Hotel Adlon

Hotel Adlon Kempinski
The current Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin
Hotel chain	Kempinski
General information
Location	Berlin–Mitte,Germany
Address	Unter den Linden 77
Opening	Original Hotel Adlon - October 24th 1907 Current Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin - August 23rd 1997
Technical details
Floor count	7
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Rainer Michael Klotz
Other information
Number of rooms	382
Number of restaurants	4
Number of bars	5
Website
kempinski /adlon

TheHotel Adlon Kempinski Berlinis a luxuryhotelinBerlin,Germany.It is onUnter den Linden,the main boulevard in the centralMittedistrict, at the corner withPariser Platz,directly opposite theBrandenburg Gate.

The original Hotel Adlon was one of the most famous hotels in Europe. It opened in 1907 and was largely destroyed in 1945 in the closing days ofWorld War II,though a small wing continued operating until 1984. The current hotel, which opened on August 23, 1997, is a new building with a design inspired by the original.

History

First Hotel Adlon

In the late 19th century, European hotels, which generally offered no more than overnight accommodation, evolved to become social gathering places which could host large receptions given by nobility and the wealthy. Modeled on American hotels such as theWaldorf Astoria,new hotel buildings arose all over the continent with lavishly decorated ballrooms, dining halls, arcades, smoking lounges, libraries, and coffeehouses. In 1873 theHotel Imperialopened inVienna,followed by theHôtel Ritz Parisin 1898, and theLondon Ritzin 1906. In Berlin, the capital of theGerman Empire,Wilhelminehigh society was eager to keep up with their rival metropolitan cities.

In 1905Lorenz Adlon,a successful wine merchant and restaurateur originally fromMainz,purchased two properties on Unter den Linden. Adlon ran several coffeehouses in Berlin, among others in theBerlin Zoological Garden,and had raised capital to build a hotel on Pariser Platz, at the heart of the German capital. He convincedKaiser Wilhelm IIthat Berlin needed a luxury hotel at the level of those in Paris, London and the other European capitals, and so the Kaiser personally interceded with the owners of the Palais Redern, aNeo-Renaissancelandmark designed byKarl Friedrich Schinkelin 1830, which sat at Adlon's chosen location. The Kaiser cleared the way for Adlon's purchase of the Palais and for the subsequent demolition of the historic building.

Designed by Carl Gause and Robert Leibnitz, the hotel was built at a cost of 20 milliongold marks,two million of which were the bulk of Adlon's personal fortune. Behind a rather sober façade, the hotel was the most modern in Germany with hot and cold running water, an on-site laundry, as well as its own power plant to generate electricity. It boasted a huge lobby with enormous square marble columns, a restaurant, a cafe, a palm court, a ladies' lounge, a library, a music room, a smoking room, a barber shop, a cigar shop, an interior garden with a Japanese-themed elephant fountain, and numerous grand ballrooms.

The new structure had 260 rooms, with 322 beds and 110 bathrooms. Adlon had also purchased the adjoiningHotel Reichshof,opened in 1892, and integrated it into his hotel, adding a further 45 rooms, with 69 beds and 30 bathrooms. This gave the Hotel Adlon a total of 305 rooms, with 391 beds and 140 bathrooms.The hotel was decorated in a mix ofNeo-Baroqueand Louis XVI styles and furnished by the Mainz company of Bembé, where Lorenz Adlon had been an apprentice carpenter in his youth. It was located in the heart of the government quarter next to theBritish EmbassyonWilhelmstraße,facing the French and American Embassies on Pariser Platz and only blocks from theReich Chancelleryand other government ministries further south on Wilhelmstraße.

The Adlon opened on October 23, 1907, with the Kaiser, his wife, and many other notables in attendance. It quickly became the social center of Berlin. As the rooms in theStadtschlosswere cold and drafty, the Kaiser paid an annual retainer to keep suites available for his guests.Likewise theForeign Officeused the Adlon for accommodation during state visits, with guests including TsarNicholas II of Russiaand MaharajaBhupinder Singh of Patiala.Notable guests of the early years included industrialists such asThomas Edison,Henry Ford,andJohn D. Rockefeller,as well as politicians likeWalther Rathenau,Gustav Stresemannand the French prime ministerAristide Briand.Many wealthy Berliners lived for extended periods of time in the hotel, while its ballrooms hosted official government functions and society events.

