The roof garden design for the bunker turned hotel.

  • A huge former Nazi bunker in Hamburg, Germany is set to become a luxury hotel.
  • The Flak Tower IV was built by forced laborers as an anti-aircraft bunker in 1942.
  • Since the war it has been home to nightclubs and live music venues due to its three-metre-thick walls, according to Hamburg.com.
  • The new hotel, by NH Hotel group, will take over the top floors of the building and will feature a five-storey roof garden, according to an official press release.
  • The garden will also be home to a memorial centre for victims of the Nazi regime, The Times reports.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

A huge former Nazi bunker in Hamburg, Germany is set to become a luxury hotel.

Flak Tower IV - one of two towers - was built in 1942 as an anti-aircraft bunker and was one of the Nazis' biggest fortresses, according to Hamburg.com.

The website says it's one of around 650 remaining Nazi bunkers in Hamburg (during the Third Reich, the city had more than anywhere else at 1,051), however the majority were more subtle than the Flak Towers.

The huge, 35 metre-high fortress was originally built by forced labourers in response to allied air raids which began in 1940.

It has since been home to live music venues, nightclubs (the walls are a hefty 3.5 metres thick), a music store, and a workspace for media and artists, which the developers say will stay in the building on the lower floors, below the hotel.

Situated in the St Pauli area of the northern German city, the squat concrete block has been acquired by the NH Hotel Group, which plans to inject new life into the building with a five-storey roof garden on top and a leafy walkway around the side of the building.

The hotel, set to open in mid-2021, will have 136 rooms, a bar, a café, and a restaurant, as well as panoramic views of the city, according to an official press release.

Read more: Why the most expensive hotels aren't always the best, according to a professional traveller who has stayed in over 3,000

The rooftop garden, which will be open to all, will also feature a memorial centre for victims of the Nazi regime, The Times reports.

The hotel will come under NH Hotels' "designer and lifestyle" nhow brand, which means it will feature "eye-catching designs" and become a "fashionable destination," according to the company.

However, not everyone is happy about the new hotel.

Local architect Elinor Schües told Deutschlandfunkkultur radio station that her uncle was forced to work in the bunker and shoot at British planes as a 16-year-old.

She believes the building "should represent the strength and brutality of National Socialism," and should not be made "cuddly and green".

Insider has contacted NH Hotels for further comment.

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