Hotel am Steinplatz

The Hotel am Steinplatz was built in 1907 by the architect August Endell and is located in the district of Charlottenburg in Berlin, near the Zoologischer Garten train station. It first opened as hotel in 1913 and is today part of the Autograph hotel brand.

History of Hotel am Steinplatz

Max Zellermayer first opened Hotel am Steinplatz as a luxury hotel in 1913. It was originally designed by August Endell, architect of Berlin’s famous Hackesche Höfe, a complex of connected courtyards, located in the city centre. The hotel facade is listed as an historical monument and is famous for being in the Art Nouveau design style. Beyond being a hotel, the building has been used as a stately home, officer’s mess, artists’ bar and retirement home. After the October Revolution, a number of Russian aristocrats stayed in hotel suites, and the hotel was a popular meeting point for the Berlin and European artistic scene, with Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov and Swedish singer Zarah Leander regular guests.

In 1947 the hotel was reopened by the children of the original owner, Max Zellermayer, with Heinz Zellermayer gaining particular local notoriety in 1949 when he persuaded the commander of the American sector of Berlin, Frank Howley, to abolish the unpopular evening curfew for restaurants in the city. With its avant-garde basement bar ‘Volle Pulle’ in the basement, the Steinplatz became a secret meeting point for artists and intellectuals, attracting the likes of German writer Heinrich Böll , German artist Günter Grass, the French film star Brigitte Bardot, Italian opera singer Luciano Pavarotti and German-French actress Romy Schneider as guests.

Hotel am Steinplatz today

The hotel went through a total refurbishment in 2012 since it became the first German hotel in Marriott Hotel’s Autograph Collection. It now features a spa on the top floors of the hotel and a restaurant, which serves up modern versions of classic German recipes and locally brewed craft beer.

Getting to Hotel am Steinplatz

The hotel is is located next to the shopping street Kurfürstendamm; the U- and S-Bahn Zoologischer Garten are a short walk away, with the main train station a 15 minute journey to the hotel, at the stop Savignyplatz.