The Swissôtel Berlin was a luxury hotel in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

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 betwe ...

. The hotel overlooked the crossing of the ''

Kurfürstendamm The Kurfürstendamm (; colloquially ''Ku'damm'', ; en, Prince Elector Embankment) is one of the most famous avenues in Berlin. The street takes its name from the former ''Kurfürsten'' (prince-electors) of Brandenburg. The broad, long boulevar ...

'' shopping avenue with ''Joachimstaler Straße'', in the city's

Charlottenburg Charlottenburg () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Prussia, it is best known for Charlottenburg Palace, the ...

quarter. Both the Zoo railway station and Kurfürstendamm U-Bahn station were nearby. As well as hotel and conference facilities, the hotel included Restaurant 44, which features Swiss cuisine and overlooks the ''Kurfürstendamm'', as well as the Palermo bar and the Grande Gallerie cafe. The hotel won two awards, the 2008 Germany's Leading Business Hotel and the 2007 Germany's Leading Conference Hotel. It was managed by Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts, which is part of the

FRHI Hotels & Resorts FRHI Hotels & Resorts (previously known as Fairmont Raffles Hotels International) is a global hotel management company that is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. FRHI is the parent company that manages three brands of hotels: Fairmont, Raffles ...

group.

History

In early 1991, the

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

architects

Gerkan, Marg and Partners Gerkan, Marg & Partners (gmp) is an international architectural company based in Hamburg, Germany. The company was founded in 1965 by Meinhard von Gerkan and , and now has more than 300 employees in 13 offices. In the same year the archit ...

Under info tab. were retained to draw up a plan for the new Swissôtel Berlin and the commerce building, which led to a pre-notification in 1993. A number of versions with solutions for different unitizations were developed between 1995 and 1998. These plans coordinated between the Charlottenburg district office of Berlin, the building owner, and the architects. The planning and building permissions were finally received at the end of 1998. The hotel was under construction from August 1998 until 2001 and opened on 21 August 2001. In October 2013, the hotel received a facelift of the public areas. The hotel closed in November 2018 to be redeveloped as offices and business center.

Architecture and artwork

The building is high and has a video screen outside the hotel, facing ''Kurfürstendamm''. The lower three floors of the building are occupied by a branch of the fashion retailer C&A, with the hotel above. The hotel's street level entrance hall faced ''Augsberger Strasse'' at its junction with ''Joachimstaler Straße'' and had a height of . Dedicated

elevator An elevator or lift is a wire rope, cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or deck (building), decks of a building, watercraft, ...

s linked this hall with the hotel lobby, which was located on the third floor above ground level. Meeting rooms, restaurants and bars opened off and surrounded the hotel lobby, which was two storeys tall and was lit by a glazed roof. The hotel's 316 rooms were located on the fourth to tenth floors, and were accessed by a separate bank of elevators from the hotel lobby. The rooms surrounded an interior courtyard, which was floored by the glazed roof over the lobby. Swissôtel Berlin had an art gallery with changing exhibitions, and each of the 316 guestrooms feature the art of

Markus Lüpertz Markus Lüpertz (born 25 April 1941) is a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and writer. He also publishes a magazine, and plays jazz piano. He is one of the best-known German contemporary artists. His subjects are characterized by suggest ...

, one of the best known German artists. His group sculptures '' The Judgement of Paris'' and ''Three Grazies'' are found in the hotel hallways, and the main sculpture ''Paris'' is in the restaurant terrace.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Swissotel Berlin Hotels in Berlin Hotels established in 2001 Defunct hotels in Germany