Land Hessen Off The Beaten Path Tips by Nemorino Top 5 Page for this destination

Frankfurt Skyline Countdown, # 26

The Frankfurt Skyline Countdown begins with this city's 26th tallest building, the Eurotheum, which is often overlooked because it is just down the block from the much taller Main Tower. But in fact the two buildings look very good together, since both have a round side and a square side.

Another unusual aspect of the Eurotheum is that it incorporates parts of the facade of an earlier building that used to be on this site. You can see this earlier facade in the foreground of one of the photos.

The Eurotheum is 110 meters tall, has 31 floors, and was completed in 1999. In addition to office space, it also includes luxury apartments with all the trimmings and elaborate security precautions.

Address: Neue Mainzer Straße 66-68, corner of Junghofstraße.

Second photo: Eurotheum with part of earlier facade.

Third photo: Signs at the entrance to the Eurotheum.

Fourth photo: Looking up at the Eurotheum from another angle.

>> Next: # 25, IBC Tower <<

Website: http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=109586

Frankfurt Skyline Countdown, # 17

Behind the Eschenheimer Tower from the year 1428 there is a new building called the Turm am Thurn-und-Taxis-Platz, which was completed in 2009. This new building has 35 floors above ground and is 136 meters high, which makes it (for the time being) the seventeenth tallest building in Frankfurt.

Originally this new building was meant to be called Nextower and be a bit lower, but the plans were changed several times before it was finally completed.

Note that the outer walls on the west side of the building are a bit slanted, which is currently (as of 2012) something of an architectural fad. I have become accustomed to this, but I think it will quickly become dated and will look quite old-fashioned after a quarter century or so. (If this tip is still here in the year 2037, have a look and see if you agree.)

Adjoining the new building is a partial reconstruction of the old Thurn-und-Taxis Palace from the year 1739. Thurn-und-Taxis was an aristocratic family that became very wealthy in the course of several centuries by running the postal service, first as a private enterprise and later in the service of various emperors and such.

>> Next: # 16, Gallileo <<

Frankfurt Skyline Countdown, # 18

In ancient Greek mythology, Castor and Pollux were twin brothers and inseparable warriors. Their sister, Helen, was the cause of the Trojan War. The constellation Gemini, or the Heavenly Twins (the third sign of the Zodiac), was named after Castor and Pollux.

In Frankfurt there are two buildings named after these two brothers. The larger building is Pollux, which is 130 meters tall and was completed in 1997. It is currently Frankfurt's 18th tallest building.

Along with Kastor, which is a somewhat smaller building nearby, Pollux belongs to a new complex called Forum Frankfurt. Among other things, they are noted for having a high-speed supercomputer which makes it possible for normal single-unit PCs to be replaced by access terminals at every workplace. Rumor has it that a third building was planned for this complex, but was not allowed by the City of Frankfurt.

To make room for Pollux and Kastor, two earlier high-rise buildings (which used to be the headquarters of the German railway system before it moved to Berlin) were demolished. The larger of the two was blown up by explosives on a Sunday morning; I remember watching this on television at the time.

Additional photos: Pollux, from various angles.

Address: Platz der Einheit 3

>> Next: # 17, Turm am Thurn-und-Taxis-Platz <<

Website: http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=109606

Frankfurt Skyline Countdown, # 19

The Garden Towers were actually built in 1976, but I didn't include them in my Frankfurt Skyline Countdown at first because they were closed for several years for reconstruction and renovation, and didn't re-open until 2005.

Evidently there are large winter gardens in there somewhere, extending over several floors, and also roof gardens, not that any of these can actually be seen from street level.

The whole building consists of two towers: Tower B has 14 floors and Tower A has 25 floors. The official height of Tower A is 127 meters, making this the nineteenth tallest building in Frankfurt am Main.

The Garden Towers are next door to the Main Tower and across the street from the Japan Center.

Address: Neue Mainzer Strasse 46-50

Second photo: The Garden Towers with the Main Tower on the right and the Commerzbank Tower on the left (and a corner of the roof of the Japan Center).

Third photo: From this angle you can't really tell that the Garden Towers and the Main Tower are two separate buildings, but they are.

Fourth photo: Entrance to the Garden Towers at street level.

Fifth photo: Friedrich Schiller studiously ignoring the Garden Towers.

>>Next: # 18, Pollux<<

Website: http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=109787

Frankfurt Skyline Countdown, # 20

The Messe Torhaus ("Fairgrounds Gatehouse“) was completed in 1985 after being constructed in a record time of 13 months. It has 30 floors and is 117 meters tall, which makes it Frankfurt’s 20th tallest building.

It is on the grounds of the Frankfurt Trade Fair (Messegelände). If you go to the Frankfurt Book Fair you will probably walk through it, or ride the moving sidewalk through the glassed-in pedestrian bridge shown in the photo, to get to the international publishers in Hall 8.

