Römerbad Hotel
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In the Wilhelmine era, the Römerbad Hotel was a luxurious hotel in the German capital of Berlin that was connected to a bathing establishment. It was located on the extended Zimmerstrasse No. 4-5 (today: Niederkirchnerstrasse ) and existed in this form only for a short time from 1888 to 1891.
New building site
At the end of the 1880s, Zimmerstrasse in Berlin (see map) was gradually lengthened and in this way a connection to Anhalter Bahnhof and Königgrätzer Strasse was created through the previous garden of the Prinz-Albrecht-Palais on Wilhelmstrasse . As a result, a number of valuable building plots were created on the new stretch of road, initially known as the extended Zimmerstrasse . Here u. a. the Völkerkundemuseum and the Kunstgewerbemuseum are located.
A luxurious bath with an attached hotel was built on plots No. 4–5 (later referred to as No. 9): the Römerbad with the Römerbad-Hotel. In terms of its basic concept, this facility corresponded to today's fitness hotels combined with a medical facility, but was not in an idyllic location in the country, but in the immediate vicinity of important Berlin train stations, the Anhalter and Potsdam train stations . While the Römerbad was also accessible to Berliners themselves, the hotel was intended to attract bathing and spa guests from outside Berlin and at the same time be available to traveling business people. The owner of the hotel was initially B. Hoffmann, then August Carl Welcker.
Roman bath
In an advertisement by the company from 1888, the first owner Hoffmann described the facility as a “sight” and praised it as “the most magnificent, elegant, fully equipped bathing establishment” , with particular emphasis on the connection between the bath and the hotel Restaurant and a Viennese café. There were also stores in the complex. The Römerbad offered its customers the following bathing options including medical care by a doctor who was always present:
- Roman-Russian and Irish baths,
- electric, medical and carbonic baths,
- Bathtubs, showers and showers,
- a massage and water sanatorium,
- a medico-mechanical institute (with Swedish therapeutic gymnastics)
- an inhaler ,
- a steam washing facility.
In addition, hairdressing services and minor cosmetic operations were offered (see illustration).
Römerbad Hotel
The Römerbad Hotel, built on the same property in 1887, was an attempt to combine a medical bathing establishment with a luxurious hotel. However, the hotel building was sold to the manor owner von Westernhagen as early as 1891. The hotelier H. Wohlgemuth acquired the Römerbad and Römerbad-Hotel. The bathing business was discontinued (after a brief change of name to "Kaiserbad") and integrated into the new, larger hotel, which was opened under the name Vier Jahreszeiten .
Later development of the site
The extended Zimmerstrasse was named Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse in 1891 (after the nearby Prinz-Albrecht-Palais). Today the then Prinz-Albrecht-Straße is called Niederkirchnerstraße. The Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten was continued under new owners as the Hotel Prinz Albrecht from 1903 . During the Third Reich , the hotel complex was used as a location by the SS . The "SS-Haus" was destroyed by an Allied bomb in 1943 . Today the site of the Topography of Terror exhibition hall is located on the site of the former Römerbad Hotel .
literature
- Erika Bucholtz: The headquarters of the National Socialist SS and Police State. Building use and planning in Berlin 1933–1945. In: Journal of History 52 (2004), H. 12. Also on the Internet: .
- Britta Guski / Ingo Schauermann: Topography of Terror. Peter Zumthor's new building on the Prince Albrecht site. In: Wolfram Martini (ed.): Architecture and memory. Verlag Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 2000. ISBN 3-525-35420-7 . Pp. 205-230.
- Hasso Noorden: German big city hotels . In: Velhagen & Klasings Monatshefte , Vol. 24, Issue 1, pp. 42–55.
- Topography of Terror Foundation (ed.): Terrain tour. Topography of Terror. History of the historical place. 2nd revised edition Berlin 2010. ISBN 978-3-941772-04-5 .
- Hans-Christian Täubrich: A guest in old Berlin. Memories of the old Berlin hospitality with hotel palaces, entertainment bars, excursion restaurants and distilleries. Verlag Hugendubel 1990. ISBN 3-88034-482-5 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. the entries in the Berlin address book (online edition) for the years 1888 (p. 2022), 1890 (p. 1453 and 2005) and 1891 (p. 2210).
- ^ From the Berlin address book of 1888, p. 1316 of the online edition.
- ↑ cf. Topography of Terror Foundation (ed.): Terrain tour. Topography of Terror. History of the historical place. Berlin 2010. pp. 24-25.
Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 25 ″ N , 13 ° 23 ′ 3 ″ E