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Private company

Hotel Esplanade

Demolished hotel in Berlin

Hotel Esplanade was a luxury hotel with 400 rooms, which once stood on Berlin's busy transport and nightlife hub Potsdamer Platz. During its colorful and turbulent history it went from being one of the German capital's most luxurious and celebrated hotels to a bombed-out ruin lost in the wastelands alongside the Berlin Wall. A section of it still survives today, albeit as a fragment incorporated into the soaring modern complex of the Sony Center.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1908Founded1

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Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1989-028-23, Berlin, Hotel Esplanade
Photo: Hoffmann, Herbert, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons4

Hotel Esplanade was a luxury hotel with 400 rooms, which once stood on Berlin's busy transport and nightlife hub Potsdamer Platz. During its colorful and turbulent history it went from being one of the German capital's most luxurious and celebrated hotels to a bombed-out ruin lost in the wastelands alongside the Berlin Wall. A section of it still survives today, albeit as a fragment incorporated into the soaring modern complex of the Sony Center. Wilhelm II is said to have spent many evenings at the hotel entertaining guests, although no women were allowed at these dining parties. The hotel was visited in the 1920s by movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Greta Garbo.2

The story

After the fall of the wall in 1989 the remaining part of the hotel was safeguarded as a listed historical monument. However, when the resurrection of Potsdamer Platz was underway and the first plans for the new Sony Center were drawn up, this factor was not considered; the Kaisersaal stood in the way and was therefore earmarked for demolition. In 1993 a plan was developed to move the Kaisersaal 75 metres (246 feet) and integrate it into the Center itself. This was carried out in March 1996 at a cost of 75 million marks. The Breakfast Hall was dismantled into 500 pieces and then later put back together again; this can be found today in FREDERICK'S.

From Wikipedia’s article on Hotel Esplanade Berlin, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Timeline

  1. 1908Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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