YOU ARE HERE: GRAND HOTEL ALEXANDERPLATZ
Strolling Through Vanished Berlin
What forty years, one world war, fall of the monarchy and massive financial crisis triggered by raging hyperinflation can do: behold Berlin's “Grand Hotel Alexanderplatz”, designed by Martens, von Holst and Zaar and opened in 1884.
The hotel stood on the corner of Alexanderstraße and Neue Königsstraße and was a popular place to stay for all guests alighting at Bahnhof Alexanderplatz or planning to leave the city using that station. Initially affordable only to the better-heeled clientele (although no gilded heels were necessary), it began to lose its veneer of gentility along with the surrounding neighbourhood.
In the 1920s the old Grand Hotel would be completely stripped of its original style and the building re-named Engelhardt Haus (after a Berlin brewery originally from Pankow).
The former hotel building was destroyed during the Second World War and its remains removed, leaving no trace of its jaded glory.
Today it is the (still) rather controversial construction site (they damaged the U2 underground line tunnels and station): the Covivio Tower will be one of several new high-rises planned for Alexanderplatz.
However, before the construction began, Berlin archeologists asked to investigate the site. They had found pieces of the original hotel crockery as well as the remains of the conservatory. So, as almost always, not all is gone - only hard to find.
And a little fun fcat with a personal angle (which I always like to look out for): one of the hotel’s architects, Carl Zaar, is also the designer of the townhall in the city your truly grew up in and where her family still live: in Słupsk, Poland (former Stolp in Pommern).
And another fun fact close to my heart as a genealogist: Carl Zaar’s mother’s maiden name was “Führer”;-)