Karmarschstrasse
We are looking at the east side of Karmarschstrasse between the Kröpcke (square) and Ständehausstrasse on the right side of the picture. The complete triangular street block is occupied by the Kröpcke-Center. Karmarschstrasse is a main shopping street in Hannover and has been a defining feature of the city center structure since 1879. It runs between Kröpcke in the north and Friederikenplatz in the south.
The Karmarschstrasse originated from the long standing desire in Hanover to create an important thoroughfare across the old town. It was finally built at the instigation of the entrepreneur Ferdinand Wallbrecht and the Hannoversche Baugesellschaft in its first construction phase from 1879 until its completion in 1898. It was named after Karl Karmarsch with the construction of its first section in 1880, and in 1950 the entire street was given this name. Karl Karmarsch (1803 – 1879) was the first director of the Polytechnic School and later Hanover Technical University.
Kröpcke-Center
The Kröpcke-Center is named after the Kröpcke-PlatzSquare (on the left side of the picture). This is a central square-like street intersection in the pedestrian zone of Hanover under which is also the largest station of the Stadtbahn Hanover.
Until the 1870s, the building of the Höhere Gewerbeschule and later Polytechnische Schule Hannover was located on this site. After its demolition and the construction of Karmarschstraße, the Hotel Continental was built on the site. After its destruction in 1943 and a temporary building called Conti-Block, the 51-meter high brutalist Kröpcke-Center was built in 1972, which quickly became the most controversial building in the city. Starting in 2009, the Kröpcke-Center was finally largely rebuilt into a modern retail building owned by Union Investment Real Estate. Today, the main tenant is the fashion store Peek & Cloppenburg.
Both the square and the center are named after Wilhelm Kröpcke (1855-1919), a restaurateur who for years ran the city’s most influential coffee house directly on the square.
