The Chilehaus (, "

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

House") is a ten-story office building in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. It is located in the

Kontorhaus District The Kontorhaus District is the southeastern part of Altstadt, Hamburg, between Steinstraße, Meßberg, Klosterwall and Brandstwiete. The streetscape is characterised by large office buildings in the style of Brick Expressionism of the early 2 ...

. It is an exceptional example of the 1920s Brick Expressionism style of architecture. This large angular building is located on a site of approximately , spanning the Fischertwiete Street in Hamburg. It was designed by the German architect Fritz Höger and finished in 1924. As part of Kontorhaus District, it was inscribed as a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. I ...

World Heritage Site in 2015.

Design

The Chilehaus building is famed for its top, which is reminiscent of a ship's prow, and the facades, which meet at a very sharp angle at the corner of the ''Pumpen-'' and ''Niedernstrasse''. The best view of the building is from the east. Because of the accentuated vertical elements and the recessed upper stories, as well as the curved facade on the Pumpen street, the building has, despite its enormous size, a touch of lightness. The building has a

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having h ...

structure and has been built with the use of 4.8 million dark Oldenburg bricks. The building is constructed on very difficult terrain, so to gain stability it was necessary to build on 16-meter-deep reinforced-concrete pilings. The location's close vicinity to the Elbe River necessitated a specially sealed cellar, and heating equipment was constructed in a caisson that can float within the building, so the equipment can't be damaged in the event of flooding. The sculptural elements in the staircases and on the facade were provided by the sculptor

Richard Kuöhl Richard Kuöhl (May 31, 1880 – May 19, 1961) was a German sculptor, specializing in providing architectural sculpture for the architects of the Brick Expressionism style in northern Germany in the 1920s. After training in art pottery in his hom ...

. The building hosted 2 sets of paternoster lifts before being modernised in 1991.

History

The Chilehaus building was designed by the architect Fritz Höger and built between 1922 and 1924. It was commissioned by the shipping magnate Henry B. Sloman, who made his fortune trading saltpeter from

, hence the name Chile House. The cost of construction is difficult to determine, as the Chile House was built during the period of hyperinflation that struck Germany during the early 1920s, but is estimated to have been more than 10 million reichsmark. Currently it is property of the German real-estate company Union Investment Real Estate AG. The Hamburg site of the Instituto Cervantes is one of the renters.Instituto Cervantes de Hamburgo
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Gallery

Chile Haus abend 1.JPG, Chilehaus at night Chilehaus-1565.JPG 2013-06-08 Projekt Heißluftballon - Highflyer DSCF0976.jpg, Aerial view, Kontorhausviertel Hamburg-090613-0211-DSC 8308-Chilehaus.jpg, Entrance A - note the Coat of arms of Chile atop the gates. Chilehaus (Hamburg-Altstadt).Detail.5.ajb.jpg, Facade details Hh-chilehaus-det1.jpg Chilehaus (Hamburg-Altstadt).Detail.7.ajb.jpg, A condor, national bird of Chile. Chilehaus (Hamburg-Altstadt).Detail.4.ajb.jpg Chilehaus (Hamburg-Altstadt).Fassadendetail.ajb.jpg Hamburg.Chilehaus.Fassade.Fischertwiete.wmt.jpg Hamburg.Chilehaus.Spitze.plastiken.wmt.jpg, Ornaments at the tip Hamburg-090613-0212-DSC 8309-Chilehaus.jpg, Courtyard

References

External links

Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District with Chilehaus / UNESCO Official WebsiteChilehaus webcam
from Chilehaus towards Hamburg-

Speicherstadt The Speicherstadt (, literally: 'City of Warehouses', meaning warehouse district) in Hamburg, Germany is the largest warehouse district in the world where the buildings stand on timber-pile foundations, oak logs, in this particular case. It is ...

, Elbe Philharmonic Hall and

Hamburg Harbour The Port of Hamburg (german: Hamburger Hafen, ) is a seaport on the river Elbe in Hamburg, Germany, from its mouth on the North Sea. Known as Germany's "Gateway to the World" (''Tor zur Welt''), it is the country's largest seaport by v ...

{{Authority control Brick Expressionism World Heritage Sites in Germany Buildings and structures completed in 1924 Buildings and structures in Hamburg-Mitte Modernist architecture in Germany Heritage sites in Hamburg Tourist attractions in Hamburg Office buildings in Germany