, demountable partitions. The original staircases are located in the side wings. The large assembly hall is located on the upper floor in the centre of the building. The interior of the room had to be renewed in 1938 after fire damage.
Today the building is used as a teaching facility for a private college, while the Fridericianum grammar school has moved into the former Lyzeum in the Goethestrasse.