The British start architect David Chipperfied has been commissioned by the owner families Fraatz and Bartels. The well-known St. Pauli district gets its own landmark with this 21-story, bronze-covered hotel tower. The construction of the Empire Riverside was like a crown on Willi Bartels’ life work – he died a few days after the inauguration of this hotel. The life of this man is closely connected with St. Pauli. Originally he trained to become a butcher and later on became a hotel owner and real estate giant. Already his father owned famous saloons along a street in this district called Große Freiheit (Great Freedom). Bartels expanded his empire by acquiring real estate, hotels and apartments as well as famous buildings like the “Dollhouse”, “Schmidt’s Tivoli” and the “Hotel Hafen Hamburg”. Now his grandsons run his business. St. Pauli is best known as a red-light and entertainment district although it also is an important residential area for worker, students, intellectuals and artists.
Its name got St. Pauli only 180 years ago. Prior to that this district just outside the city of Hamburg was known as the “Hamburg Hill (Hamburger Berg)”. The residents of this district have been loud and colourful ever since settlement began in the 17th century – and has not been welcomed within the city walls. It was composed of those that couldn’t pay the fee that was due if you wanted to become a full citizen, of foul-smelling trades like fish-oil distilleries, noisy industries, barkeepers, prostitutes, cheap entertainment and the collection place for those haunted by the Black Death. Later on the rope makers (in Old-German> Reepschläger) moved into this district as well and gave this famous street its name: Reeperbahn. In 1830 St. Pauli’s boom began with the introduction of steam navigation. Many sailors came as the ships docked at the river Elbe near the “Hamburger Hill”. St. Pauli became an entertainment district. Bars and establishments mushroomed. Trade and the harbour provided the residents of St. Pauli with a living. In 1840 St. Pauli housed 98 barkeeper, 10 out of 13 dance halls in all of Hamburg and 150 registered prostitutes. The area around the streets Spielbudenplatz, Reeperbahn, Herbertstraße and Große Freiheit is locally referred to as “Kiez” (meaning the red-light district). In this area there is no closing hour for bars – according to governmental regulation. Beer halls, theatres and cabarets existed since the beginning of the 20th century. St. Pauli survived WW II almost without damage. In the 60s many Rock’n'Roll legends and even the Beatles performed in clubs at the Große Freiheit. Cabarets, vaudevilles, shows, clubs, bars and brothels live next to each other.
Today, a modern quarter with apartments, hotels and office buildings is being created between the Hamburg harbour, Reeperbahn and the old warehouse district next to the premises of the former Bavaria-St. Pauli brewery. However, the original St. Pauli never dies and remains full of characters. And the live blood of it all is the Reeperbahn, this flashy, glittery boulevard between the old city gates Millerntor and Nobistor. It’s colourful, loud and headstrong.
Empire Riverside Hotel / Film
www.alpine-bau.de
www.empire-riverside.de
Picture credits:
www.mediaserver.hamburg.de/C. Spahrbier
ALPINE Bau Deutschland AG
