Dorint Hotel Tower
Encyclopedia
The Dorint Hotel Tower is the best-known high-rise building in the German
city of Augsburg
and visible throughout the city. At 107,2 m (158 m with the antenna) it is the highest building in the Augsburg area and among the ten highest in Bavaria
. It is located at the intersection of Gögginger Straße and Imhofstraße, in the borough of Göggingen. In its vicinity are the Congress Hall and Wittelsbacher Park.
The building is architecturally
similar to the Marina City
towers in Chicago
. The tower is nicknamed "Maiskolben" (corncob
) by locals because of its cylindrical shape with numerous bulges.
dealer Otto Schnitzenbaumer had the tower built on the occasion of the 20th
Olympic Games
in Munich
1972 at a cost of 50 million Deutschmark and thereby fulfilled his desire to build a "symbol of modern Augsburg". Planning for the project soon faced resistance from inhabitants, however, leading to the founding of the "Save the Wittelsbacher park" campaign. Construction began in April 1971.
In order to keep to the planned build-time, the 18-sided interior which houses the lifts
and stairwells was constructed from concrete cast in situ and the pre-cast concrete parts for the balconies and roofs were manufactured on site in an installation erected for that purpose. After a fourteen month construction period, on July 2, 1972, the 400-bed Holiday Inn
hotel
welcomed its first guests, the 279 apartments were ready for people to move in, and the restaurant on the 35th floor and the viewing platform on the 34th floor gained much popularity.
. The sales contract was however revoked in February 1976 because the money for the purchase had not been paid and the building returned to its original owner, but since Otto Schnitzenbaumer also had financial problems, the tower was put up for compulsory auction
in 1979 at a guide price of 35 million Deutschmark by order of the court. Yet nobody wanted to buy it at this price.
At the second attempt on March 5, 1980, the tower was purchased for 20 million Deutschmark by Landesbank Hessen (now Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen). They wanted to re-sell the building, but due to lack of prospective customers the tower was divided up in 328 property units to be sold separately. The hotel part of the tower with restaurant, consisting of the lower eleven and the two highest floors as well as the parking level went to the entrepreneur Franz Lauer from Fürth
.
That was however far from being the end of the building's problems: in April 1989 the Swiss
company "Toga Hotels" acquired the building's hotel wing, whose lease to Holiday Inn ran out one year later. Swiss operator Martin Zoller re-opened the hotel under the name Turmhotel ("Tower Hotel"), but he was forced to declare bankruptcy
in March 1993. The 303 beds were controlled by the trustees of the bankrupt's estate, who suggested a new use for the building as a home for asylum-seekers or the elderly. Since the city strongly opposed these plans, they were again rejected and the 185 hotel rooms remained unused.
On May 8, 1996 the hotel wing again went into administration and was again put up for auction. It went for 20.9 million Deutschmark to the "First National Holding Venezuela" owned by the mineral oil
company Hertel, who wanted to establish a 3-Star hotel under the name of "Goodnight" for a price of 7.2 million Deutschmark. This hotel would have had 108 rooms and, as well as that, seven floors would have been used as a home for the elderly and the disabled. For years, however, nothing happened.
purchased the hotel for 12 million Deutschmark. After seven years of inactivity, the builders now came and completely refit the building, investing 45 million Deutschmark into it. In the year 2002 the hotel was reopened as the Dorint.
Millions were also invested in refurbishing the private apartments above the hotel, which now possess among other things a new entrance with a concierge
and the largest video monitoring system in any German house. The facade was also renovated.
channels are transmitted:
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
city of Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
and visible throughout the city. At 107,2 m (158 m with the antenna) it is the highest building in the Augsburg area and among the ten highest in Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
. It is located at the intersection of Gögginger Straße and Imhofstraße, in the borough of Göggingen. In its vicinity are the Congress Hall and Wittelsbacher Park.
The building is architecturally
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
similar to the Marina City
Marina City
Marina City is a mixed-use residential/commercial building complex occupying an entire city block on State Street in Chicago, Illinois. It lies on the north bank of the Chicago River in downtown Chicago, directly across from the Loop district...
towers in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. The tower is nicknamed "Maiskolben" (corncob
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
) by locals because of its cylindrical shape with numerous bulges.
Origin of the tower
The former Augsburg agricultural machineryAgricultural machinery
Agricultural machinery is machinery used in the operation of an agricultural area or farm.-Hand tools:The first person to turn from the hunting and gathering lifestyle to farming probably did so by using his bare hands, and perhaps some sticks or stones. Tools such as knives, scythes, and wooden...
dealer Otto Schnitzenbaumer had the tower built on the occasion of the 20th
1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972....
Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
1972 at a cost of 50 million Deutschmark and thereby fulfilled his desire to build a "symbol of modern Augsburg". Planning for the project soon faced resistance from inhabitants, however, leading to the founding of the "Save the Wittelsbacher park" campaign. Construction began in April 1971.
In order to keep to the planned build-time, the 18-sided interior which houses the lifts
Elevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
and stairwells was constructed from concrete cast in situ and the pre-cast concrete parts for the balconies and roofs were manufactured on site in an installation erected for that purpose. After a fourteen month construction period, on July 2, 1972, the 400-bed Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn is a brand of hotels, formally a economy motel chain, forming part of the British InterContinental Hotels Group . It is one of the world's largest hotel chains with 238,440 bedrooms and 1,301 hotels globally. There are currently 5 hotels in the pipeline...
hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
welcomed its first guests, the 279 apartments were ready for people to move in, and the restaurant on the 35th floor and the viewing platform on the 34th floor gained much popularity.
A period of difficulties for the tower
In 1974, the unexpected news came that the building had been sold to Johann Nepomuk Glöggler's company in LuxembourgLuxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
. The sales contract was however revoked in February 1976 because the money for the purchase had not been paid and the building returned to its original owner, but since Otto Schnitzenbaumer also had financial problems, the tower was put up for compulsory auction
Auction
An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...
in 1979 at a guide price of 35 million Deutschmark by order of the court. Yet nobody wanted to buy it at this price.
At the second attempt on March 5, 1980, the tower was purchased for 20 million Deutschmark by Landesbank Hessen (now Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen). They wanted to re-sell the building, but due to lack of prospective customers the tower was divided up in 328 property units to be sold separately. The hotel part of the tower with restaurant, consisting of the lower eleven and the two highest floors as well as the parking level went to the entrepreneur Franz Lauer from Fürth
Fürth
The city of Fürth is located in northern Bavaria, Germany in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. It is now contiguous with the larger city of Nuremberg, the centres of the two cities being only 7 km apart....
.
That was however far from being the end of the building's problems: in April 1989 the Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
company "Toga Hotels" acquired the building's hotel wing, whose lease to Holiday Inn ran out one year later. Swiss operator Martin Zoller re-opened the hotel under the name Turmhotel ("Tower Hotel"), but he was forced to declare bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
in March 1993. The 303 beds were controlled by the trustees of the bankrupt's estate, who suggested a new use for the building as a home for asylum-seekers or the elderly. Since the city strongly opposed these plans, they were again rejected and the 185 hotel rooms remained unused.
On May 8, 1996 the hotel wing again went into administration and was again put up for auction. It went for 20.9 million Deutschmark to the "First National Holding Venezuela" owned by the mineral oil
Mineral oil
A mineral oil is any of various colorless, odorless, light mixtures of alkanes in the C15 to C40 range from a non-vegetable source, particularly a distillate of petroleum....
company Hertel, who wanted to establish a 3-Star hotel under the name of "Goodnight" for a price of 7.2 million Deutschmark. This hotel would have had 108 rooms and, as well as that, seven floors would have been used as a home for the elderly and the disabled. For years, however, nothing happened.
Renaissance
In January 2000 the solution arrived for the owners of apartments in the building, who until that time had also had to carry the additional cost of the hotel wing: the entrepreneur Dr. Wolfgang Ebertz from CologneCologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
purchased the hotel for 12 million Deutschmark. After seven years of inactivity, the builders now came and completely refit the building, investing 45 million Deutschmark into it. In the year 2002 the hotel was reopened as the Dorint.
Millions were also invested in refurbishing the private apartments above the hotel, which now possess among other things a new entrance with a concierge
Concierge
A concierge is an employee who either works in shifts within, or lives on the premises of an apartment building or a hotel and serves guests with duties similar to those of a butler. The position can also be maintained by a security officer over the 'graveyard' shift. A similar position, known as...
and the largest video monitoring system in any German house. The facade was also renovated.
Transmission installations
The hotel tower has an antenna mast on its roof, from which the following VHF radioRadio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
channels are transmitted:
| Frequency | Power | Station name |
|---|---|---|
| 87.9 MHz | 150 W | Rock-Antenne |
| 92.2 MHz | 300 W | Klassik Radio1 Klassik Radio Klassik Radio is a radio station in Germany. It specialises in classical music, Film music and Lounge music. The channel is receivable in over 300 German cities via FM, throughout Germany via cable, and in Europe via satellite. It is also worldwide streamed on the internet... |
| 93.4 MHz | 300 W | Radio Fantasy |
| 94.8 MHz | 100 W | egoFM |
| 96.7 MHz | 300 W | Hit Radio RT 1 |
| 104.2 MHz | 100 W | Antenne Bayern |