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Rocco Forte Hotel de Rome in Berlin

Tuesday, 1 September 2020 - 12:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische Union
Category/Kategorie: General, Berlin, House of the Month, Hotels Reading Time:  4 minutes

🔊 Listen to this Post The Rocco Forte Hotel de Rome is a luxurious hotel in the Mitte neighborhood of Berlin in the district of the same name. It belongs to the Rocco Forte Hotels, is located at Behrenstraße 37 on Bebelplatz and was opened in October 2006. The name of the hotel is reminiscent of the Grand Hotel de Rome, which until 1910 stood around 400 meters away. The St. Hedwig’s Cathedral and the State Opera Unter den Linden are in the immediate vicinity. The Hotel de Rome belongs to the hotel organization The Leading Hotels of the World.

The building, built between 1887 and 1889, served as the headquarters of Dresdner Bank until 1945. It was designed by the architect Ludwig Heim in the Italian Renaissance style and originally had three floors. In 1923 three more floors were added according to the plans of Ludwig Hoffmann, which were dismantled in 1952 when the war damage was repaired in accordance with the harmonization of the proportions intended by Richard Paulick. During the GDR era, it served briefly as a cinema, the seat of the district leadership of the SED and then as the state bank of the GDR. After German reunification in 1990, large parts of the building complex stood empty for more than a decade. The building is a listed monument.

In 2003 Commerz Grundbesitz Investmentgesellschaft acquired the eastern part of the former Dresdner Bank headquarters. It includes the core, the completely preserved part on Französische Strasse and the intermediate part on Hedwigskirchgasse. The new owner rented the property to Rocco Forte for 20 years. The former offices of the bank directors are currently used as oak-paneled suites. On the terrazzo floor of the former counter hall – today’s ballroom – are the names of the bank’s main branches: Dresden, Bremen, London and Berlin.

The hotel’s spa is located in the bank’s former vault. Today the 15 centimeter thick steel doors lead into a treatment room. Gold leaf mosaics on the walls are supposed to remind of the gold reserves of the bank, which were kept here. The hotel swimming pool is located in the former vault of the lockers. The hotel has 108 rooms and 37 suites designed by Olga Polizzi (* 1946), the daughter of company founder Charles Forte. The hotel has the Italian restaurant La Banca, whose name refers to its former use as a bank, and the bar The Rooftop Terrace.

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