Berlin · Charlottenburg · Est. 1913
A Hotel Older Than the Republic
The extraordinary life of Hotel am Steinplatz — now Roomers Berlin — told through war, exile, jazz, and goat cheese pralines
Steinplatz 4, Charlottenburg · August Endell, 1906–08
Introduction
Where Berlin’s History Checked In
On a quiet square in what was once the independent city of Charlottenburg, a six-storey Art Nouveau building has absorbed more of Berlin’s turbulent twentieth century than almost any other address in the city. Designed by the visionary architect August Endell and opened as a luxury hotel in 1913, the building that is now Roomers Berlin Steinplatz has served as an aristocratic refuge, a bohemian salon, a wartime improvisation, a forgotten ruin, and finally a meticulously restored jewel of contemporary hospitality.
This is its story — told decade by decade, anecdote by anecdote.
The Architect & the Building
August Endell and the Soul of Jugendstil
August Endell (1871–1925) was one of Germany’s most original Art Nouveau minds — a philosopher-turned-architect who believed that abstract form could move the human spirit as surely as music. Between 1906 and 1908 he designed the Steinplatz 4 building for use as a residence, most likely for officers. His fingerprints are everywhere: rounded bay windows, geometric stucco reliefs, Moorish arches, and an entrance hall with vaulted ceilings that feel simultaneously medieval and modern.
The Hackesche Höfe — Endell’s other surviving Berlin masterpiece
Endell’s distinctive Jugendstil facade, Steinplatz 4
Architectural Highlights
The building is one of only two surviving Endell structures in Berlin — the other being the celebrated Hackesche Höfe. During the 2010–13 restoration, architect Claudia Dressler worked closely with Berlin’s heritage authorities to restore the original stucco ceilings and vaulted entrance. Reproduction windows were fabricated to match the originals exactly, while the interior was reimagined by designer Tassilo Bost, who drew on 1920s Berlin glamour — muted tones, leather upholstery, bespoke brass fixtures — to create spaces that feel timeless rather than merely old.
Timeline
One Hundred and Twelve Years in the Making
The Building Rises
August Endell designs and erects the six-storey Art Nouveau building at Steinplatz 4, initially as a residence — most likely for officers. The Jugendstil facade is an immediate statement on the quiet Charlottenburg square.
DSH Hotel ProjectsMax Zellermayer Opens the Hotel
Entrepreneur Max Zellermayer converts the building into a luxury hotel. Almost immediately it attracts Russian aristocrats and artists. After the October Revolution in 1917, it becomes a drawing room for émigrés carrying their culture westward in luggage and memory.
VisitBerlinThe Bohemian Golden Age
The hotel’s lounge becomes one of Berlin’s great salons. Writer Vladimir Nabokov — then a young Russian émigré living in Berlin — is a regular presence. Singer Zarah Leander stops in. The address radiates the restless, electric energy of Weimar-era Berlin.
Seized Under National Socialism
The hotel is confiscated by the Nazi regime. Max Zellermayer, stripped of his property, dies shortly afterwards. His children — Heinz and Ilsa — would later describe the seizure with quiet devastation: a family legacy taken by decree.
Resurrection: Tomatoes on the Roof
The Zellermayer siblings reopen the hotel in the rubble of postwar Berlin. Supplies are so scarce that tomato beds are planted on the roof garden and a goat — later named Beate — grazes in the courtyard to provide milk. The hotel survives on ingenuity.
VisitBerlin & Marriott Press KitHeinz Lifts the Curfew
In one of the hotel’s most audacious moments, Heinz Zellermayer personally lobbies U.S. commander Frank Howley — and succeeds in convincing both American and French authorities to abolish Berlin’s evening curfew on serving alcohol. Berlin’s nightlife breathes again, and Steinplatz is at its heart.
Die Welt“Volle Pulle” Opens
The avant-garde cellar bar Volle Pulle opens in the hotel’s basement and quickly becomes a secret stage for postwar Berlin’s intellectual and artistic life. Writers Heinrich Böll and Günter Grass argue over manuscripts; Brigitte Bardot, Romy Schneider, and a young Luciano Pavarotti are spotted at the bar.
VisitBerlin & Marriott Press KitThe Golden Decades
For two decades, Volle Pulle is the place to be in West Berlin. Politicians, poets and film stars share tables in the low-lit cellar. The hotel upstairs hums with the energy of divided Berlin’s cultural capital.
Curtain Falls
Volle Pulle closes after roughly 22 years. The hotel ceases operating and is converted into a retirement home. Within a decade, the building stands completely vacant. The Endell facades weather quietly, unnoticed.
