Neroberghotel
The Neroberghotel was a restaurant on the Neroberg in Wiesbaden . It has undergone major changes several times, both in terms of scope and use.
history
Founded in 1881
In 1881 a restaurant building with a beer garden was built on the Neroberg , from whose terrace one could enjoy the view over the whole of Wiesbaden. This restaurant quickly became a popular destination for day trippers and tourists. After the guests were initially only able to make their way to Wiesbaden's local mountain by horse-drawn carriage or on foot, the building of the Nerobergbahn in 1888 made it noticeably easier to reach it during the summer months.
In 1887 the expansion of the restoration building began. An approximately 15 meter high observation tower and a flat foyer that bordered the tower in a north-south direction were also built. The original building in east-west orientation was connected to the new building by means of a generous roofing over the terrace.
In 1897 the Wiesbaden city master builder Felix Genzmer was commissioned to expand the ensemble of buildings. In the style of late historicism , he created a representative property until 1899, which in future was to house a luxury hotel in addition to the already existing excursion café. The following construction measures were carried out for this purpose:
The foyer was built over with an additional storey, which accommodated spacious guest rooms with associated terraces and was provided with a bell roof with matching dormers and gables.
The part of the building erected in 1881 was connected to the tower by a two-storey intermediate building, which, in addition to other guest rooms, also contained dining and reading rooms as well as the hotel entrance and the associated staircase. From then on, the former foyer served as an event hall, the sides of which were expanded to include verandas for the excursion café and a winter garden for hotel guests.
A music pavilion for the entertainment of the guests was integrated on the south side of the building. The upgraded building was crowned by raising the observation tower to almost double its height. The slate-clad wooden construction now allowed a panoramic view of the treetops around Wiesbaden from the upper level. A smaller outbuilding, also newly built, served as a laundry.
In 1905 Wilhelm Cruciger took over the management of the Neroberghotel. With interruptions, he and his son directed the fortunes of the house for 61 years. In 1907 the hotel was connected to the power grid. In the following years, regular renovations and modernizations took place. The Neroberghotel survived the First World War unscathed. Its turmoil was followed by inflation; In December 1923 the hotelier paid a rent of more than 34 billion marks.
At the beginning of the Second World War , a Wehrmacht unit was quartered in the hotel. In 1944 the building was confiscated by the NSDAP for a "Reichslager". Flak soldiers used the tower for aerial observation throughout the war.
1945 to 1965
After the Second World War, the Neroberghotel became a restricted area for the German population. Like the other luxury hotels in the city, it served as an officers' mess and accommodation for officers and other higher ranks of the US armed forces. International artists such as Frank Sinatra performed on the stage of the house during this time.
While it was still in use by the Americans, the Neroberg Hotel, which is still representative from the outside, served as a backdrop for scenes from the film " When the white lilac is in bloom ", the exterior shots of which were largely shot in Wiesbaden.
When the building was returned to the city in 1956, the rooms and inventory were in extremely poor condition. All the furniture had to be re-purchased. Of the 42,000 pieces of porcelain tableware, only 28 plates were left.
Before the reopening, extensive refurbishment and renovation work had to be carried out. In the years after the reopening, large sums of money were invested in renovation work. The facades and parts of the building were partially restored in a simplified manner or fell completely victim to the structural changes. The original half-timbered character of the building was then only partially present.
In the late summer of 1965, the hotel was closed. In the next few years - during the summer months - only the café-restaurant was open.
1974 to 1986
From 1970 to 1974 the neighboring Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) used the Neroberghotel. A feature that was visible from afar were two huge radio antennas attached to the tower.
In January 1975 it started operating as a music venue, initially limited to one year, which was continued after great approval by artists and the population - until the operators were dismissed in the summer of 1978 due to allegedly non-compliant requirements.
As the “NERO Music Palace”, the former hotel offered rehearsal rooms for music groups from Wiesbaden and the surrounding area from 1979 and was also the venue for concerts and artistic performances of all musical styles. The vaulted cellar served as a warehouse for a beverage supplier.
At the end of 1983, the traditional building closed its doors forever. From then on - as in the two preceding decades since the year-round hotel was closed - the vacant building remained a bone of contention for various interest groups and continued to be a political issue.
Of the various plans for the future use of the facility, such as a residential complex for the elderly, a school center for computer specialists or a planetarium, none of them got beyond the design stage. The plans of a Japanese investor, which would have had far-reaching interventions in the surrounding trees, led to rejection by the population. A preliminary contract concluded by the city of Wiesbaden on the expansion of the conference hotel, which involved major structural changes, was later terminated.
Fires and Demolition
On May 25, 1986, the former hotel burned for the first time. The wing, built in 1881, had to be completely demolished; the roof structure, which was also badly damaged, was removed from the connecting building. Then an emergency roof was built over this part of the building.
Due to the fire and extinguishing water damage, further use was now a long way off. Since the building was a listed building , a reconstruction could only have been carried out as an expensive, economically unacceptable restoration or reconstruction .
Another fire on the morning of Corpus Christi 1989, exactly three years to the day after the first fire, reduced large parts of the building to rubble and ashes. The wooden structure of the observation tower also fell victim to the flames.
The damage to the increasingly decaying flagship of the state capital was so severe that only the demolition of the building remained. Only the lower part of the tower made of stone remained.
present
The entire area was redesigned. A small, modern-style building has been added to the rest of the tower to serve as a restaurant. On the area of the first restoration building, erected in 1881, a stage was created for the performance of cabaret with the “experience basin”.
literature
- Eva Christina Vollmer: Baedeker Wiesbaden Rheingau. City-guide. 6th edition. Karl Baedeker GmbH, Ostfildern-Kemnat et al. 2001, ISBN 3-87954-076-4 .
- Wiesbadener Tagblatt (various issues).
- Wiesbaden courier (various issues).
Web links
- Experience trough Panorama view of the current situation
- Photos from the early 80s by Klaus Koschwitz
Individual evidence
- ↑ Neroberghotel Historismus in Wiesbaden ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from April 18, 2009 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. from July 5, 2008 (Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz / Wiesbadener Kurier / Wiesbadener Tagblatt), no longer available online
- ↑ Wiesbaden.de ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Wiesbadener Tagblatt, May 7, 2009: Nobody believed in coincidence ( memento from January 1, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Neroberghotel. A big fire ended the eventful history 20 years ago.
Coordinates: 50 ° 5 '55.9 " N , 8 ° 13' 45.7" E