This WWII German Bunker Is Now a Contemporary Four-Star Hotel With a Rooftop Garden

25.09.2024 - 14:42 / matadornetwork.com

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World War II bunkers were never meant to be architectural masterpieces. But they were designed to be sturdy, and many still stand today. There were 1,051 bunkers in Hamburg, Germany, in 1945. The city was nearly reduced to rubble due by Allied bombs, and today, 650 of them remain. Only one has been transformed into a four-star hotel: The St. Pauli Bunker.

The St. Pauli Bunker / Green Bunker from street level (left). The room key for the the REVERB by Hard Rock (right). Photos: Morgane Croissant

After five years of renovations, the St. Pauli Bunker, also known as the Hamburg Bunker and recently the Green Bunker, opened on July 5, 2024 as REVERB by Hard Rock. The contemporary establishment now has 134 rooms, four food and drink options, and a rooftop garden.

The St. Pauli Bunker was built by 1,000 forced laborers under the Nazi regime in 300 days between August 1942 and April 1943. Meant to defend the city against Allied bombings and serve as an air raid shelter for the people of Hamburg (sometimes taking in up to 25,000 people at a time), the St. Pauli Bunker is technically more of a flak tower than a bunker. While bunkers are underground constructions, flak towers are a type of above-ground blockhouse equipped with anti-aircraft guns. The St. Pauli Bunker had anti-missile guns at the top of the structure on all four protruding corners, the set-up of which is still visible today. Guests of the hotel can learn about the bunker’s past thanks to an exhibition located by the hotel reception. A memorial for the forced laborers, as well as the victims of the Nazi regime and the Second World War is also in the works.

Photo: Guido Neumann

The structure, which is a protected monument, was used in varied ways between the end of WWII and the immense renovations done to turn it into the REVERB by Hard Rock. After the war, the St. Pauli Bunker provided accommodations to local residents whose homes were destroyed by Allied bombings, and in 1950, the first television images in Germany were broadcast from the bunker. Today, the St. Pauli Bunker is still home to a night club and a pop music school, among others, along with the hotel.

It’s not an easy feat to make a massive concrete war structure look cozy and welcoming, especially considering the building specs. The bunker is 246 feet wide, the walls are 11 feet thick, and the building is 190 feet tall (it was 114 foot tall before the renovations). Yet, the architects and designers of the REVERB by Hard Rock managed to create something that feels (almost)