inscribed and dated "Hamburg Jun 5 1869 from the Window of Hotel de L`Europe"
Tom and Laura Taylor and thence by descent
Hamburg officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (German: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; Low Saxon: Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg), is the second-largest city in Germany after Berlin, as well as the overall 8th-largest city and largest non-capital city within the European Union with a population of over 1.9 million.[9] Hamburg's urban area has a population of around 2.5 million and is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, which has a population of over 5.1 million people in total. At the southern tip of the Jutland Peninsula, Hamburg stands on the branching River Elbe at the head of a 110 km (68 mi) estuary down to the North Sea, on the mouth of the Alster and Bille. Hamburg is one of Germany's three city-states alongside Berlin and Bremen, and is surrounded by Schleswig-Holstein to the north and Lower Saxony to the south. The Port of Hamburg is Germany's largest and Europe's third-largest, after Rotterdam and Antwerp. The local dialect is a variant of Low Saxon.
The official name reflects Hamburg's history as a member of the medieval Hanseatic League and a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire. Before the 1871 unification of Germany, it was a fully sovereign city state, and before 1919 formed a civic republic headed constitutionally by a class of hereditary Grand Burghers or Hanseaten. Beset by disasters such as the Great Fire of Hamburg, North Sea flood of 1962 and military conflicts including World War II bombing raids, the city has managed to recover and emerge wealthier after each catastrophe.
Major regional broadcaster NDR, the printing and publishing firm Gruner + Jahr and the newspapers Der Spiegel and Die Zeit are based in the city. Hamburg is the seat of Germany's oldest stock exchange and the world's oldest merchant bank, Berenberg Bank. Media, commercial, logistical, and industrial firms with significant locations in the city include multinationals Airbus, Blohm + Voss, Aurubis, Beiersdorf, Lufthansa and Unilever. Hamburg is also a major European science, research, and education hub, with several universities and institutions, including the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron Laboratory DESY. The city enjoys a very high quality of living, being ranked 19th in the 2019 Mercer Quality of Living Survey.
Hamburg hosts specialists in world economics and international law, including consular and diplomatic missions as the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the EU-LAC Foundation, and the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, multipartite international political conferences and summits such as Europe and China and the G20. Former German chancellors Helmut Schmidt and Angela Merkel were both born in Hamburg. The former Mayor of Hamburg, Olaf Scholz, has been the current German chancellor since December 2021.
Hamburg is a major international and domestic tourist destination. The Speicherstadt and Kontorhausviertel were declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in 2015. Hamburg's rivers and canals are crossed by around 2,500 bridges, making it the city with the highest number of bridges in Europe. Aside from its rich architectural heritage, the city is also home to notable cultural venues such as the Elbphilharmonie and Laeiszhalle concert halls. It gave birth to movements like Hamburger Schule and paved the way for bands including the Beatles. Hamburg is also known for several theatres and a variety of musical shows. St. Pauli's Reeperbahn is among the best-known European entertainment districts.
Jungfernstieg mostly lies within the quarter of Neustadt; however at its easternmost it stretches as far as Hamburg-Altstadt. In total the Jungfernstieg stretches some 600 m along the southern and south-western shores of the Binnenalster lake and continues further to Gänsemarkt. On the lakeside it is framed by Ballindamm (and the nearby Europa Passage shopping centre) to the east and Neuer Jungfernstieg to the west. Towards the built-up area Jungfernstieg intersects with a number of streets - in the Altstadt with Bergstraße, Plan and Reesendamm; the latter carries on along the shore of Kleine Alster (Little Alster) towards Rathausmarkt. At Reesendammbrücke, Jungfernstieg crosses the Alster into Neustadt. It goes past Neuer Wall and Große Bleichen, two of Hamburg's leading shopping precincts. At the intersection with Neuer Jungfernstieg, Jungfernstieg forms a Y-junction with Colonnaden, another shopping street.
The entire circumference of the lakeside is occupied by a terrace. Two pavilions are located on the terrace: the Alsterpavillion (a café), and a smaller pavilion, which functions as the entrance to the rapid transit station. The lakeside is also a hub for Hamburg's Alster ferries.
