Tours · Hamburg · street

Deichstraße

Hamburg's oldest surviving street, a row of merchant houses on the Nikolaifleet dating to the 17th-19th centuries, spared by a shift in the wind during the Great Fire of 1842 and by the bombs of the Second World War.

About this place

First mentioned in a document from 1304, Deichstraße was once the earthen dike holding back the Elbe, later lined with tall merchant houses built to work from both land and water at once. A change in wind direction spared its southern stretch from the catastrophic Great Fire of 1842 that destroyed a third of Hamburg's old town, and it survived the Second World War as well, making it one of the very few streets left where the city's pre-industrial character survives almost intact.

Key facts

1304 year — First documented mention of the street
1842 year — The Great Fire began at house number 42 on this street
1780 year — The city's oldest surviving warehouse, around the corner at Peterstraße 27, was built

📍 Deichstraße 26, 20459, Hamburg

Hear it on a guided audio walk

Hamburg Highlights: Bismarck to the Speicherstadt From the granite giant above the Elbe to the red-brick canals of the Speicherstadt.