The sharp corner
The eastern end narrows to a point like a ship's prow. Hamburg's best-known architectural shot.
Esther Westerveld from Haarlemmermeer, Nederland — CC BY 2.0 · Flocci Nivis — CC BY 4.0 · Flocci Nivis — CC BY 4.0 · Flocci Nivis — CC BY 4.0
The Chilehaus is a brick office building of 1924, among the best-known works of Expressionist architecture anywhere, and UNESCO-listed as part of the Kontorhaus district. Its shape is unusual: the eastern corner narrows to a sharp point, so from a distance it looks like the prow of a ship cutting through water. The comparison is deliberate — the man who built it made his fortune trading with Chile, which is where the name comes from. It is built from around five million dark bricks, and its façades ripple with rows of windows that give a sense of movement. In the evening the lighting picks out that sharp corner particularly well. It is a working office building, so you cannot wander the floors. But the inner courtyards and ground-floor passages are open to the public, with shops and cafés.
The eastern end narrows to a point like a ship's prow. Hamburg's best-known architectural shot.
Undulating rows of windows in dark brick that give a sense of movement.
Passages and courtyards open to the public, with shops and cafés, quieter than the street.
Fischertwiete 2, 20095 Hamburg
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At the junction of Burchardstraße and Pumpen, where the two façades meet at the point. Evening is better, when the lighting emphasises the shape.
For anyone interested in architecture, certainly. For others it is a handsome short stop on the way between the main station and the Speicherstadt, both minutes away.