AfterWorld War Iand the abdication of the Kaiser, Lorenz Adlon remained a staunch monarchist and thus never imagined normal traffic would pass through the Brandenburg Gate's central archway, which had been reserved for the Kaiser alone. He therefore never looked before crossing in front of it. Tragically, this resulted in Adlon being hit by a car in 1918 at that spot. Three years later, he was again hit by a car at exactly the same spot, dying from his injuries a few days later, on April 7, 1921. Lorenz's son Louis Adlon took over management of the hotel with his wife Tilli and their five children. A few months later, at a New Year's Eve party, Louis met Hedwig Leythen, known as Hedda, a German-born hotel guest who had been raised in America. Louis soon divorced Tilli and married Hedda.

During the "Golden Twenties",the Adlon remained one of the most famous hotels in Europe, hosting celebrity guests includingLouise Brooks,Charlie Chaplin,Mary Pickford,Emil Jannings,Albert Einstein,Enrico Caruso,Thomas Mann,Josephine Baker,andMarlene Dietrich,and also international politicians such asFranklin Roosevelt,Paul von Hindenburg,andHerbert Hoover.The hotel was a favorite hangout of international journalists, includingWilliam L. Shirer,who mentions it frequently in his writings. The hotel's lobby and public rooms were also popular with foreign diplomats.

The hotel remained a social center of the city throughout theNaziperiod, though the Nazis themselves preferred theHotel Kaiserhofa few blocks south and directly across from the Propaganda Ministry and Hitler's Chancellery onWilhelmplatz.In 1938, financial difficulties forced Louis Adlon to sell the annex of the hotel at 70a Wilhelmstraße, the former Hotel Reichshof, to the government, which converted it to offices for theReich Ministry of Food and Agriculture.The Adlon continued to operate normally throughoutWorld War II,even constructing a luxuriousbomb shelterfor its guests and a huge brick wall around the lobby level to protect the function rooms from flying debris. Parts of the hotel were converted to a militaryfield hospitalduring the final days of theBattle of Berlin.The hotel survived the war without any major damage, having avoided the bombs and shelling that had leveled the city. On the night of May 2, 1945 a fire, allegedly started in the hotel's wine cellar by drunkenRed Armysoldiers, left the main building in ruins.

Louis Adlon himself was arrested in his home nearPotsdamby Soviet troops on April 25 after they mistook him for a general due to his title of "Generaldirektor". He died on a street inFalkenseeon May 7, 1945, ofheart failureaccording to the death certificate.

East German Hotel Adlon

Although the main wing of the hotel on Pariser Platz had been destroyed, the damaged but surviving wings at 70a and 70b Wilhelmstraße reopened for business in August 1945, with 16 guest rooms and a small restaurant in a former function room. Although operating as the Hotel Adlon, it was no longer connected with the Adlon family, as the hotel was now located in the Soviet sector of the city. Instead, it was reported to have been operated by a man named Georg Behlert.On November 22, 1945, a meeting was held in one of the Adlon's surviving ballrooms, which resulted in the formation ofDEFA,the state-owned film studio of the future East Germany.By December 1945, 36 rooms had been made habitable for guests. By 1950, the hotel had a staff of 70 and featured a conference hall seating 300, and 100 beds, with plans to add another 30 rooms, with 50 beds.

The hotel was expropriated by theEast Germangovernment on December 14, 1950, and the ruined main Pariser Platz wing was demolished. On September 25, 1951, it was announced that a new Hotel Adlon would be constructed on the site, by the state.Construction never began, and after all the other buildings on Pariser Platz were demolished, the square was left as an abandoned, grassed-over buffer with the West, with the Brandenburg Gate sitting alone by the Berlin Wall, constructed in 1961.

