Every historic hotel has a story to tell, but they don’t come much more dramatic, complex, and chequered as the Soho House Berlin, which is now one of the coolest hotels on the scene.
But the Grade-II listed building wasn’t always so cool.
Starting off as the Jonass & Co. department store back in the late 1920s, the building’s Jewish owners were forced out when the National Socialist Party came to power in Germany in 1933, and Hitler’s Reich Youth Leadership bought the newly vacant building and turned it into its HQ during WWII.
After the war, when the Allies handed control of East Berlin to the Soviets, the building became the seat of the Communist Party’s Central Committee, before being converted into the Institute of Marxist-Leninism. Then, with the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the building was handed back to the original Jewish owners, and it remained vacant for almost a decade.
The building before being transformed into a hip hotel / sohohouseberlin.com
But since 2010, the building has been transformed into the Soho House Berlin, and it’s now one of the coolest hotels on the scene and a part of the Soho House family (there are now 17 houses around the world), which was founded in London in 1995 as a private members’ club for people in the creative industries (However, you certainly don’t need to be a member to stay here.)
Boasting 65 bedrooms, 20 apartments (one and two-bedrooms with full kitchens), and four lofts (two and three-bedrooms with floor-to-ceiling windows, flat-screen TVs, private balconies, plus a 24-hour concierge service), all rooms come with free fast Wi-Fi, and some are furnished with vintage record players, soaking tubs and dining tables.
Pictured: Large room / sohohouseberlin.com
The Soho House Berlin features an Italian-American bistro, coffee shop, cinema, fitness centre, rooftop pool, and a branch of Mayfair eatery Cecconi’s – a first inside Germany. And just like the Soho House Istanbul, it manages to retain the classic design elements of an historic building whilst dialling up the style: a piece by English artist Damien Hirst, consisting of a spray-painted ‘Soho Haus Berlin’ on exposed stone, graces the lobby.
Rooftop pool / sohohouseberlin.com
As part of the Soho House brand, the Soho House Berlin is now a magnet for creative types all over the city and the world, and the chic hotel prides itself on being ‘a space to work, meet and relax.’ Workstations are scattered throughout, there’s a basement space for live music and events, and there’s also a spa where guests can wind down with a massage or sauna.
Massage treatment at the spa / sohohouseberlin.com
All in all, this is one hotel that isn’t just a pretty face, and it speaks volumes about how far Berlin has come as a city – shedding its complex past and walking confidently into the future.
