The Nikolai-Quartier

Ideas for Hamburg’s historic city centre

For some time now, visitors to downtown Hamburg who go along Mönckebergstrasse past the City Hall to join Große Johannisstrasse, have had to cross over the road on a level with the Chamber of Trade, because just before the Börsenbrücke/Adolphsplatz crossroad a steel monstrosity blocks the way. Now this isn’t part of the supporting structure of a new office block that will soon be extending right out over the street. Instead, it’s a rather extravagant attempt to create a link connecting Hamburg’s historic past and the urge for modernity that is perceptible in the growing metropolis today. During the construction period lasting nearly two years, a whole traffic lane as well as the pavement had to be cordoned off, to make room for the steel scaffolding supporting the historic facades of two patrician houses dating from the 19th century. They are being converted into a new modern complex of offices and retail shops called the “Johannis-Contor”. As from 2010, the complex providing floor space of 1,800 m2 will be accommodating a Boysen & Mauke bookstore and a Dat Backhus bakery and confectioners, as well as a number of service companies. So the new “Johannis-Contor” will be symbolising that urge for modernity in the inner-city area that lies between the City Hall and Baumwall, the gateway to the port.

And indeed: the new complex that imaginatively blends old and new is so-to-speak the doorstep into the area measuring about 13 hectares that includes the City Hall, Willy-Brandt-Strasse, Rödingsmarkt and Alsterfleet – the original site of this city of seafarers and merchants. As early as the 11th century, businesses starting to accumulate around Nikolaifleet – the scene of Hamburg’s small beginnings as a port – gradually turning the urban settlement into the commercial centre that meanwhile has one of the world’s busiest ports. Following the cathedral, the city’s sacred nucleus located just a stone’s throw away, Hamburg’s second church was built here in the 12th century in the form of a wooden chapel that was dedicated to St. Nicolas, the patron saint of shipping. Other prominent historical features of this quarter were the City Hall and (from 1583 until 1842) the old Stock Exchange.

Nowadays, the Nikolai-Quartier – which derives its name from the former parish – is an extremely busy part of the city. Around 600 firms do business there, and apart from the “new” City Hall (dating from 1897) and the “new” Stock Exchange (built in 1841) this is also where the big merchant banks are based: Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank and Hypovereinsbank, as well as Hamburger Sparkasse. But despite its central location, the public roadways here cannot be compared to those to be found in the modern shopping precincts around Mönckebergstrasse, Jungfernstieg and Neuer Wall. “The area between the City Hall and the port must be seen again for what it is: the cradle of the merchant city of Hamburg. That’s why we’ve joined forces with traders and property owners in the area. We’re going to spruce up the outdoor facilities again, with the help of a bit of private initiative,” ways Prof. Hans-Jörg Schmidt-Trenz, managing director of the Chamber of Commerce. It was he who had the idea of doing up the Nikolai-Quartier in a BID project (see box).

And this initiative was badly needed. After all, even next year the Überseequartier will be increasing retail space in central Hamburg by yet another 40,000 m2, which is equivalent to the entire area already available in the Elbe Shopping Centre. So that will bring about an entirely new situation in future for consumers coming to Hamburg: whilst Gänsemarkt and the Central Station used to be the two focal points marking each end of the shopping mile of department stores and individual retailers, the Überseequartier will now create another one. And that might mean a further decline for Großer Burstah, the main shopping street in the Nikolai-Quartier – unless something is done to stop it. “As regards building substance and the central location, the place we’ve got here is really promising. But the problem is that our roads and pavements aren’t made for lingering. And we need to improve accessibility for customers, too. Don’t forget, Großer Burstah was Hamburg’s up-market shopping street right up into the 1950s. The traffic today needs slowing down, so that drivers and pedestrians don’t obstruct each other and so everyone can benefit from the improvements made to the area,” says Laurenz Lenffer, manager of a china shop of the same name. What he means are the arcades, some of them already in a rather sorry state, and the uninviting layout of the pavements. On top of which Großer Burstah was made a one-way street in the 1950s. These days a lot of bus routes use the street, but they don’t bring any customers – for the simple reason that there isn’t a bus stop. And when Rathausmarkt was redeveloped in the 1980s, Adolphsplatz suddenly became a terminal for the articulated buses that used to go straight along Alter Wall.

So as they stand, the roads in the Nikolai-Quartier mainly serve to give traffic access to Hamburg city centre. This needs changing in the interests of the overall concept, without impairing the adjacent areas’ accessibility to traffic. That this can be done has been proved in a recent feasibility study, commissioned from Argus Traffic Planners by shopkeepers and property owners in the Nikolai-Quartier in preparation for the BID project. The study indicates that in future, buses will be able to drive along Großer Burstah in both directions again. By providing new bus stops round about the middle, more consumers should be encouraged to frequent the shops along the street. On the other hand, the new traffic concept would also mean that Alter Wall, Adolphsplatz and Mönkedamm can also be made more attractive at the same time. For instance, at Adolphsplatz space could be created for a whole new target group in Hamburg’s inner city: the students from HSBA, Hamburg’s youngest university that is going to put up its new main building here. The plans drafted by the architects von Mansberg, Wiskott & Partner recently won an award from an international jury, and construction work is to commence before the end of the year.

If the Nikolai-Quartier is to become more attractive, then another important thing will be to re-organise the parking situation. In future, the outdoor facilities like those on Hopfenmarkt and Adolphsplatz are going to be used more for pedestrians to linger and enjoy, so alternatives need to be found for people wanting to park – after all, the accessibility of the shops to customers coming by car is hugely important to retailers’ turnover. The conditions on which private investors could build underground car parks beneath the squares in the area are therefore currently being reviewed. There will then only be short-stay parking facilities available on the public streets. The extra space thus gained is to be used amongst other things for cafés to liven up the streets.

Another topic currently being intensely debated by the property owners and shopkeepers involved on the various BID project committees is the question of how the Nikolai-Quartier can be marketed as an entity, perhaps under a single logo, and what consumer services can be jointly offered by all. Lots of ideas for increasing functional appeal have been put forward as well, such as regularly holding a weekly market on Hopfenmarkt, and permanently installing an art and antiques market on Mönkedamm. And here’s a nice idea already for Nikolaifleet, Hamburg’s oldest harbour basin: a replica of an old windlass for hoisting commodities along with an old Hanseatic cog would bring history back to life at the scene of the old Stock Exchange, creating another attraction for Hamburg’s inhabitants and tourists alike.

So all that’s needed now is “merely” to make the Nikolai-Quartier more uniformly attractive, and here too the property owners and shopkeepers have made good progress. In early January they decided to start making specific plans based on a design drawn up by the landscape planners Breimann & Brunn and the architect Martin Hecht, the winners of an ideas contest that had been specially held. “All the different ideas for sprucing up the Nikolai-Quartier go to show just how much potential the area’s got,” says Jörn Walter, the senior civil engineer whose team will be accompanying the project on behalf of the municipal authorities. And it’s this kind of support that’s so badly needed. After all, the aim is not just to realise Germany’s biggest BID. The time schedule is really ambitious as well: plans are to file the official BID application in the summer, so that construction work can already get underway in the autumn.