Under the pedestrian bridge you can see a bit of the S-Bahn (regional railway) station Messe, which is just two stops from the central station on lines S3, S4, S5 and S6.

To me this building looks like a sandwich (or a tuning fork), but it is also described as Frankfurt’s tallest chimney, because aside from having lots of office space the building also serves as the chimney for a nearby heat and power station.

I took the photo from the Emser Bridge one day on my way to work.

>> Next: # 19, the Garden Towers <<

Website: http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=109671

Frankfurt Skyline Countdown, # 21

The AfE-Turm is on the Bockenheim Campus of the Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe-University. It is 116 meters tall. For the first three years of its existence, from 1972-1975, it was the tallest building in Frankfurt; now it is the 21st.

When this building was "new" I used to go there to attend sociolinguistics seminars. I put "new" in quotation marks because it never seemed new even when it was. It had a unique built-in Shabbiness Factor right from the start.

A fire in 1997 destroyed part of the 29th floor, and recently the fire department tried to have the whole building closed down as a fire hazard, which necessitated a number of expensive stopgap measures to keep it open a while longer.

There have been conflicting reports in the papers about whether or not this building will be torn down. The latest as far as I know is that the university wants to go on using it a while longer, but at some point it is meant to be demolished to make room for at least three new high-rise buildings, two of which supposedly will be residential. (We shall see.)

>> Next: # 20 <<

Website: http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=109689

Frankfurt Skyline Countdown, # 22

The Japan Center is a square building with an attractive red granite facade. It is seen here in the center of the photo, flanked by the Commerzbank Tower on the right and the Main Tower on the left.

The Japan Center is 115 meters tall, making it Frankfurt's 22nd tallest building. It was completed in 1996.

The building includes a very modern and attractive conference center which can accommodate up to four hundred people in four meeting rooms called the Tokyo Room, the Osaka Room, the Kobe Room and the Kyoto Room.

Second photo: Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) ignoring the Japan Center, along with a slice of the Commerzbank Tower on the right.

Address: Taunustor 2

>> Next: # 21 <<

Website: http://www.taunustor.de/

Frankfurt Skyline Countdown, # 23

The Park Tower has actually been here since 1972, but it wasn’t in the countdown because it was originally somewhat smaller.

In 2008 they added three more floors to the top, increasing the height to 115 meters, and also re-did the façade.

As the name implies, the Park Tower is right next to a park, namely the Rothshild Park. It is also just across the street from the Old Opera, which is no longer an opera house but just a concert hall.

The Park Tower is next door to a newer and taller building called the OpernTurm, which was completed in 2009.

Second photo: Park Tower with the Old Opera on the right.

Third photo: Park Tower from below.

Fourth photo: Bicycle parking by the entrance to the Park Tower.

Fifth photo: The name of the building on one of the columns at the entrance.

>> Next: # 22 <<

Website: http://www.aviewoncities.com/buildings/frankfurt/Park Tower.htm

Frankfurt Skyline Countdown, # 24

The former West Harbour (Westhafen) on the banks of the Main River in Frankfurt was closed off by construction site fences for several years in the early Naughts, making it impossible to cycle through, which was highly inconvenient for those of us who worked or lived in this part of town.

But eventually (after we had more or less given up all hope) they started removing the fences, so we could cycle through again and have a look, though even now not all the new buildings are finished.

These two are new office buildings. The round one is the Westhafen Tower, which has 29 floors for offices and two for machinery, and the other one is Westhafen Haus, which has eight floors.

The Westhafen Tower is just over 112 meters tall, which makes it the 24th tallest building in Frankfurt.

Locally the Westhafen Tower used to be known as "the empty apple-wine glass" because of its appearance (it really does resemble the typical glasses that the regional drink Aeppelwoi is served in), and because after completion the building stood empty for one year and eight months before they finally found their first tenant.

>> Next: # 23 <<

Phone: (0 69) 91 73 25 11

Website: http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=100032

Frankfurt Skyline Countdown, # 25

Frankfurt's 25th tallest building, the Investment Banking Center (IBC Tower) at Theodor-Heuss-Allee 70, was completed in 2003. It has thirty floors and is 112 meters tall.

I used to cycle right past it every day on my way to work, but I never really paid much attention to it until they started lighting it up at night with a pattern of blue, green and white lights in the windows. I think it doesn't look bad that way, and you can see it from all over town now. The idea, I think, was to attract tenants, because well over a year after completion the building was still empty.

This building is one of a group of three that make up the Investment Banking Center, which belongs to the Deutsche Bank. The other two buildings of the complex are smaller, only ten stories each.

>> Next: # 24 <<

Website: http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=100037