Restoration Dens Amberg

Many people dream of restoring an unloved historic building and turning it into a hotel, a restaurant, perhaps a bar where evenings stretch and stories circulate. Far fewer follow that instinct through. Rarer still are those whose ambition grows as the building begins to speak back. At the Bootshaus, a project anchored in more than 600 years of architectural history, father and daughter Klaus and Eva did not simply proceed; their dream expanded.

The River Vils flows through the historic town of Amberg and eddies past the Bootshaus, a considerately restored riverside ensemble in Bavaria’s Oberpfalz region, east of Nuremberg. What stands here today is not a single structure but a thread of five historic buildings, the oldest dating back to 1250, reunited after centuries of adaptation. Together they present a composed architectural presence, façades finished in chalked whites and soft wheat tones, set against medieval timber joists and stone lintels that quietly assert their age.

Set directly on the banks of the River Vils in Bavaria, the Bootshaus reads as both destination and daily meeting place. Beside the water, a decked terrace forms a natural hub for Bavarian beer, brewed in the town, and long, unhurried conversation. It captures the project’s core idea: local tradition carried forward into a contemporary cultural rhythm, while the river continues its steady passage past.

What began as a contained hospitality idea soon revealed deeper responsibilities. “It became clear quite quickly, around a year into the first conversations, that a functioning gastronomic operation would not be possible without acquiring the neighbouring house at Hinter der Veste 7,” Eva explains. Its gabled orientation towards the inner courtyard exerted too much influence to ignore. When the acquisition unexpectedly became possible, it exposed the consequences of earlier interventions. “The building had been almost completely stripped. Enormous damage can be done to historic monuments through unsympathetic renovations,” she says.

That loss created room for precision. Kitchens, lift access and service routes could be introduced without further harm, while attention turned to restoring the exterior shell. “With considerable effort, we were able to lead the outer fabric back towards its original expression, from the black stone surrounds on the street-facing gable to the red timber-framed wall facing the courtyard,” Eva notes.

Patience governed every stage. Plans for deeper basements were abandoned once historic ground layers revealed original water levels. “Digging any further would have been irresponsible,” Klaus says. Later acquisitions absorbed the required service spaces instead. The architectural language itself remained steady. “Once these constraints were understood, the overall approach did not change. We simply allowed each discovery to guide the detailing.”

Inside, traces of former lives continue to shape circulation and atmosphere. In the restaurant at Schiffbrückgasse 11, fragmentary evidence allowed the historic entrance sequence to be rediscovered and reactivated. Other knowledge was allowed to remain quietly present. “We knew the original floor level lay almost a metre below the current one, and we chose to let that understanding sit in the background rather than reconstruct it,” Klaus reflects.

Flood protection demanded particular resolve. Rising water here arrives not only from the river but from groundwater across the surrounding quarter. The response was a system of clustered building zones, each independently protected. “Even if one area is breached, the entire complex does not fail”. Conceived from the outset, these measures recede from view.

The terraces above the Vils were always part of the ambition. “They were one of the first wishes we had,” Klaus enthuses, inspired by a nearby lifting footbridge downstream. Without them, the restaurant would struggle to function. With them, the building gains its most generous civic gesture. “On the hottest summer days, you are always sitting above the cool water. It underlines the uniqueness of the place.”

The hotel Bootshaus today feels neither nostalgic nor new. It feels continued in the history of Bavaria. A 600-year-old riverside structure, once fragmented, now whole again, shaped by the quiet tenacity of Klaus and Eva, and offering Amberg a place to gather as the River Vils keeps moving past.

Bootshaus Amberg Hotel | 600-Year-Old Riverside Heritage Hotel in Bavaria