Hotel Zoo Berlin

A Century of Glamour on the Kurfürstendamm

Opened as a private residence in 1891 and converted into a hotel two decades later, Hotel Zoo Berlin has been one of Kurfürstendamm’s most coveted addresses for well over a century. In the 1950s it served as the VIP hotel for the Berlin International Film Festival, a haunt for Grace Kelly, Sophia Loren, and their ilk, and that silver-screen glamour has never quite left. Today the interiors are the work of American designers Dayna Lee and Ted Berner: a long jade-green carpet woven with leopards leads to a lobby of soaring 22-foot ceilings, double-height windows, and a glassed-in fireplace below an immense chandelier. Tom Dixon wing chairs, oversized red velvet sofas, and leather club chairs complete the scene.

The 141 rooms and suites carry an Art Deco sensibility throughout, with velvet and leather furnishings, platform beds, gleaming hardwood floors, and plush area rugs, with each room laid out differently. The two Penthouse Suites occupy an altogether different stratosphere, outfitted with George Smith furnishings in fuchsia and pink, double-sided fireplaces, and in one case a private balcony overlooking the boulevard.

At street level, Grace Restaurant draws a devoted local crowd alongside hotel guests, while the speakeasy-style Grace Bar with its exposed brick and red velvet fills up on weekends when DJs take the floor. Come summer, the rooftop bar opens above the city with views that stretch across the skyline. The The hotel’s position on Ku’damm, Berlin’s finest shopping boulevard, puts the best of the city’s retail, galleries, and cultural life right at the door.