The Chilehaus (, "

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

House") is a ten-story office building in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. It is located in the Kontorhaus District. It is an exceptional example of the 1920s

Brick Expressionism The term Brick Expressionism (german: Backsteinexpressionismus) describes a specific variant of Expressionist architecture that uses bricks, tiles or clinker bricks as the main visible building material. Buildings in the style were erected mos ...

style of architecture. This large angular building is located on a site of approximately , spanning the Fischertwiete Street in Hamburg. It was designed by the German architect

Fritz Höger Fritz originated as a German nickname for Friedrich, or Frederick (''Der Alte Fritz'', and ''Stary Fryc'' were common nicknames for King Frederick II of Prussia and Frederick III, German Emperor) as well as for similar names including Fridolin ...

and finished in 1924. As part of Kontorhaus District, it was inscribed as a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

in 2015.

Design

The Chilehaus building is famed for its top, which is reminiscent of a ship's prow, and the facades, which meet at a very sharp angle at the corner of the ''Pumpen-'' and ''Niedernstrasse''. The best view of the building is from the east. Because of the accentuated vertical elements and the recessed upper stories, as well as the curved facade on the Pumpen street, the building has, despite its enormous size, a touch of lightness. The building has a

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low ultimate tensile strength, tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion ...

structure and has been built with the use of 4.8 million dark Oldenburg bricks. The building is constructed on very difficult terrain, so to gain stability it was necessary to build on 16-meter-deep reinforced-concrete pilings. The location's close vicinity to the

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Re ...

River necessitated a specially sealed cellar, and heating equipment was constructed in a caisson that can float within the building, so the equipment can't be damaged in the event of flooding. The sculptural elements in the staircases and on the facade were provided by the sculptor

Richard Kuöhl Richard Kuöhl (May 31, 1880 – May 19, 1961) was a German sculptor, specializing in providing architectural sculpture for the architects of the Brick Expressionism style in northern Germany in the 1920s. After training in art pottery in his hom ...

. The building hosted 2 sets of paternoster lifts before being modernised in 1991.

History

The Chilehaus building was designed by the architect

and built between 1922 and 1924. It was commissioned by the shipping magnate Henry B. Sloman, who made his fortune trading

saltpeter Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . This alkali metal nitrate Salt (chemistry), salt is also known as Indian saltpetre (large deposits of which were historically mined in India). It is an ionic salt of potassium ...

from

, hence the name Chile House. The cost of construction is difficult to determine, as the Chile House was built during the period of

hyperinflation In economics, hyperinflation is a very high and typically accelerating inflation. It quickly erodes the real value of the local currency, as the prices of all goods increase. This causes people to minimize their holdings in that currency as t ...

that struck Germany during the early 1920s, but is estimated to have been more than 10 million

reichsmark The (; sign: ℛℳ; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until 20 June 1948 in West Germany, where it was replaced with the , and until 23 June 1948 in East Germany, where it was replaced by the East German mark. The Reich ...

. Currently it is property of the German real-estate company Union Investment Real Estate AG. The Hamburg site of the

Instituto Cervantes Instituto Cervantes (the Cervantes Institute) is a worldwide nonprofit organization created by the Spanish government in 1991. It is named after Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616), the author of ''Don Quixote'' and perhaps the most important figur ...

is one of the renters.Instituto Cervantes de Hamburgo
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Gallery

Chile Haus abend 1.JPG, Chilehaus at night Chilehaus-1565.JPG 2013-06-08 Projekt Heißluftballon - Highflyer DSCF0976.jpg, Aerial view, Kontorhausviertel Hamburg-090613-0211-DSC 8308-Chilehaus.jpg, Entrance A - note the

Coat of arms of Chile The coat of arms of Chile dates from 1834 and was designed by the English artist Charles Wood Taylor (1792–1856). It is made up by a figurative background divided in two equal parts: the top one is blue and the bottom, red. A five pointed whit ...

atop the gates. Chilehaus (Hamburg-Altstadt).Detail.5.ajb.jpg, Facade details Hh-chilehaus-det1.jpg Chilehaus (Hamburg-Altstadt).Detail.7.ajb.jpg, A

condor Condor is the common name for two species of New World vultures, each in a monotypic genus. The name derives from the Quechua ''kuntur''. They are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere. They are: * The Andean condor (''Vu ...

, national bird of Chile. Chilehaus (Hamburg-Altstadt).Detail.4.ajb.jpg Chilehaus (Hamburg-Altstadt).Fassadendetail.ajb.jpg Hamburg.Chilehaus.Fassade.Fischertwiete.wmt.jpg Hamburg.Chilehaus.Spitze.plastiken.wmt.jpg, Ornaments at the tip Hamburg-090613-0212-DSC 8309-Chilehaus.jpg, Courtyard

References

External links

Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District with Chilehaus / UNESCO Official WebsiteChilehaus webcam
from Chilehaus towards Hamburg- Speicherstadt, Elbe Philharmonic Hall and

Hamburg Harbour The Port of Hamburg (german: Hamburger Hafen, ) is a seaport on the river Elbe in Hamburg, Germany, from its mouth on the North Sea. Known as Germany's "Gateway to the World" (''Tor zur Welt''), it is the country's largest seaport by volum ...

{{Authority control Brick Expressionism World Heritage Sites in Germany Buildings and structures completed in 1924 Buildings and structures in Hamburg-Mitte Modernist architecture in Germany Heritage sites in Hamburg Tourist attractions in Hamburg Office buildings in Germany