American Consulate General in Hamburg
The American Consulate General in Hamburg is a striking building in the classicist style in an exposed location on Alsterufer 27/28 in the Rotherbaum district of the Alster and is particularly well known among the 97 consulates and commercial agencies (as of January 2019) in the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg . The current Consul General since July 2019 is Darion Akins. In addition to Hamburg, the consulate general represents the other northern German states of Lower Saxony , Bremen , Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania . Around 20,000 US citizens live in these countries, 3,984 of them in Hamburg (as of December 31, 2018). A move to the Hafencity is planned.
History of the Consulate
The American Consulate in Hamburg was founded on June 17, 1790 as one of the first American consulates in Germany. Deputy consul was John Parish , a naturalized Hamburg native of Scottish origin. Three years later, Parish was promoted to consul; however, he resigned voluntarily in 1796.
The consulate was closed from October 1917 to 1922 on the occasion of the United States' participation in the First World War . On July 8, 1941, all American consulates in Germany were closed until the end of World War II , and American interests were represented by the Swiss legation. The Consulate General reopened on March 1, 1946, and in 1950 the American government bought the current building on the Alsterufer, where the Consulate General has been located after renovations since it opened on August 15, 1951. A tradition from the beginning has been to put up a Christmas tree decorated with colored lights on the pillar porch at Christmas time.
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York City , the Consulate General is one of the best-guarded places in Hamburg. The Alsterufer street in the vicinity of the building has been closed since the terrorist attacks, and the Hamburg police set up an office with the ZD 54 to guard the consulate general and other diplomatic missions and institutions. Police officers patrol the Consulate General around the clock.
Since 1790, 52 consuls or consuls general have represented the United States, and the consulate had more than 30 locations in the Hanseatic city of Hamburg during this time (as of 2012).
Relocation plans since 2014
At the beginning of August 2014, the consulate's plans to move again became known, and they were talking about the rooms of the Brahms Kontor on Holstenwall opposite the Laeiszhalle . At the end of October 2014 there were reports that the planned move had been withdrawn for security reasons and due to a lack of buying interest. Partial letting of the consulate's rooms is now being considered. On September 26, 2015, the media reported again that the house on the Alster was to be sold and that a move to Hafencity was imminent. The new rooms would be set up in the Amundsen House, which is part of the Hanseatic Trade Center building complex on Kehrwieder 8-12 . The roadblock at the “White House on the Alster” will be lifted after moving out. A date for the move has still not been set in September 2019.
History of the building
The two villas were originally designed by Martin Haller in the classical style . The larger house on the left was built in 1882 for the merchant Gustav Michaelsen, who sold it in 1891 to Wilhelm Anton Riedemann , who is known as a pioneer of tanker shipping and one of the founders of the German-American Petroleum Company (later Esso ). The neighboring house was built in 1893 for the businessman Julius Rée, who after its completion sold it to Eduard Sanders, Riedemann's business partner and son-in-law. Both buildings were connected by an archway.
From 1934 to 1945 the ensemble was used as the headquarters of the National Socialists in Hamburg. The Gauleiter and Reich Governor Karl Kaufmann set up the Gauleitung there. For this purpose, the villas were remodeled and connected to one another by the architects Elingius and Schramm, whereby the smaller Rée villa on the right was adapted to the classicist style of the Michaelsen house by removing overly picturesque details in the style of the French and German Renaissance .
After the Second World War, Hamburg was in the British zone of occupation and the British military government confiscated the building. In May 1950, the American government bought it from the heirs of the owners. It was rebuilt again by the architects Schoch and Gundlach and supplemented by the pillar porch, modeled on the White House in Washington . The consulate moved into it on August 15, 1951. After the renovation, the building ensemble was popularly known as the “Little White House on the Alster”.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://de.usembassy.gov/de/die-botschaft-und-die-konsulate/konsulat-hamburg/generalkonsul/
- ↑ https://www.statistik-nord.de/fileadmin/Dokumente/Statistische_Berichte/bevoelkerung/A_1_4_j_H/A_I_4_j_18_HH.pdf
- ^ John Parish , daten.digitale-sammlungen.de, accessed on March 25, 2013
- ↑ 60 years of the US Consulate General Hamburg (PDF; 2.5 MB), photos.state.gov, accessed on March 20, 2013
- ^ André Zand-Vakili, Sascha Balasko and Julia Witte: USA save money at the White House on the Alster , abendblatt.de, December 19, 2012, accessed on March 20, 2013
- ↑ Consulate apparently wants to move into the Brahms office , abendblatt.de, August 8, 2014, accessed on August 8, 2014
- ↑ Fahrradverbans fears danger for cyclists , abendblatt.de, October 31, 2014
- ↑ For sale Weißes Haus am Alsterufer , abendblatt.de, September 26, 2015, accessed on September 26, 2015
- ↑ Darion Akins is America's new man in Hamburg , abendblatt.de, September 17, 2019, accessed on September 26, 2019
- ^ A b c Ralf Lange : Architecture in Hamburg . Junius Verlag , Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-88506-586-9 , p. 110 .
- ↑ Quoted from the Consulate General's web link. Ralf Lange's architectural guide from 2008 gives the date for the Rée Villa as 1883.
- ↑ Klaus Witzeling: Well-known places, historically seen , Abendblatt.de, accessed on March 19, 2013
- ↑ Quoted from the Consulate General's web link
Coordinates: 53 ° 33 ′ 43.9 " N , 9 ° 59 ′ 49.5" E