Platzl Hotel – The story of a traditional Munich Hotel

Sign of the Platzl Hotel & the Wirtshaus Ayinger am Platzl in front of facades in Munich's old town.

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The Platzl Hotel in Munich’s old city centre is a traditional 4-star superior hotel with a rich history. In order to give you, the many long-term guests and life of the hotel, an insight into the early years of the hotel in Munich, we will tell you about the history of its origin and the most important milestones of this traditional hotel.

The Platzl Hotel in Munich’s old city centre is a traditional 4-star superior hotel with a rich history. In order to give you, the many long-term guests and life of the hotel, an insight into the early years of the hotel in Munich, we will tell you about the history of its origin and the most important milestones of this traditional hotel.

The story of Platzl Hotel Munich can be divided into two major sections.
The “old” Platzl Hotel opened on July 9, 1956, with approximately 200 beds in 130 rooms. At this time in the upper floors of the former Platzl there was still the Platzl-Bühne/Platzl Stage (today’s Hard Rock Cafe Munich). The operators of the first Platzl were initially Carl and Hilde Groß, who had already since the spring of 1953 held the lease of the Platzl-Bühne, which had been rebuilt after the Second World War. On 1 April 1973, the Groß couple ended their successful career as landlords in the Platzl after 22 years, and handed over the hotel and the restaurant to the Ayinger Brewery, which operated both from then on in-house. Peter Inselkammer, one of the sons of the married couple, Franz and Maria Kreszenz Inselkammer, became the Managing Director of the Platzl Hotel Munich.

The foundation for the “new” Platzl Hotel – at its current location on Sparkassenstraße 10 – was in a sense defined by the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.
On this site once stood the imposing Pfistermühle building, which unfortunately suffered considerable damage to its structure in World War 2 in the bombing of Munich.
Despite the attempt at preserving the building with a makeshift roof, and the continued use of the still-functional stone ovens by Hofpfisterei, the plot was increasingly neglected after the Hofpfisterei moved out in 1964. In order to again create a beautiful and uniform cityscape, and leave a positive impression on the world for the Olympics, the city of Munich decided to demolish many of old war ruins. The destroyed part of the Pfistermühle and the tower of the old Hofbrunnenhaus was subsequently converted into a parking lot. Already at this time Franz Inselkammer had commissioned a development plan for a hotel in this area, which was authorized in 1971, but not immediately implemented. This plan was to integrate extant architectural remains of the old Pfistermühle and a modern cubist block with roof terrace floor and flat roof.
Peter Inselkammer, the Inselkammers’ son, took up his father’s idea for a new building again in 1978, but rejected the already approved development plan, and created an entirely new concept. The new building was meant to better fit into the existing architecture of the old city centre, and with Munich’s cityscape.
The new concept was to extend the historic rooms of the historically protected Pfistermühle, and also to maintain the traditional Platzl-Bühne/Platzl Stage (the facade of which was also under preservation orders). The rooms on the upper floors, however, were to be renovated. This draft was approved on 6 August 1986. Thus a new hotel arose on the historic site of the former Bockbierkellers (Bock Beer Cellar). On November 16 the “old” Platzl Hotel closed, and just one day later demolition began. The foundation stone was laid in April of 1987. On July 20, 1988 – after just 20 months – the first guests were able to stay in the new 4-star hotel. The then finance minister and later Bavarian Premier, Dr Max Streibl, opened the new hotel officially on September 12.

Today, the Platzl Hotel Munich comprises 167 rooms in the premium Bavarian style. These rooms were extensively renovated in 2006. This includes a Junior Suite and a “Bavarian Suite”. Furthermore, the hotel features six event rooms, a restaurant Pfistermühle in historically protected vault ceilings from the 16th century, the Bavarian public house “Ayingers”, and the Platzl Bar. On the fifth floor of the building there is a recreation area (“Moorish Kiosk”) with fitness room, wet area (sauna, aroma steam bath, foot bath and jet showers) and a rest area modelled after the Moorish kiosk at the Paris World Exhibition commissioned by King Ludwig II in 1876. Since 1957 the hotel has been in the possession of the Inselkammerr family. Peter F.J. Inselkammer, the son of Peter Inselkammer, now acts as the managing partner. Since 2013 Heiko Buchta, the new Hotel Director, can also be counted as part of the “Platzl family”.
You can now read a detailed account of the moving story around the Munich Platzl in Cornelia Oelwein’s book, “Das Münchner Platzl – Lebensfreude im Quadrat. Die Geschichte eines traditionsreichen Münchner Quartiers“ (“The Munich Platzl – zest for life in four walls. The story of a Munich hotel rich in history”). The book was published by Knürr Verlag in 2003.