In 1955, Hedda Adlon published a popular autobiography,Hotel Adlon. Das Berliner Hotel, in dem die große Welt zu Gast war,which was published in English in 1960 asHotel Adlon: The Life and Death of a Great Hotel.The book was filmed in German in 1955 asHotel Adlonby directorJosef von Báky,starringNelly Borgeaud.In 1957, Hedda signed contracts with theKempinskicompany, giving them the right to purchase the Hotel Adlon name, and the property, in order to rebuild the hotel, should that ever become possible. Hedda died in 1967.

In 1964, the remaining portion of the Hotel Adlon was renovated by the East German government and the facade was rebuilt. In the 1970s, the hotel closed to guests and was converted to serve mainly as a lodging house for government apprentices. Finally, on March 10, 1984, the building was demolished.

Second Hotel Adlon Kempinski

With the reunification ofGermany,Kempinski exercised their rights to the hotel name and the site. After lengthy legal proceedings, they took possession of the property, then sold the development project to Fundus Fonds, a West German investment firm, with Kempinski retaining a long-term lease on the hotel.Fundus Fonds constructed a new hotel between 1995 and 1997. The building, only very loosely inspired by the original, was designed by Rainer Michael Klotz of Patzschke Klotz & Partners, and on August 23, 1997, German PresidentRoman Herzogopened the newHotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin.The hotel occupies the site of the original building, along with additional adjacent land. Due to its success, it was expanded twice with new wings at the rear on Behrenstrasse, designed by architectGünter Behnisch.The first wing, known as the Adlon Palais, opened in 2003,while the second, known as the Adlon Residenz, opened in 2004.

Location

When it was built, the Hotel Adlon was famously located at Number One Unter Den Linden, as the avenue was numbered starting at the westernBrandenburg Gateend. The address was used in the hotel's advertising and became synonymous with it. Beginning in late-1936,the entire Unter den Linden was renumbered, starting from the eastern end, by theBerlin Palace,resulting in the Adlon's address becoming Unter den Linden 77. The current Hotel Adlon Kempinski maintains this address.

In popular culture

• The hotel features prominently in numerous fiction and non-fiction books about the Third Reich, includingJoseph Kanon's novelThe Good German,Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther novels,David Downing's John Russell novels, andWilliam L. Shirer's memoirBerlin Diary.
• Greta Garbo's 1932 filmGrand Hotelis set in a Berlin hotel inspired by the Adlon. In one of its rooms, she first utters her trademark line 'I want to be alone'.
• A fictional half-ruined pre-war luxury hotel in East Berlin (also inspired by the Adlon), is seen inBilly Wilder's 1961 filmOne, Two, Three.(Samuel Wilder, called "Billie", later Billy, was a journalist/colleague of Julian Zimmermann, tried in the 1920s to be a gigolo/dancer at the hotel, but gave it up.)
• In the 1972 filmCabaret,Liza Minnelli's character Sally Bowles says she went to "the Adlon" to meet her father, who did not show up.
• The British avant rock bandHenry Cow's albumUnrestfrom 1974 has a track named "Upon Entering the Hotel Adlon".
• The hotel appears as a still photograph in the intro forHeil Honey, I'm Home!,a 1990 British sitcom starringAdolf HitlerandEva Braunthat was canceled after one episode for being in bad taste.
• Film directorPercy Adlon,great-grandson ofLorenz Adlonmade a documentaryThe Glamorous World of the Adlon Hotelin 1996.
• Much of the Liam Neeson 2011 action filmUnknownwas filmed at the Adlon, including the final portion.
• Michael Jacksonheld his then-infant son Prince-Michael "Blanket" II out one of the hotel's windows during a visit to Berlin in November 2002, afterward apologizing "I offer no excuses for what happened, I got caught up in the excitement of the moment. I would never intentionally endanger the lives of my children."
• In the 2011Doctor Whoepisode "Let's Kill Hitler",theTARDISlands in the dining room of the Hotel Adlon in 1938, theDoctordies there due toRiver Song's poisonous kiss and she uses her ownregenerationenergy plus all her future regenerations to resurrect the Doctor, under the eyes ofAmy PondandRory Williams.
• A three-part drama mini-series set at the hotel entitledHotel Adlon: A Family Sagawas broadcast on the German television station ZDF in January 2013.
• A documentaryDas Adlon – Die Dokumentation(The Adlon: A Documentary) was also broadcast by ZDF in January 2013.

