The Chilehaus in Hamburg

Tuesday, 1 March 2016 - 12:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: General, Architecture, Hamburg, House of the Month, UNESCO World Heritage
Reading Time:  3 minutes

Chilehaus © Sebastian Warneke/cc-by-sa-3.0

Chilehaus © Sebastian Warneke/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Chilehaus (Chile House) is a ten-story office building in Hamburg. It is located in the Kontorhausviertel. It is an exceptional example of the 1920s Brick Expressionism style of architecture. This large angular building is located on a site of approximately 6,000m², spanning the Fischertwiete Street in Hamburg. It was designed by the German architect Fritz Höger and finished in 1924.

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.

Chilehaus © SKopp/cc-by-sa-3.0 Chilehaus © Sebastian Warneke/cc-by-sa-3.0 Inner courtyard © Agnete/cc-by-sa-4.0 Chilehaus © Wolfgang Meinhart/cc-by-sa-3.0
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Chilehaus © Sebastian Warneke/cc-by-sa-3.0
The building has a reinforced concrete 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 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. The building hosts one of the few remaining working paternosters in the world.

The Chilehaus building was designed by the architect Fritz Höger and built between 1922 and 1924. It was commissioned by the shipping magnate Henry B. Sloman, who made his fortune trading saltpeter from Chile, hence the name Chile House. The cost of construction is difficult to determine, as the Chile House was built during the period of hyperinflation that struck Germany during the early 1920s, but is estimated to have been more than 10 million reichsmark.

Read more on Chilehaus, unesco.org – Chilehaus and Wikipedia Chilehaus. Learn more about the use of photos. To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organizations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.




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