Hotel Telegraaf

Hotel Telegraaf

The building constructed for Tallinn Commercial Bank (Revaler Handelsbank) seems too large and pompous for the Old Town. This was caused by the architect Peter Schreiber from St Petersburg. He did not perceive the scale of a medieval town and designed the building with regard to the scale of a major city. The building with Neo-Renaissance features was completed in 1878. It housed a post office from 1887. When Estonia gained independence in 1918, the building was taken into use as a telegraph and postal office, and was operated with that purpose until 1990s. Above the entrance, there is a sign (quite rare in Tallinn) with Art Nouveau script TELEGRAPH POST TELEPHONE and the date. There are few Art Nouveau buildings in Tallinn, with no facade texts.

Currently the building is a luxury hotel Telegraaf, housing also one of the best restaurants in the city – Tchaikovsky. Elegant logo of the hotel is also noteworthy (Kristian Kirsfeldt, 2005).