The Westin Grand Berlin is a luxury business hotel located on

Friedrichstraße The Friedrichstraße () (lit. ''Frederick Street'') is a major culture and shopping street in central Berlin, forming the core of the Friedrichstadt neighborhood and giving the name to Berlin Friedrichstraße station. It runs from the northern pa ...

in the Mitte district of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

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 ...

History

The site is the former location of the ''Kaisergalerie'' shopping center, opened in 1873, destroyed by an air raid in 1943, and demolished in 1957. The site remained vacant until the

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

state-run

Interhotel Interhotel was an East German chain of luxury hotels. It was founded in 1965 as a chain. Originally, the hotel chain consisted of a hotel each in Berlin, Erfurt, Jena and Magdeburg, two hotels in Chemnitz (then Karl-Marx-Stadt) and five hotels i ...

monopoly decided to build a flagship luxury hotel for Western tourists in the 1980s. The structure was designed by a collective of architects headed by noted East German architect Erhardt Gisske in the style of early twentieth century luxury hotels, and with a glass dome modeled on the one in the former Kaisergalerie. The East German government hired the Japanese

Kajima Corporation is one of the oldest and largest construction companies in Japan. Founded in 1840, the company has its headquarters in Motoakasaka, Minato, Tokyo. The company is known for its DIB-200 proposal. The company stock is traded on four leading Japa ...

to manage the building of the 200 million mark structure, and Kajima in turn subcontracted the construction work to the Swedish Siab construction company. The hotel was opened as the Grand Hotel Berlin on August 1, 1987 by East German leader

Erich Honecker Erich Ernst Paul Honecker (; 25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. He held the posts ...

as part of the city-wide celebrations of the 750th anniversary of the founding of Berlin. It was only open to foreign guests, as it did not accept East German Marks, only Western hard currencies. Following German unification in 1990, the hotel, along with other East German state assets, became the property of the

Treuhandanstalt The (" Trust agency"), colloquially referred to as , was an agency established by the government of the German Democratic Republic to reprivatise/privatise East German enterprises, Volkseigene Betriebe (VEBs), prior to German reunification. C ...

, a German government agency set up to privatize such properties. It was managed by the German Maritim Hotels chain and renamed Maritim Grand Hotel Berlin. The hotel was eventually sold, along with a number of other former Deutsche Interhotels properties, and renamed The Westin Grand Berlin on July 1, 1997. Lobby Treppe Hotel Westin Grand Berlin

The Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate b ...

bought a group of fourteen former Deutsche Interhotels, including the Westin Grand, in 2007. Blackstone renovated and remodeled the hotel from November 2007 to April 2008, including the addition of a seventh floor on top, adding 41 new rooms. Blackstone sold the ten Deutsche Interhotels properties they still owned, including the Westin Grand, to Starwood Capital and

Brookfield Asset Management Brookfield Asset Management Inc. is a Canadian multinational company that is one of the world's largest alternative investment management companies, with over US$725 billion of assets under management in 2022. It focuses on direct contro ...

in 2014.

In popular culture

Parts of the 2004 film ''

The Bourne Supremacy ''The Bourne Supremacy'' is the second Jason Bourne novel written by Robert Ludlum, first published in 1986. It is the sequel to Ludlum's bestseller '' The Bourne Identity'' (1980) and precedes Ludlum's final Bourne novel, '' The Bourne Ultima ...

'' were filmed in the hotel. Famous guests have included: Peter Falk, Peter Ustinov, Larry Hagman,

Pamela Anderson Pamela Denise Anderson (born July 1, 1967) is a Canadian-American actress and model. She is best known for her glamour modeling work in ''Playboy'' magazine and for her appearances on the television series ''Baywatch'' (1992–1997). Anders ...

, and

Plácido Domingo José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French ...

. The 2015 film ''

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

'' included scenes of the Westin Grand lobby and its hotel room.

References

External links

*
The Westin Grand Berlin official hotel website

official chain webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Westin Grand Berlin Hotels established in 1987 Hotel buildings completed in 1987 Hotels in Berlin