Hotel Astoria (Copenhagen) on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Hotel Astoria is a design hotel located next to the
''HotelBoard''. Retrieved 6 May 2011. In 2007, Hotel Astoria was taken over by DGI-byen. The new owner commissioned GUBI to redesign the interior while preserving many of the original features. The revolving doors, the first in Denmark, are still present at the main entrance, and one of the luxury rooms has been maintained exactly as it was in 1935. Relying on black and white set off by tones of deep purple and greyish blue, a new colour scheme has been selected and the building has been fitted out with artistically designed, custom-made furniture. On 1 July 2011 the hotel was taken over by Zleep Hotels. On 1 January 2014, Brøchner Hotels took over management of the hotel. On 1 October 2021, CIC Hospitality took over management of Hotel Astoria.
The hotel consists of a long slender wing forming a barrier between the courtyard in front of the main entrance to the Central Station, which partly opens to the underground rail lines, and Reventlowsgade, the street on the Vesterbro side of the station.
An example of architecture parlante, the building is intended to resemble a steam locomotive, with its connotations of travel and movement encapsulating the essence of the site, and as an expression of the fascination with progress and technology which was typical of the time. It consists of an expressive constellation of
Image:Astoria Hotel - DSB logo.jpg, The DSB logo
Image:Hotel Asoria, Copenhagen - detail.jpg,
Image:Sculptured bas-relief, Astoria Hotel.jpg, The relief next to the main entrance.
Image:The spiral staircase, Astoria Hotel.jpg, The spiral staircase.
Pictures and renderings
from the Royal Danish Art Academy Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Astoria Hotels in Copenhagen Hotel Astoria Hotel buildings completed in 1935 Hotels established in 1935 Railway hotels Hotel Astoria Hotel Astoria
Central Station
Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...
in Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
, Denmark. The building is an early example of Functionalist architecture in Denmark.
History
The building was designed as a station hotel for the Danish State Railways by Ole Falkentorp, who had started his career in the State Railways' design office before forming his own practice. The hotel was built from 1934 to 1935 as the first luxury hotel in Copenhagen."Astoria"''HotelBoard''. Retrieved 6 May 2011. In 2007, Hotel Astoria was taken over by DGI-byen. The new owner commissioned GUBI to redesign the interior while preserving many of the original features. The revolving doors, the first in Denmark, are still present at the main entrance, and one of the luxury rooms has been maintained exactly as it was in 1935. Relying on black and white set off by tones of deep purple and greyish blue, a new colour scheme has been selected and the building has been fitted out with artistically designed, custom-made furniture. On 1 July 2011 the hotel was taken over by Zleep Hotels. On 1 January 2014, Brøchner Hotels took over management of the hotel. On 1 October 2021, CIC Hospitality took over management of Hotel Astoria.
Architecture
The hotel consists of a long slender wing forming a barrier between the courtyard in front of the main entrance to the Central Station, which partly opens to the underground rail lines, and Reventlowsgade, the street on the Vesterbro side of the station.
An example of architecture parlante, the building is intended to resemble a steam locomotive, with its connotations of travel and movement encapsulating the essence of the site, and as an expression of the fascination with progress and technology which was typical of the time. It consists of an expressive constellation of cubist
Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...
volumes, culminating in the narrow facade looking out over Vesterbrogade
Vesterbrogade () is the main shopping street of the Vesterbro district of Copenhagen, Denmark. The 1.5 km long street runs from the City Hall Square in the east to Pile Allé in Frederiksberg in the west where it turns into Roskildevej. O ...
which is topped by a "hood ornament
A hood ornament (or bonnet ornament in Commonwealth English), also called, motor mascot, or car mascot is a specially crafted model which symbolizes a car company like a badge, located on the front center portion of the hood. It has been used ...
" in the shape of a winged wheel bearing a crown, a sculptural representation of the old logo of the Danish State Railways. The vertical, exterior hotel sign is in the full height of the building. At the other end of the building, there is a cylindrical staircase tower
A staircase tower or stair tower (german: Treppenturm, also ''Stiegenturm'' or ''Wendelstein'') is a tower-like wing of a building with a circular or polygonal plan that contains a stairwell, usually a helical staircase.
History
Only a few e ...
with a helical window.
Great care was taken by E. Schmidt, the technical designer, in drawing up the detailed specifications for a building which was to be constructed using Asger Skovgaard Ostenfeld's recently developed deformation technique for reinforced concrete structures. The finish on the four-inch-thick walls with metal-framed windows was achieved by manual bush hammer
A bush hammer, also known as an axe hammer, is a masonry tool used to texturize stone and concrete. The term is derived from the German word ''bosshammer'', where Old German ''bossen'' meant "to beat".
Description and use
Bush hammers exist in ...
ing.Karl-Eugen Kurrer, "The history of the theory of structures: from arch analysis to computational mechanics", Ernst & Sohn, 2008, p.755.
The hotel has been an inspiration for Peter Clash's design of the RIBA Award-winning Sleeperz Hotel in Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
, Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
.
Gallery
See also
* Arbejdernes Landsbank *Skovshoved Petrol Station
The Skovshoved Petrol Station ( da, Skovshoved Tankstation) is a historic, still-operating filling station in Skovshoved at the northern outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark. First opened in 1936, it was designed by Arne Jacobsen and is an example of ...
References
External links
Pictures and renderings
from the Royal Danish Art Academy Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Astoria Hotels in Copenhagen Hotel Astoria Hotel buildings completed in 1935 Hotels established in 1935 Railway hotels Hotel Astoria Hotel Astoria