In 1905 this building, designed by Albert Erbe, was built for the Navigation school, founded 1749. The brick façades with sand stone bands are modelled in Dutch renaissance style. Since 1946 the Seewetteramt (ehem. Deutsche Seewarte) [marine weather bureau] is housed here.
The façades are ornamented with cartouches with the names of important discoverers and navigators:
South façade, east side:
CHR. COLUMBUS
Central part of south façade:
FLAVIO-GIOJA. = Flavio Gioja or Gioia (fl. 1302) was an Italian mariner and inventor.
HADLEY. = John Hadley (1682-1744), English inventor of the sextant.
HARRISON. = John Harrison (1693-1776), English clockmaker, who built the world's first successful maritime clock, one whose accuracy was great enough to allow the determination of longitude.
MAURY. = Matthew Fontaine Maury (1806-1873), American astronomer, astrophysicist, historian, oceanographer, meteorologist, cartographer, author, geologist, educator.
SUMNER. = Thomas Hubbard Sumner (1807-1876), American sea captain, known for developing the celestial navigation method known as the Sumner Line or line of position.
BOLTE. ?
Central part of the north façade (persons related to the school).
WOLTMAN. = Reinhard W. Woltman, hydrographic engineer.
CH. RÜMKER. = Charles Rümker, director of the Navigationsschule, 1819-57.
WEYER.
NIEBOUR. = Carl Theodor Niebour, director of the Navigationsschule, 1857-1915.
North façade, east side
J. WATT. = James Watt (1736-1819) was a Scottish inventor and engineer whose improvements to the steam engine were fundamental to the changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution.
The most prominent places are those of Columbus and Watt.
In the west façade are the coat of arms of Hamburg and a ship.