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Located in the Port of Hamburg between Baumwall and Oberhafen, the Speicherstadt (warehouse district) is the largest historic warehouse complex in the world. It was built between 1883 and 1927 on the former Elbe islands and residential quarters of Kehrwieder and Wandrahm.
Under the direction of Franz Andreas Meyer, chief engineer of Hamburg's building authority, hydraulic engineering director Christian Nehls and building director Johann Christian Zimmermann, 15 engineers and 24 architects and draughtsmen were entrusted with planning and building it. Architect Georg Thielen alone designed around 30 of the warehouses.
In 2003, the Speicherstadt was removed from the free port area, which was dissolved in 2013. In 2008, it was administratively assigned to the new development on the Großer Grasbrook in the Hamburg-Mitte borough and declared part of the HafenCity district.
The free port had become superfluous because of the growth in container shipping and automated warehouse management systems for recording uncleared goods. As a result, since 2004 the Speicherstadt – apart from the carpet warehouses – has been part of Germany's domestic customs territory. In 2013, the customs border was finally abolished, paving the way for the HafenCity project, which also includes the historic Speicherstadt.
The Speicherstadt covers a total area of 26 hectares and is criss-crossed by Fleete – natural watercourses in the Elbe marshes.
In July 2015, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, meeting in Bonn, added the Speicherstadt and the Kontorhaus district with the Chilehaus to the World Heritage List.
The warehouses, known as Speicher, were built in neo-Gothic brick architecture on thousands of oak piles. Goods such as tea, coffee and spices were brought into the warehouses on the water side and taken out again on the street side for onward transport. Thanks to the relatively stable climate inside the warehouses, storage conditions for the products were very good. The lower floors, however, could not be used for long-term storage, as water could have got in during a storm surge.
Lingovo, Schürbeker Straße 5, 22087 Hamburg
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The so-called Quartiersleute (warehouse keepers) handle storage and further processing for importers. They specialise in particular goods, tasted tea or coffee and monitored product quality – but today their businesses are located near the container terminals.
Covering around 630,000 square metres, the Speicherstadt today offers numerous attractions for visitors and tourists: many carpet dealers and agencies, the Speicherstadtmuseum, the Spice Museum, the Customs Museum and the Hamburg Dungeon, where since 2000 actors have presented a mix of chamber of horrors, show and history lesson, with rides adding some action for visitors.
Also since 2000, the Speicherstadt has been home to the world's largest model railway, Miniatur Wunderland.
The publisher and editorial office of the magazine mare are based in the Speicherstadt, as is the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA), which moved here in 2006.
Other attractions and sights:
HafenCity InfoCenter, Hamburg Architecture Archive, German Customs Museum, Fleetschlösschen (a café and pub in a former dockworkers' canteen), Dialogue in the Dark, Wasserschloss Speicherstadt (a trading house with a restaurant all about tea), Speicherstadtmuseum (museum on the history of the Speicherstadt, with events), Kehrwieder-Theater (variety shows), Speicherstadt Kaffeerösterei (coffee roastery with café)
The Speicherstadt is easy to reach by U-Bahn from Hamburg Hauptbahnhof (central station). From the water, you can tour it by launch during harbour tours. Larger boats cannot navigate the shallow canals (Fleete) because of the low bridges.
