Hotel Adlon, Palace hotel at Pariser Platz, Germany
Hotel Adlon Kempinski is a corner building on Unter den Linden at Pariser Platz, opposite the Brandenburg Gate. Its pale stone facade has a rusticated ground level with arched openings, five upper storeys of rectangular windows between pilasters, and a steep dark green mansard roof with dormer windows. Illuminated white letters reading "HOTEL ADLON" stand on the roofline, and three flagpoles rise above it.
Lorenz Adlon bought two plots on Unter den Linden in 1905 and had the Palais Redern, a Schinkel building, demolished for the site. The hotel opened in October 1907, cost 20 million gold marks and had 305 rooms after the adjoining Hotel Reichshof was absorbed. It was largely destroyed in 1945; a small wing operated until 1984, and a new building opened on 23 August 1997.
The hotel's name comes from Lorenz Adlon, a former Mainz carpenter's apprentice who ran Berlin coffeehouses before financing the building. Its lobby, with large square marble columns, became Berlin's social centre, and the Foreign Office used the house as an informal guest residence for state visits, including Tsar Nicholas II and the Maharaja of Patiala.
The hotel stands at Unter den Linden 77, on the corner where the boulevard meets Pariser Platz, with the Brandenburg Gate across the square. The corner of the building is chamfered, with stacked windows above the rusticated ground floor, so the main entrance is easy to find from either street.
Between 1907 and 1945, figures such as Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and Charlie Chaplin stayed here, turning the building into a symbol of international encounters. This tradition continues today, as state guests and cultural figures still frequent the rooms.
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