Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten (Munich)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The hotel foyer
Coat of arms of the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Munich

The Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski Munich is a luxury hotel of the five-star category in the Maximilian Strasse in Munich . The Kempinski house is one of the best hotels in Germany. In 2015, with 49 million euros, it was ranked fourth among the hotels with the highest turnover in Germany.

The entrance to Maximilianstrasse

history

Beginnings 1858

Friedrich Bürklein , who was responsible for the total work of art in Maximilianstrasse , appointed Rudolf Gottgetreu as the architect of the Four Seasons. The newly built Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten was opened on July 25th, 1858 with great pomp by hotelier August Schimon in Maximilianstrasse. Although had Maximilian II. Of "his" street requested the fanciest city hotel, should all blow up until then, set standards, but of course the hotel was not to the royal residence to outdo. Nevertheless, it set standards for its time. In addition to 60 stables, the Vier Jahreszeiten had gas lighting , bells for communication in the rooms, six marble bathrooms, a paternoster and valuable oil paintings . In the 19th century, some rooms had a "wave swing bath" popular with many guests to "strengthen their nerves".

Johann Samuel Obermayer ran the hotel from 1866 until his death in 1889, followed by his son Adolf.

First World War

During the First World War, the hotel was regarded as the center of the nationalist agitation of the Pan-German Association . From 1919 to 1924 it was the meeting place for the Thule Society .

Walterspiel brothers from 1926

In 1926 the brothers Alfred and Otto Walterspiel took over the hotel. Both the Restaurant Walterspiel and the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten were considered to be the “top address” in Europe under their management, thanks in particular to the culinary art of Alfred Walterspiel.

Even during the time of National Socialism , the hotel remained “an open house” with no restrictions for its international guests. The building was badly damaged in the air raids on Munich in World War II . In 1944, all the wings of the building, except for the one directly on Maximilianstrasse, burned down completely. This historical part was now one floor less.

After the war ended in 1945 , the building was used by the US occupation forces . In 1948 the Walterspiel brothers received permission from the crew to rebuild the hotel for foreign guests, and Alfred's son Georg joined the management team. In the summer of 1949 the hotel was also opened to German guests. The Walterspiel restaurant was reopened in 1950.

In 1958 the house had the most expensive hotel room in Germany. That year Otto Walterspiel retired. After Alfred Walterspiel's death in 1960, his sons Georg (* 1921) and Klaus Walterspiel ran the hotel.

Kempinski from 1970

In 1970 Kempinski took a 50% stake in the hotel. Karl Theodor Walterspiel, Otto's youngest son, was a member of the executive board of Kempinski AG. On the occasion of the XX. At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, the room capacity was almost doubled from 180 rooms to 303 rooms.

The hotel is now 99% owned by Kempinski AG. Since 2007, 42 million euros have been invested in the renovation of the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten . First, 42 rooms with a view of Maximilianstrasse were redesigned. All rooms were completely renovated in several sections by 2009. The architects Viktor Kim and Pierre Court from San Francisco and New York combined Louis XIV furniture with contemporary design pieces. The redesign of the seven event rooms was completed in 2013, the largest of which can accommodate up to 600 people.

Pâtisserie by Ian Baker (2017)

The Walterspiel restaurant was reopened in 2014 as the Schwarzreiter restaurant. It was named after King Ludwig II's alleged favorite fish , the smoked arctic char (called "Schwarzreiter") from the Königssee . With chef Anton Pozeg , it was awarded a Michelin star in November 2017 . Maike Menzel has been head chef at the Schwarzreiter restaurant since August 2018 .

The pâtisserie has been headed by the Briton Ian Baker (* 1983) since 2012, who was named Pâtissier of the Year in the Schlemmer Atlas in 2015.

The hotel has 305 rooms and suites, some of which have recently been renovated.

management

The hotel is under the management of the managing director Holger Schroth. Other managing directors are Markus Semer, Bernold Schröder and Colin Lubbe.

Known guests (excerpt)

Prominent guests included:

building

In 1857 JN Röckenschuß built a tenement house in the Maximilian style based on plans by R. Gottgetreu , which was then converted into a hotel after slight changes to the facade. In 1902 the facade was redesigned by Heilmann & Littmann to simplify matters . The four-bay entrance hall is located on the ground floor with its Tudor blind arches . The mezzanine floor and three upper floors are located above the cornice , with a simplified attic floor above . Two window axes on the street facade are combined into eight sections by pilasters , with three-axis risalits next to the second and sixth sections .

literature

  • Otto Walterspiel: An open house: My childhood in the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten , Lübbe Ehrenwirth 2012, ISBN 978-3-431-03860-6 .

Web links

Commons : Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Guests and investors fly to German hotels , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of May 20, 2016, p. 22.
  2. ↑ welt.de: The "Four Seasons", prepared for the anniversary
  3. ↑ a b c Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski Munich , Cosmopolis, 2008. Accessed on May 28, 2017.
  4. ↑ 1958 most expensive hotel room in Germany
  5. ↑ uni-muenchen.de: Press release of the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich 1991
  6. ↑ cosmopolis.ch: Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski Munich
  7. ↑ Kempinski 50% stake ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kempinski.com
  8. ↑ 42 million euros, SZ from May 19, 2010, accessed on July 1, 2013
  9. ^ Event rooms , Kempinski. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  10. ↑ How a young chef wants to revolutionize Bavarian cuisine , Süddeutsche Zeitung , November 9, 2015. Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  11. ↑ restaurant-ranglisten.de: Schwarzreiter day bar & restaurant
  12. ↑ kempinski.com: Ian Baker is "Pastry Chef of the Year 2015
  13. ↑ kempinski.com: facts
  14. ↑ Imprint , Kempinski. Retrieved May 27, 2017.

Coordinates: 48 ° 8 ′ 20 ″  N , 11 ° 34 ′ 54 ″  E