T H E  H O T E L  A D L O N…
A tradition of extraordinary excellence is restored.
LORENZ ADLON WAS THE FOUNDER OF THE MOST FAMOUS HOTEL AND
RESTAURANT IN EUROPE THAT CATERED TO KAISER WILHELM, THE TZAR OF RUSSIA, EDISON, FORD, ROCKEFELLER, PRESIDENT TAFT AND ALBERT EINSTEIN. CHARLIE CHAPLIN WAS STRIPPED OF HIS TROUSER-BUTTONS WHEN RAUCOUS CROWDS SWARMED HIM ON THE ADLON STEPS AFTER THE BERLIN PREMIER OF “CITY LIGHTS” AND MARLENE
DIETRICH, DISCOVERED AT THE ADLON, UTTERED HER FAMOUS LINE… “I WANT TO BE ALONE.”
Text and Photos By Stephen Ashton
Coming from humble French roots (“our name was originally
‘Adelón’,” great grandson Percy Adlon says, “before my forefathers
settled in Mainz, Germany”), Lorenz Adlon started his career life as
an apprentice to an amazing builder/designer and in short order
became a master carpenter. Adlon became an avid wine aficionado
and returned to his family’s Medoc region in France to study and
refine his palate. He moved to Berlin and soon was known as a fine
restaurateur and wine purveyor with millions of bottles cellared in
Berlin.
By chance Lorenz Adlon encountered the Germany’s emperor Kaiser
Wilhelm II and proposed an extraordinary new hotel, to be the most
progressive hotel in all of Europe. It would be right in front of the
Brandenburg Gate, amid the great buildings of state near the
venerable Reichestag. The Kaiser was impressed with this self-made
man and offered his blessings.
When the Hotel Adlon opened in 1907 it amazed even the most skeptical with its
advanced features (like its own electric plant, freezers for foods and
advanced communications ) and particularly, its beauty: and Golden
Cloudy Marble from Sienna and Red Marble from Verona for floors
and stairs; Wainscotting of Cuban Mahogany, painted Sycamore
wood, frescoed stucco ceilings and silk and damask dressed the
expansive lobbies and rooms. Paintings and busts, ivory inlays, Louis
VI and Queen Anne furniture all drew praise from the Kaiser
himself.
From that day on the Hotel Adlon was an unbridled success… the
place to be – and the place to be seen. Wilhelm II took refuge in the
warmth and excitement of the Hotel to avoid the drafty rooms of the
royal palace. Other noble families moved into the Hotel’s suites and
sold their winter houses and it was the favorite haunt of Enrico
Caruso, Mary Pickford and Rudolf Valentino, Richard Strauss and
Thomas Mann.
Although the Hotel building managed to survive WWII’s
devastation of Berlin, most of it burned and only a small part was
maintained as a Hotel under socialist rule in the then East Berlin.
The fall of Berlin Wall and the subsequent reunification of Germany
in the 1990’s led to a truly revolutionary architectural possibilities:
futuristic modern architectural wonders in the no-man’s land of
Potsdammerplatz and elsewhere in East Berlin; and the construction
of a new Adlon Hotel, on the very site of the original Adlon – not as
a new modern expression – but in the style of the original Adlon! It
would use the finest materials, would keep the exterior just the way
it was, and create the atmosphere of the original grand scale. It would
pay homage to a time gone by. It would go against common
belief that it is impossible to
“build it like they used to.”