Hotel Adlon

Hotel Adlon
The current Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin
Location in Berlin
Hotel chain	Kempinski
General information
Location	Berlin–Mitte, Germany
Address	Unter den Linden 77
Coordinates	52°30′57.77″N 13°22′49.70″E / 52.5160472°N 13.3804722°E / 52.5160472; 13.3804722
Opening	original hotel 24 October 1907 (current hotel 23 August 1997)
Technical details
Floor count	7
Design and construction
Architect	Rainer Michael Klotz
Other information
Number of rooms	382
Number of restaurants	4
Number of bars	5
Website
www.kempinski.com/adlon

The Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin is a luxury hotel in Berlin, Germany. It is located on Unter den Linden, the main boulevard in the central Mitte district, at the corner with Pariser Platz, directly opposite the Brandenburg Gate and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

The legendary original Hotel Adlon was one of the most famous hotels in Europe. It opened in 1907 and was largely destroyed in 1945 in the closing days of World War II, though a small wing continued operating until 1984. The current hotel, which opened on August 23, 1997, is a new building with a design inspired by the original.

In the late 19th century, European hotels, which generally offered no more than overnight accommodation, evolved to become social gathering places which could host large receptions given by nobility and the wealthy. Modeled on American hotels like the Waldorf Astoria, new hotel buildings arose all over the continent with lavishly decorated ballrooms, dining halls, arcades, smoking lounges, libraries, and coffeehouses. In 1873 the Hotel Imperial opened in Vienna, followed by the Hôtel Ritz Paris in 1898, and The Ritz London Hotel in 1906. In Berlin, capital of the German Empire the Wilhelmine high society was eager to keep up with their rival metropolises.

In 1905 Lorenz Adlon, a successful wine merchant and restaurateur originally from Mainz, purchased two properties on Unter den Linden. Adlon ran several coffeehouses in Berlin, among others in the Berlin Zoological Garden, and had raised capital to build a hotel on Pariser Platz, at the heart of the German capital. He convinced Kaiser Wilhelm II that Berlin needed a luxury hotel at the level of those in Paris, London and the other European capitals, and so the Kaiser personally interceded with the owners of the Palais Redern, a Neo-Renaissance landmark designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in 1830, which sat at Adlon's chosen location. The Kaiser cleared the way for Adlon's purchase of the Palais and for the subsequent demolition of the historic building.