The Chilehaus rises like the prow of a massive stone ship, its sharp eastern corner slicing into the Hamburg sky. This ten-story office block, finished in nineteen twenty-four, uses dark brown clinker bricks to mimic the jagged edges of a…
Coffee and Spice Trade History
Follow the scent of roasting coffee beans and exotic spices through the historic trading canals of the Speicherstadt. On this walk, you'll see where merchants traded, stored, and graded Hamburg's most precious imported goods.
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1. Chilehaus
2. WASSERSCHLOSS Speicherstadt
The Wasserschloss sits on the triangular tip of land between two canals, defined by its red brick facade and a central tower topped with a copper spire. Built between nineteen oh five and nineteen oh seven, this building served as a home…
3. Fleetschlösschen by Daniel Wischer
The Fleetschlösschen stands out as a small, solitary brick building topped with a steep, copper-roofed tower, wedged between the modern glass facades of HafenCity. Built in eighteen eighty-six, it originally served as the customs house for…
4. Spicy's Gewürzmuseum
A jagged brick building rises above the warehouse district canal, distinguished by a display of colorful, fragrant spice sacks piled near its entrance. This museum occupies a former warehouse where merchants once stored pepper, cinnamon,…
5. Speicherstadtmuseum
The Speicherstadtmuseum occupies a five-story warehouse built in eighteen eighty-eight, easily identified by the red brick neo-Gothic facade and the intricate terracotta ornaments lining the gables. It sits within the world’s largest…
6. Sandtorhafen/Traditionsschiffhafen
The Sandtorhafen basin is identifiable by the collection of vintage vessels moored along its stone quays, their masts creating a sharp silhouette against the modern glass office buildings of HafenCity. This was the first modern harbor…
7. Speicherstadt Coffee Roastery
The Kaffeerösterei sits inside a former warehouse built of dark red brick with pointed gables and a foundation of pine piles driven deep into the harbor mud. In nineteen twenty-five, this building stored raw coffee beans destined for the…
8. Deichstraße
Deichstraße is a row of seventeenth and eighteenth century merchant houses with steep, narrow gables and ornate sandstone facades. This street survived the Great Fire of eighteen forty-two because the wind shifted just in time to spare…