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Adlon Oblige – 100 years of luxury hotel history
Hotel Adlon Kempinski, Berlin celebrates 100 years of history in October
By: Mary Gostelow
Adlon Oblige - the motto of Hotel Adlon Kempinski, Berlin - was never more apparent than at the historic hotel's centenary celebrations on October 29th, 2007, says Mary Gostelow.
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The event had been more than a year in the planning, and every detail had been anticipated. For example, when at the height of the party, a champagne glass shattered on one of the marble floors, a waiter had a crisp linen napkin handy in his pocket so he could immediately gather up all the shards.
The Adlon is without doubt one of the world's iconic hotels, part of a number so select you could count them on the fingers of two hands, if not one. These are luxury hotels that require no mention of location. You say The Adlon. You obviously mean the Adlon in Berlin. The original Adlon was built in 1907 by architect Carl Gause and Robert Leibnitz for Lorenz Adlon. As is well known, it was destroyed in a fire during the bombing of Berlin 1945. Legendary hotelier Karl-Th Walterspiel later bought the name of the property from the Adlon family, while Kempinski Hotels & Resorts bought the shell of the building: two owners later it ended up in the hands of Fundus Hotelentwicklungs-und Verwaltungsgesellschaft, from whom Kempinski leases the property.
Regular guests used to include Greta Garbo and later Tom Cruise, in his Penelope Cruz days. This is the hotel where Michael Jackson famously dangled his baby out of an upper floor window - is there any such thing as bad publicity? Ted Turner loves the place, as do Hollywood stars Pierce Brosnan and Roger Moore and many more.
For the centenary regular guests flew in from all corners. I breakfasted one morning with someone fresh in from Beijing, the next with a guest who came for one night only from New York. Lorenz Adlon's great-great grandson Felix Adlon, a film maker based in Los Angeles, represented his family.
And so the day dawned. Tuesday October 29th, 2007 was crisp and cold, but mercifully rain-free. Looking down from 518, my favorite suite at the Hotel Adlon Kempinski, I could see right down into the swimming pool-sized hole in the centre of Unter der Linden avenue, apparently another stage in the seemingly-endless subway extension construction. Turning to the left, there was the Brandenburg Gate, the quadriga atop, only 150 yards away. Down below, the red carpet covering the walkway from the sidewalk up four steps to the revolving doors leading to the big lobby had '100 years' projected from above.
At 11am, a Ceremonial Act was held in the glorious second-floor ballroom, a froth of apple green with gold highlighting, and twelve saffron-sleeved three tiered chandeliers, each bearing a total of 73 electric candles. There were speeches, all in German, by Stephan Interthal, MD Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin and Director Germany for Kempinski Hotels and Resorts; Klaus Wowereit, Mayor of Berlin; Anno August Jagdfeld, MD Fundus Fonds-Verwaltungen GmbH; Felix Adlon; Reto Wittwer, President/CEO Kempinski Hotels.
A check was handed over by Stephan Interthal to the Villa Sans Souci International Children's Camp. Host was television journalist Nina Ruge, www.nina-ruge.de. The Beckert-Quartet from the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra played Mozart’s Quartet in G and Astor Piazzolla Tango-Ballet. A seated lunch was held afterwards in the Bel Etage complex of meeting rooms.
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The evening party, for a thousand of The Adlon's closest friends, supposedly started at 7pm but you know how punctual these Germans are - by the time I had had my wrist tagged and got into the party itself it was only 7.15 but already trays of empty glasses and high piles of used plates were being carried out. It was business suits but the Berlin ladies had brought out all their finest robes, and jewels and hair styles. A few had come in period dress, which beautifully suited the presence of pairs of actors-models in costume suitable for all periods from 1907 on.
It was a magnificent party. The main floor ballroom was transformed partly in a dance floor with a Big Band, and another area was converted into a white-floored futuristic lounge. There was also room for a giant bar, itself formed only of ice, to hold yet more bottles of 1998 Moët & Chandon en magnum, as well as a König Pilsener beer stand. Servers offered poured glasses of 2006 Riesling-Edition 100 Jahre Hotel Adlon, Robert Weil, Rheingau; 2005 Königsbacher Spätburgunder-Edition 100 Jahre Hotel Adlon, A. Christmann, Pfalz; 2006 Chardonnay Bramito der Cervo, Castello della Sala Antinori Umbria; 2001 Ch Les Fiefs de Lagrange, Ch Lagrange, St Julien.
The seafood bar, with at least half a dozen full time shuckers shucking oysters as fast as they could go, was probably most popular, but there were hungry connoisseurs patiently lining up for the cold prime rib on one buffet, or cheeses, or the many desserts. One dessert room had hundreds of candles apparently hanging from single strings suspended from the ceiling (how did they stay up, and stay alight?). There were lots of miracles this evening. Among the many acts, in various parts of the hotel, was the charming singing of Anna Maria Kaufmann. If you wanted more culture, there were exhibitions of a hundred years of Art and Culture; Music and Dance; Zeitgeist and Glamour; Culinary highlights.
Hotel MD Stephan Interthal and his team had worked with a number of luxury business partners to make the event such a success - the list included Christofle Deutschland GmbH; Gerolsteiner Brunnen GmbH; J.J. Darboven GmbH & Co; Löffelsend & Wein Company GmbH; Moët Hennessy Deutschland GmbH; Pro Handel Johann A. Meyer GmbH; Rewe GVS; Rungis Express GmbH & Co KG; Russian Standard/Campari Deutschland GmbH.
And I must not forget BMW, who had two historic cars on display on the sidewalk outside the hotel. On the night itself, hotel chief concierge Raffaele Sorrentino supervised a fleet of 30 BMW stretch-7 series taking local guests home (the last limo left the hotel at 3 am). Twenty drivers had to be on call again at 8am to start taking guests who had stayed overnight back to the airport, to return to Beijing, Los Angeles, New York or wherever. And me? I came down at 6.30am to go running and, of course, not a hair was out of place in the exquisite Hotel Adlon Kempinski. It was - almost - as if yesterday had merely been a dream. That is what Adlon Oblige means. www.hotel-adlon.de
Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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