Hotel Atlantic Kempinski, Palace hotel in St. Georg, Hamburg, Germany.
Hotel Atlantic Kempinski is a five-star hotel on the Außenalster in Hamburg's St. Georg district, opened on 2 May 1909. The building has a pale cream facade with rows of rectangular multi-paned windows, a long bright green roof with silver letters spelling "ATLANTIC", and a glass-enclosed ground floor. It holds 221 rooms and suites and 13 event rooms.
The building was constructed in 1909 as a grand hotel to attract international guests arriving by steamship through the harbor. After World War II it served as the headquarters of the British Armed Forces in Hamburg until 1950 and then returned to hotel use.
The hotel's name was once displayed as "Atlantic–Pfordte" on a roof grille above the facade, honouring chef Franz Pfordte, its first restaurant director. The Hamburg Press Ball and the Ball over the Clouds, held in the ballrooms since 1950, still bring guests together in the festival halls.
The building sits a short walk from Hamburg Central Station directly on the shore of Außenalster lake, making arrival by public transport or on foot convenient. The entrance hall is located at street level and remains accessible to visitors who wish to view the building without staying overnight.
In 1997 parts of the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies were shot in the hotel. Another guest story is darker: owner Dieter Bock choked to death here during dinner on 12 May 2010. Look for the blue stairwell carpet, which shows the continents but omits Britain, a nod to the Anglo-German naval rivalry at the time of construction.
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