The history of Jungfernstieg began in 1235. At that time, Count Adolph IV of Holstein commissioned the construction of a mill dam, in order to use the Alster's water for a local corn mill. The resulting mill pond turned out much larger than expected, as it reached dimensions of an outright lake. It caused a legal battle, as to who had to pay for the lost land, but it also gave land for a city expansion in the back of the dam: Hamburg's Neustadt (new town). The embankment along the newly created Lake Binnenalster was named Reesendamm, in honor of miller Heinrich Reese, who at the time operated the mill.
During the 17th and 18th century Reesendamm was enhanced and widened several times. In 1665 a line of linden trees were planted along the water front. With Hamburg's growing international sea trade and the city's status as a sovereign city-state, the elegant promenade obtained a cosmopolitan outlook and became popular for strolls along the lake front. Hanseaten accompanied their unmarried daughters out on a walk, looking for a suitable bridegroom, led to today's name of the promenade: Jungfern (i.e. maiden), Stieg (i.e. stair, walk). In 1799 the first Alsterpavillion (Alster Pavilion) was opened; it housed a café and a restaurant and − according to fashion − has been replaced six times until today. In 1838 Jungfernstieg became Germany's first street to be asphalted.
The Great Fire of 1842 destroyed the entire build-up. After the subsequent reconstruction, Jungfernstieg presented itself in a coherent Neoclassical form. The Arcades on Kleine Alster date from this period. In 1843, Sillem's Bazar opened on Jungfernstieg as Germany's first shopping arcade, connecting onto Poststraße. During the Gründerzeit boom in the later decades of the 19th century, many of the Neoclassical buildings were gradually replaced by various Revival style buildings. Sillem's Bazar was replaced by Renaissance Revival Hamburger Hof in 1881. Art Nouveau Heine-Haus was rebuilt in 1903. Scholviens-Passage was replaced by Alsterhaus department store in 1912.
In 1866, a horsecar line was introduced on Jungfernstieg, which by 1900 was replaced by an electric tram line. Jungfernstieg U-Bahn station was opened in 1931 and extended by an underground S-Bahn station in 1973. Gänsemarkt U-Bahn station opened in 1970. By 1978 the tram was discontinued, though the Senate has repeatedly considered to reintroduce it. During the early 2000s, Jungfernstieg was substantially refurbished.
Laura Wilson Barker (6 March 1819 – 22 May 1905), was a composer, performer and artist, sometimes also referred to as Laura Barker, Laura W Taylor or "Mrs Tom Taylor".
She was born in Thirkleby, North Yorkshire, third daughter of a clergyman, the Rev. Thomas Barker. She studied privately with Cipriani Potter and became an accomplished pianist and violinist. As a young girl Barker performed with both Louis Spohr and Paganini. She began composing in the mid-1830s - her Seven Romances for voice and guitar were published in 1837. From around 1843 until 1855 she taught music at York School for the Blind. During this period some of her compositions - including a symphony in manuscript, on 19 April 1845 - were performed at York Choral Society concerts.
On 19 June 1855 she married the English dramatist, critic, biographer, public servant, and editor of Punch magazine Tom Taylor. Barker contributed music to at least one of her husband's plays, an overture and entr'acte to Joan of Arc (1871), and provided harmonisations as an appendix to his translation of Ballads and Songs of Brittany (1865).
Her other works include the cantata Enone (1850), the violin sonata A Country Walk (1860), theatre music for As You Like It, (April 1880), Songs of Youth (1884), string quartets, madrigals and solo songs. Her choral setting of Keats's A Prophecy, composed in 1850, was performed for the first time 49 years later at the Hovingham Festival in 1899. The composer was present.
Several of Barker's paintings hang at Smallhythe Place in Kent, Ellen Terry's house.
Barker lived with her husband and family at 84 Lavender Sweep, Battersea. There were two children: the artist John Wycliffe Taylor (1859–1925), and Laura Lucy Arnold Taylor (1863–1940). The Sunday musical soirees at the house attracted many well-known attendees, including Lewis Carroll, Charles Dickens, Henry Irving, Charles Reade, Alfred Tennyson, Ellen Terry and William Makepeace Thackeray.
Tom Taylor died suddenly at his home in 1880 at the age of 62. After his death, his widow retired to Porch House, Coleshill in Buckinghamshire, where she died on 22 May 1905, aged 86.