Deichstraße

Deichstrasse in Hamburg's old town preserves the last surviving ensemble of Old Hamburg merchant houses from the 17th and 18th centuries. It runs directly along the Nikolaifleet, an old branch of the Elbe harbour, and was once a residential and warehouse lane for Hanseatic traders. In May 1842 the Great Fire of Hamburg broke out in house number 42 here, destroying more than a quarter of the city and forcing Hamburg's modernist urban redesign. Almost miraculously, the houses along Deichstrasse themselves survived both the fire and the bombs of the Second World War largely intact. Their narrow brick and half-timbered facades with their typical storage hatches facing the canal are among the most important architectural witnesses of Hanseatic merchant culture. Today many of the houses host restaurants with terraces overlooking the canal, including old Hamburg taverns serving Aalsuppe and Labskaus. Seen from the canal, the street looks like a slice of preserved 18th century.