design and history.
Character in stone and design.
The Gastwerk Hotel Hamburg has for the past 20 years set new standards in the world of designer hotels and hotel design. Any guest that enters the lobby of the Gastwerk Hotel will have the impression of going back outside: a 600 square metre space, five floors high, welcomes the guest with exemplary openness and depth. Where once 5,000 tons of coal were stored, now bridges link the former industrial buildings and different levels and parts of buildings. Daylight floods the entire hall and gives the building transparency. Again and again the raw brick walls emerge, yet set limits for no one. This is the Gastwerk Hotel, the architectural expression of generosity. Despite its size, you feel the harmony of the structure and its spatial composition everywhere. This is mainly due to the Gastwerk's own understanding of form, materials and colours, and of both the individual and harmonious combination of all elements.
The purpose of giving the hotel special charm has been achieved with a great sense of sensuality, clarity and functionality. The careful departure from the typical hotel design has succeeded. Sterile boredom doesn’t stand a chance. From the impressive hall to the various zones for entertainment and retreat, and to the spacious lofts: throughout the hotel, an atmosphere of light, air and aesthetic self-assuredness awaits guests.
The equally lovely and surprising interior of the Gastwerk is a unique architectural experience in every way. Design classics encounter felt curtains, lamps in a combination of rattan and steel, wood contrasting with carpet in warm earth tones. In this hotel, the furniture turns into pieces of art! Objectivity is mixed with the clear accents of the antique pieces used. The fact that the Gastwerk is also an imposing structure from the outside, is self-explanatory.
From gas plant to Gastwerk.
About 130 years ago, the old gas plant brought light to the streets and houses of Hamburg’s western districts for the first time. In the impressive and carefully restored industrial building, built with brick and steel, modern design and historical architecture form a fascinating harmonic interpretation - the Gastwerk, Hamburg's first design hotel. The brick hall of the building, flooded with light, reflects with its 600 square metres the unique, loft-like character of the
hotel, which ranks among the city’s very best hotels since its opening in 2000. Today, we are proud to offer 141 rooms in various loft categories, an events area with versatile configuration options, our restaurant Mangold, the Mangold Bar, the Gastwerk SPA and 60 parking spaces in front of the hotel.
Each stone breathes history
The gas plant was built between 1892 and 1895 by the architect and civil engineer Schaar. It replaced the old gas plant at Große Elbstraße.
Shortly after completion it entered service and was extended between 1910 and 1928. Ten years later, the generating facility was decommissioned.
After the destruction caused by the war from 1945, up until the 1950s, it was used to store crude benzene from the other gas plants in Hamburg. The plant was used as a container and compressor station.
Since the 1950s, activists such as artists and drop-outs increasingly discovered vacant industrial buildings and claimed these for themselves for use as studios, for residential purposes, or as auto repair shops and warehouses. The company Ramikal produced wheat middlings in the former coal hall, today's Gastwerk Hotel.
In the early 1990s, investors and architects became aware of the factory buildings, with their typical brick facades, and founded the "Forum Altes Gaswerk".
The site was purchased in 1994 by the investor group HPV, with the idea of converting the former gas plant into a modern, stylish facility for commercial purposes, and a large, modern community centre with all its attendant facilities, while carefully preserving its originality.
The buildings of the area were registered in the monument protection list in 1996. The administration building, the watch house, the coal tower, four large halls and elevated track, a scale and a rotary stage for the railroad are all on the monument list.
Shortly before the turn of the millennium, the decision was made to convert the old gasworks into a modern hotel. The aim was to retain the charismatic design of the building and its story. Inspired by hotel visionary Kai Hollmann, designed and implemented by Regine Schwethelm, Sibylle von Heyden and Armin Fischer, the charming roughness of the functional industrial building and the elegance of contemporary design enter into a fascinating symbiosis in the Gastwerk. Just in time for the turn of the millennium in January 2000, the first Design Hotel Hamburg was opened and since then has welcomed its guests daily with its unmistakable character.
Discover art: Georgios Engonidis and his ArtRoom
View, buy or rent - the works of the Hamburg artist Georgios Engonidis are up for anything.
The Artroom at the Gastwerk Hotel Hamburg can be viewed at any time.
Georgios Engonidis - born on 08/28/1967 in Herrenberg near Stuttgart. Raised in Korinos in Katerini, a small village in the Macedonian region of Northern Greece.
Exciting news in and with our ArtRoom will follow.
