Chilehaus is a ten-storey office building located in the Kontorhausviertel district of Hamburg. It is considered an exceptional example of brick expressionism, typical of the architecture of the 1920s. The building was designed by German architect Fritz Höger and constructed between 1922 and 1924, commissioned by Henry B. Sloman, a wealthy German entrepreneur. In 2015, the Chilehaus, along with the entire Speicherstadt and Kontorhausviertel area, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, further emphasising its historical and cultural significance.
Chilehaus is located in the central part of the Kontorhausviertel district, on the southern edge of Hamburg’s city centre, adjacent to Speicherstadt and close to the harbour. The building is located at Burchardplatz 1, flanked by Burchardstrasse and Pumpen Street, and is divided by Fischertwiete Street, which has been incorporated into its structure. The creation of Chilehaus is closely linked to the person of Henry B. Sloman, who returned to Hamburg after spending many years in Chile, where he made his fortune in the Chilean saltpeter trade. At the time of the hyperinflation of the Weimar Republic, Sloman was one of the richest people in Hamburg, which allowed him to pursue an ambitious project to build an impressive office building.
J.-H. Janßen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At the end of the 1920s, the Kontorhausviertel district was in need of modernisation. The city of Hamburg decided to sell plots of land in the area for new developments. Sloman won the tender for the land in the centre of the district, beating off competition, including Hamburg banker Max Warburg, who already had a building design ready. However, Sloman decided to commission a new design from Fritz Höger, who repeatedly modified the plans to suit the requirements of the city authorities. The Chilehaus, completed in 1924, became one of the largest office buildings in Germany before the Second World War, offering more than 36,000 square metres of floor space. In 1935, the building was placed under conservation protection and in 1983 it was entered in the register of historical monuments. The building luckily escaped destruction during the 1943 Allied bombing raids on Hamburg, when around 74% of the city was destroyed.
The Chilehaus was built in dark red clinker bricks, giving it the characteristic look of North German Expressionism. Its massing resembles a ship, with bricks that reflect light in shades of blue, green and purple in different lighting. The building consists of two blocks on either side of the Fischertwiete. The western block is rectangular in shape, while the eastern block tapers into a distinctive spike, resembling the prow of a ship. On this ‘prow’ is a figure of a stone condor, by Richard Kuöhl, referring to the coat of arms of Chile.
The northern façade runs along a straight line, while the southern façade forms a gentle S-shaped curve. Fischertwiete Street has been integrated into the building, creating an arcade passage closed to traffic. The interior of the Chilehaus is in an art déco style, which emphasises its elegant and historic character. The building remains one of Hamburg’s most recognisable landmarks due to its unique architecture and rich history.
Source: hamburg.com, chilehaus.de
Also read: Architecture | Monument | History | Travel | Brick | Germany