Gallery

• Hotel Adlon
• 
  Palais Redern, about 1900
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  Hotel Adlon, about 1910
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  Hotel Adlon, 1926
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  Hotel Adlon, 1927
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  Hotel Reichshof, 70a Wilhelmstrasse, 1889, before being integrated into the Hotel Adlon in 1907
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  A reception room in the Hotel Adlon, about 1910
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  Pariser Platz seen from Hotel Adlon, about 1910
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  A demonstration against the peace terms followingWorld War Ipasses the Adlon, where the Allied delegations were staying, May 14, 1919
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  Jackie Cooganat the Adlon, 1924
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  Jackie Cooganat the Adlon, 1924
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  Jackie Cooganat the Adlon, 1924
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  Movie starPola Negrimeets with film directors at the Adlon, April 1925
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  Louis and Hedda Adlon, 1926
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  Louis Adlon riding at his country estate, 1926
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  Louis Adlon with visiting American hoteliers, includingEllsworth Milton Statler,3 May 1926
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  Ellsworth Milton Statler, in front of the Adlon
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  American bankerOtto Hermann Kahnin front of Hotel Adlon, April 1929
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  Funeral of German Foreign MinisterGustav Stresemann,October 6, 1929
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  Thomas Mannat the Adlon, 1929
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  Thomas Mannat the Adlon, 1929
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  Gala dinner given by former German ChancellorHans Luther,August 1929
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  Nobuhito, Prince Takamatsuand his wife,Kikuko, Princess Takamatsu,at the Adlon, August, 1930
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  French PremierPierre Lavaland Foreign MinisterAristide Briandat the Adlon, September 1, 1931
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  Roger Wolfe Kahn,Hannah Williams (actress)andOtto Hermann Kahnin front of Hotel Adlon, 1931
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  Aerial view of Unter den Linden, with Hotel Adlon at center, October 1931
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  Louis Adlon in his office, 1932
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  Foreign Press Ball at the Adlon, c. 1930s
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  Norwegian collaborationist Prime MinisterVidkun Quisling(left) meets with Dr. Hans Draeger, President of the Norwegian Liaison Office in Berlin at the Adlon, February 14, 1942
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  Ruined Pariser Platz in 1950, gutted Hotel Adlon on the right
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  Hotel Adlon ruins, 1950, showing the protective wall built around the ground floor in the closing months of World War II
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  The ruined main entrance to the Hotel Adlon, 1950
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  Ruined courtyard of the Adlon, 1950
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  Entrance to the makeshift Hotel Adlon through the surviving 70a Wilhelmstrasse wing, 1950
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  Hotel Adlon site before construction began, 1990
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  Hotel Adlon Kempinski under construction, 1995
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  Felix ClubRestaurant at Hotel Adlon Kempinski, 2006
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  Hotel Adlon Kempinski, 2011
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  Adlon Palais wing, facing Behrenstraße, 2011
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  Hotel Adlon Kempinski, July 2022

See also

• Lorenz Adlon(1849–1921), German hotelier, built Hotel
• Louis Adlon(1908–1947), German-American film actor in Hollywood, grandson of Lorenz
• Hotel Adlon,German film, from book by Louis's father's second wife
• Percy Adlon(born 1935, Munich), German film producer, cousin of Louis, grandson of Lorenz
• Pamela Adlon(born 1966), American actress, daughter-in-law of Percy

Further reading

• Adlon, Hedda (1958). Denny, Norman (ed.).Hotel Adlon; The Life and Death of a Great Hotel.Barrie Books.Retrieved2 October2019.

External links

• Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin official website
• Hotel Adlon- Hotel Guide Berlin
• "Adlon-Revue" for the 100th Birthday By Barbara JänichenDie Welt
• http://adloninteraktiv.zdf.de/
• "The Glamorous World of the Adlon Hotel" (1996)– IMDb
• "The Glamorous World of the Adlon Hotel, An homage to my own family"PercyAdlon