The city of Hamburg, member of the Hanseatic League, joined the German Confederation as a free city in 1815 and the German Customs Union (Zollverein) in 1888.
The Hamburg Speicherstadt is a warehouse district built on a previously residential area between 1885 and 1928, on the island of Brook (Brookinsel), as a free port area and separated from the city by a waterway, known as the Customs Canal (Zollkanal).
The Hamburg Kontorhaus District, located next to the Speicherstadt, is the first office district in Europe built between 1920 and 1940. The most important buildings are the Chilehaus, built in 1924 by the architect Fritz Höger, the Messberghof, built in 1924 by the architects Hans and Oskar Gerson, and the Sprinkenhof, built in 1928 (central section), 1932 (west wing) and 1943 (east wing) by the architects Hans and Oskar Gerson and Fritz Höger.