Architecture in Hamburg

Once formative for Hamburg: Gängeviertel and narrow merchant houses
Hamburg grew steadily through immigration. Especially after the beginning of industrialization, the port became the main German transshipment point for goods from Great Britain. Most of the new citizens found themselves in poor corridor quarters, which once significantly shaped the cityscape. The residential and work houses of the merchants looked similar.
Today, the Gängeviertel and merchants’ houses seem somehow cute, downright charming! But one should not disregard how life was here once: Under more than questionable hygienic conditions, people had to live together in a very small space. Functioning water supply as well as disposal of garbage and dirty water did not exist!
Reason for the narrow cut and the narrowness was that as many buildings as possible should be connected to the street or the Fleete (channels). Also with the close building greed of the landlords played a role; mainly however simply: Lack of place. Only 1860 the gate barrier was abolished, the development area of the city was thus limited until then.
Due to a city fire, large-scale redevelopments as well as bombardments in 1943 only few Gängeviertel and commercial houses remained. One is conscious today however of the historical meaning of Gängeviertel at Valentinskamp, historical Deichstrasse as well as Krameramtsstuben – they all are today part of a visitor’s program.

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Rebuilding the City and Warehouse district around 1900
The inner city of Hamburg is predominantly characterized by commercial buildings, and less by residential buildings. This is nothing unusual, in Hamburg, however, this focus is particularly clearly implemented – and already from about 1900!
In 1842, there had been a devastating city fire, which destroyed more than a quarter of the city area; later, a cholera epidemic raged in the Gängevierteln. One decided to take both as a reason for an extensive transformation of the city center.
Today’s main shopping street Mönckebergstraße was literally broken through old building quarters – or their remains. Subsequently, this was built with commercial buildings (Kontorhäuser) in the style of the time. Of these, very many are still preserved or were rebuilt after 1945. Although the Hamburg merchants undoubtedly had a lot of money at their disposal, most of the buildings are rather to be judged as simple-elegant – quite in the sense of “Hanseatic restraint”.
A great feature of the city center is our town hall (in the style of neo-Gothic). Also in this period was built in the immediate vicinity of the city center the Warehouse district – at the time the most modern warehouse complex in the world and today rightly a UNESCO World Heritage Site! Despite the technical and economic purpose of the facility, much emphasis was placed here on design.

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Postwar
Hamburg faced the problem of reconstruction after World War II. Destruction largely affected working-class neighborhoods and parts of the city center – rather than middle-class districts.
Unlike other cities, a faithful restoration of the cityscape rarely took place. On the contrary, some destroyed residential neighborhoods were cleared to become office districts (Neustadt) or reserve areas for commercial development (Hammerbrook). Instead, only a few distinctive, identity-forming buildings (e.g., the Michel) were reconstructed. Other buildings were rebuilt, but in the spirit of modernity (e.g., the State Opera House).
Space was again provided for new office buildings in the city center, and fewer apartments were built on the same area than before. In addition, many new Hamburgers from the “eastern territories” had to be accommodated: Large new housing developments were built in previously rural districts – mostly the typical row houses of the 1950s (“garden city idea”), but also the first high-rise residential buildings (Grindel high-rises) as well as the first ever office city (City Nord) in Germany! It was later followed by large housing estates.
Overall, Hamburg changed its face significantly and the populated urban area exploded. Even if some would like to build many things from this time again: Just the diversity thus created also makes the charm of Hamburg!

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