Die WeltA €33 Million Rescue
DG Steinplatz 4 GmbH acquires the derelict building and commissions architect Claudia Dressler and interior designer Tassilo Bost to lead a three-year heritage restoration. Around €33 million is invested. Every stucco medallion, every vaulted arch, every corniche is catalogued and, where necessary, painstakingly reproduced.
DSH Hotel ProjectsHotel am Steinplatz Reopens
Exactly 100 years after its first incarnation, the hotel reopens with 87 rooms and suites as the first German property in Marriott’s Autograph Collection. It wins the International Hotel & Property Award in 2014. Guests are welcomed with goat-cheese pralines — a sweet nod to wartime goat Beate.
Marriott Press ReleaseRoomers Berlin — A New Chapter
The Gekko Group assumes management and rebrands the property as Roomers Berlin Steinplatz, Autograph Collection. The hotel retains its heritage while gaining a new identity: a French-brasserie concept (Manon — Brasserie Nouvelle) created with chef The Duc Ngo, a rooftop spa, and a refreshed bar. Former Roomers Frankfurt GM Folkert Krause leads the property.
Gekko Group Press Release, Dec 2024“There was a goat in the courtyard, tomatoes on the roof, and yet somehow the hotel stayed open. If that isn’t Berlin, nothing is.”
— Ilsa Zellermayer, recalling the postwar yearsNotable Cultural Moments
Stories the Walls Could Tell
Few Berlin addresses have absorbed so many layers of history. Here are the moments that define the hotel’s cultural identity.
The Russian Salon
After the October Revolution, White Russian aristocrats and intellectuals flooded Berlin — and many found their way to Steinplatz. The hotel’s lounge became an impromptu salon where old Russia mourned itself in French and German, over tea and cognac. Among the regulars: a young Vladimir Nabokov, already writing in Russian but watching German street life with the intensity that would later fill his novels.
The Night Heinz Freed Berlin’s Bars
The Allied curfew on serving alcohol was strangling Berlin’s recovery — at least in Heinz Zellermayer’s view. He went directly to U.S. commander Frank Howley, made his case, and won. The curfew was lifted. Berlin’s legendary nightlife — the cabarets, the jazz bars, the literary cellar clubs — owes something to this one hotel owner’s stubbornness.
Böll, Grass & Bardot in the Cellar
The Volle Pulle bar was exactly the kind of place that only exists in postwar cities hungry for pleasure and ideas. Günter Grass argued about socialism; Heinrich Böll nursed a beer while reworking a manuscript; Brigitte Bardot signed autographs on cocktail napkins. The acoustics were terrible and the décor was minimal — nobody came for the décor.
The Legend of Beate the Goat
The story of the wartime goat grazing in the Steinplatz courtyard became so beloved that the hotel enshrined it in its welcome ritual. Guests today receive goat-cheese pralines on arrival — a delicious, slightly absurd homage to the animal that helped the hotel survive its darkest years. The Bar am Steinplatz, twice winner of Germany’s cocktail awards, continues to serve locally-sourced drinks alongside the praline legend.
The hotel’s notable guests across the decades read like a survey of European cultural life:
The Hotel Today
Roomers Berlin — Rediscovered
Since its rebrand in early 2025 under Gekko Group management, Roomers Berlin Steinplatz has sought to honour its layered history while making a confident leap into contemporary luxury hospitality. The property remains part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection, the brand’s portfolio of independently spirited hotels.
Chef The Duc Ngo‘s Manon — Brasserie Nouvelle concept brings a French-inflected menu to the ground floor, while the rooftop spa occupies the same space where tomatoes once grew during the war. General Manager Folkert Krause, formerly of Roomers Frankfurt, oversees a property that feels at once inherited and invented.
Unique Experiences & Features
- 🧀 Goat-cheese pralines on arrival — a nod to wartime Beate
- 🍸 Bar am Steinplatz — twice winner of German cocktail awards
- 🥐 Manon Brasserie Nouvelle by chef The Duc Ngo
- 🏙️ Rooftop spa with Berlin skyline views
- 🛍️ Minibar stocked exclusively with Berlin-made products
- 🏛️ Original Endell stucco ceilings and vaulted entrance hall
Sources & Further Reading
References
- DSH Hotel Projects — Hotel am Steinplatz project page
- VisitBerlin — Hotel am Steinplatz feature
- Marriott International — Press kit, Hotel am Steinplatz reopening (December 2013)
- Die Welt — Feature on Volle Pulle bar and the Zellermayer family
- Mein Geld — €33 million restoration overview
- Gekko Group — Press release, December 2024 rebrand announcement
- Roomers Berlin Steinplatz — Official hotel website
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