The Westin Grand Berlin
The Westin Grand Berlin (formerly Grand Hotel Berlin ) in the Friedrichstrasse 158-164 in Berlin district center of the district of the same is a finished in 1987 hotel from the GDR -time, which at the time of the Inter Hotel was operated chain. In the early 1990s, the hotel belonged to The Leading Hotels of the World and from 1992–1997 to Maritim Hotels . The hotel is currently operated by Westin Hotels & Resorts .
History and conception
Until it was demolished in 1957, the current site, along with other commercial buildings, contained the first and one of the most impressive shopping arcades in the city, the Kaisergalerie , which opened in 1873 . In 1943 the building was completely destroyed in an air raid and burned down completely in 1945. The remaining ruins were demolished in 1957.
The original Interhotel Grand Hotel Berlin was conceived as a representative building in the classical style and projected by the Kajima Corporation under the direction of Erhardt Gißke . The construction is said to have cost the equivalent of around 100 million euros . The hotel was to meet the highest standards and was done to a very high standard. It was inaugurated on August 1, 1987 by the then Chairman of the State Council, Erich Honecker . The Westin Grand has 359 rooms and suites. The entrance hall - the so-called " octagon " - and the entrance are based on the design of the Kaisergalerie. Only foreign guests were allowed, the currency accepted was, among other things. a. the West German D-Mark , the currency of the GDR, was not possible as a means of payment.
After the political change and German reunification , the house became the property of the Treuhandanstalt in 1990 . In 1997 the hotel was sold to the investor Starwood . In the course of the sale, the hotel was renamed the Westin Grand Hotel Berlin .
organ
The company Jehmlich Orgelbau Dresden had installed an organ in the hotel's “hunting room” . The Westin Grand Hotel was the only hotel in Europe with its own hotel organ. The slider chests -instrument had twelve Register on two manuals and pedal . The playing and register actions were mechanical. The organ had to be dismantled in 2008 due to water damage.
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- Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P
- Secondary register : bird cry
Others
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The Westin Grand Hotel was recognized as Germany's Leading Business Hotel 2010 with the World Travel Award , and the hotel was able to defend this title in the following year.
The hotel served as a location for the following productions:
- Among Brothers (TV crime scene episode, 1990)
- Pappa ante portas (movie, 1991)
- The Bourne Conspiracy (Motion Picture, 2004)
- One like no (TV series, 2009/2010)
- Victoria (movie, 2015)
- When (Mr. 100%) (music video for the song by Marianne Rosenberg , 2019)
- 4 blocks (TV series, 2017)
- Unorthodox (miniseries, 2020)
Web links
- Honecker's best address. In: Stern , October 3, 2005.
- Five stars and Honecker's organ. In: Der Tagesspiegel , July 31, 2007.
- Homepage of the Westin Grand Berlin.
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 58 ″ N , 13 ° 23 ′ 19 ″ E