Marketplace 1

The first documented owner of the building “Marktplatz 1” was Georg Hensell operating it as a brewery and malthouse. Over the course of time owners changed repeatedly until the building was destroyed by the great fires of 1678 and 1704. In 1817, Karl Ludwig Gräfe, Mayor of Schandau acquired the land and set up a public house. In 1839 he was granted to license to operate it as a public inn and also the permission to name the public house “The Steamer Inn”. At that time, the building only consisted of the ground floor and an upper floor. According to the Schandau bathing list, already in 1847, the property was rented to bathers. In January 1851, Gräfe sold to hotelier Bode, who in 1853 built the Elbfront in classical style. In 1868, Louis F. Rohde bought “Hotel Steamer” and in 1882, he renovated the market building to include taxi stands and the heraldic rock as cope stone over the entrance portal. The years 1914-15 brought further modification or extension of the hotel. Since then facing the River Elbe, the hotel building formed a united front with the neighboring building “Marktplatz 3” and received in addition to a modern, functional interior a representative facade with spacious balconies on each floor. Even the roof has been redesigned. For nearly 100 years, the building presents itself now in the same look.

From modest beginnings, a remarkable hotel evolved in the 20s and 30s. During World War 2 a military hospital for wounded was established. The son of Louis F. Rohde, Alfred Rohde led the hotel until the end of the war in 1945, followed by the expropriation by the Soviet occupying power. In 1948 the hotel was taken over by the Ministry of Justice of the GDR and was used a school for the training of judges and prosecutors. From 1954 until the turnaround in 1990, it served as a FDGB vacation and recreation home and in December 1990 became an asset of the trust. In the summer of 1992, a Munich-based company bought the object from the Trust, but all operators plans that accompanied the purchase went into disrepair, as well as the building itself.

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