Berlin, Germany: Review of Propeller Island art hotel

David Whitley checks in to Berlin’s strangest hotel, an art project by musician Lars Stroschen.

Mirror Room

Whoa there… I can see myself in the walls. All of them. And the ceiling too. There’s no escape – it’s all me, me, me. I have walked into the middle of a giant kaleidoscope.

Well, there is one other thing present – a double bed, which whilst not quite a mirror itself, does have silvery sheets and pillow cases to add to the reflective effect. For the narcissist (or pervert bringing an unsuspecting ladyfriend along), it’s probably the perfect hotel room.

Being a kaleidoscope, it is very small, so it doesn’t have an en-suite bathroom. But the one in the hallway follows much the same design. There’s nothing like getting a 360 degree view of yourself in action when you’re sat down, trousers around ankles, is there?

The Mirror Room at the Propeller Island City Lodge in Berlin merely scrapes the surface, however. A generic Hilton or Best Western this is not. There are 21 rooms in total, all individually designed, and each residing somewhere on the scale between wildly eccentric and screaming, barking insane.

Other rooms at Propeller Island

At the less freaky end of the spectrum are the Chicken Curry and Blue rooms. The former is all in various shades of brown, as if a giant gloopy korma has been slopped all over it. The latter is all in the same colour scheme – no prizes for guessing which colour – and that applies even to the curving mirrors, which have a bright azure coating.

And in the fetch-the-men-in-white-coats corner? Well the Flying Bed would have to be a candidate. The room comes with a thoroughly disorientating sloping floor, which means guests have to walk uphill to a bed that is seemingly suspended in mid-air. It’s not – it’s sat on top of a cunningly hidden glass cube – but that’s not the point.

Four Beams room

Or how about the Four Beams room? One of a select band in the hotel that looks like the setting for one of the Saw torture-porn films, it is certainly striking. Four huge wooden hunks of wood – which look like they should be painted black and put in the roof of a Tudor-style house – come down diagonally from the corners of the ceiling. In the middle of them, supported by ropes, wires and possibly magic, is a bed. Two chairs are strapped to the beams slightly lower down.

Lars Stroschen

All of this is the work of one man; a musician who wanted to do something to supplement his income. Well, designing what is arguably the oddest hotel in the world sure beats flipping burgers. Lars Stroschen had already released music under the alter-ego of Propeller Island (the name originates from a Jules Verne novel) when he embarked on his project.

Initially he attacked four rooms in his own apartment, turning them into art projects which could be lived in. They proved hugely popular, so he decided to expand. Luckily the owners of the guesthouse in the same building were fed up with their lot and wanted to retire, so Stroschen bought it.

Over a period of five years, he convinced banks, architects and designers that his audacious schemes could be implemented. In June 2001 he opened his masterpiece, then promptly hired people to run it for him so that he could go back to his music and his artworks. It is a hotel created by a man who has absolutely no interest in managing a hotel.

Hol(l)ywood Room

This sometimes shows as well. Practicality is not Propeller Island’s strong point, although frankly if that’s what you’re after, you’re in the wrong place. You’ll not find in-room telephones, heated towel rails and ironing boards in the wardrobes. As a matter of fact you’ll not even find wardrobes.

My room is one of the more perplexing efforts. It’s called Hol(l)ywood, and doesn’t seem to have a particularly strong theme. That doesn’t stop it being rather strange however. The floor is made up of small wooden tiles, while the walls are covered in cushioned seats from old-fashioned chairs. There are two single beds, both on wooden platforms, at staggered heights of one and two metres off the ground.

Most disturbing of all is the bathroom. The bath lies behind a see-through red glass wall and further inside – protected for modesty by black rubber curtains – is the toilet and sink.

All are reached via a set of steps which look like they belong in a psychedelic 1960s cartoon about bubbles that can talk.

But there’s no shower, and not even a shower head. Under normal circumstances, I’d be screaming blue murder about this, but who am I to question art? There should also be a bin in the room, and reception should be open for longer than 8am until noon. But all gripes can easily be swept aside with: “Well, you probably shouldn’t have booked into a hotel where you can sleep in a coffin, should you?”

Bizarre hotel rooms

Yes, there is a coffin room. There’s also an upside-down room, where a bed and chairs hang from the ceiling. It’s terrifying until you realise that the real bed and chairs are hidden under pull-up hatches in the floor.

Propeller Island is truly one of a kind. For more than a couple of novelty nights, it’d be maddening, but it’s as far away from conventional as you can get. And the irritations are worth it for the chance to stay somewhere that is genuinely unique.

Trip Notes

Propeller Island City Lodge is around 10 minutes’ walk from Charlottenburg Station in Berlin.

Search for Berlin hotels, car hire, tours, activities and flights.*