Kaispeicher B, Maritime museum in HafenCity, Germany

Kaispeicher B is a former warehouse built in 1878/1879 in the Hanover School style, with a facade of coloured glazed bricks and natural stone, neo-Gothic gables, oriel windows and pointed arches. It has nine storeys and a load-bearing inner frame of timber and steel columns with load-bearing outer walls. It stands at the north-western end of the Elbtorquartier in HafenCity, outside the Speicherstadt.

Kaispeicher B was built in 1878/1879 for J. W. Boutin to plans by Wilhelm Emil Meerwein and Bernhard Hanssen, before the free port and the Speicherstadt existed. It stored grain in silos and piece goods on floors; in 1894 the east part was converted to floor storage, visible today in differing storey heights, and the chimney of the steam-driven grain elevator was removed. The city bought it in 1890, giving rise to the name Kaispeicher B. From 2004 Otto Wulff converted it for Peter Tamm's International Maritime Museum, with plans by Mirjana Markovic.

The Maritime Museum inside displays collections about shipping and Hamburg's role as a trading center on the Elbe River. The exhibitions show how important the port has been for the city and its residents over time.

Visitors can enter the building via a pedestrian bridge on the north side, where shops and cafes are also located. The surroundings are easy to walk through and offer plenty of spots to sit and watch the water.

The building sits just outside the UNESCO-listed Speicherstadt, so it is not part of the World Heritage site despite standing among the same red-brick warehouses. Its name dates from 1890, when the city of Hamburg bought the store and distinguished it from the Kaispeicher A. Look for the sealed gateway on the north side, where the harbour railway once had a stop on the ground floor.