Frankfurt has rebuilt the quarter between Frankfurt Cathedral and Römerberg
Historic Old Town completely revamped
Author: Alexander Stumm, Photos: Dom Römer GmbH
Frankfurt am Main, the top example of German skyscraper cityscapes, now has a new architectural attraction of a completely different nature. After almost 15 years of planning, the ‘New Old Town’ was finally opened last autumn – an area of around 7,000 square metres between the cathedral and Römerberg with a total of 35 individual buildings.
View from the cathedral over Frankfurt. The new historic Old Town can be seen in the foreground, with Schirn Kunsthalle to the left. Römerberg, St Paul’s Church and the skyscrapers of the financial district can be seen in the background. (Photo: Dom Römer / Uwe Dettmar)
The historic Old Town of Frankfurt, medieval at its core, was once the jewel of the city with immeasurable value for art history before it was extensively bombed to rubble in the Second World War. The reconstruction of the area between the Frankfurt Cathedral, City Hall and St Paul’s Church started in 2012 after the Technical City Hall, a building that had stood at this spot since the 1970s, was torn down.
Today the area, which is called the Dom-Römer Quarter, is once again divided into small sections with 35 individual buildings, most of which are residential.
For FSB the new Old Town is also a type of open-air exhibition: whether door handles, doorknobs or security fittings, the entire product range for building entrances can be discovered here in all of the different models, materials and finishes.
The ‘Goldene Waage’ building directly at the cathedral was once an emblem of the city. It has now been restored to its former glory, as true to the original as possible, by Jourdan & Müller. (Photos: Dom Römer / left Uwe Dettmar, right Barbara Staubach)
What everyone is simply calling the ‘reconstruction project’ was actually an entire spectrum of different architectural endeavours. The new Old Town is both a collection of reconstruction projects that aim to be as accurate to the originals as possible and a series of historically inspired interpretations and freely imagined new builds. The approach of reconstructing buildings true to their original design was applied particularly in the case of the ‘Goldene Waage’ building.
In 1619, merchant Abraham van Hamel renovated medieval half-timber building in a grand late-Renaissance style with a high gable. It was severely damaged by the devastating air raid on 22 March 1944 and cleared away after the war.
Frankfurt architectural firm Jourdan & Muller reconstructed this former city landmark and restored it back to its pre-war condition thanks to extensive research and several fragments saved from the rubble.
The reconstructed facade is characterised by a striking red painted timber frame, lots of floral embellishments and the golden scales hanging above passers-by at the level of the first upper floor. These golden scales are where the ‘Goldene Waage’ gets its name.
The three-storey building is constructed in accordance with current building codes and has modern technical systems installed. It houses a café and a satellite office of the Historical Museum.
Image 1 of 3: The newly created ‘Hühnermarkt’ with the Stoltze fountain. (Photo: Dom Römer / Uwe Dettmar)
Image 2 of 3: View of the Hühnermarkt, with the ‘Neues Paradies’ building on the right. (Photo: Dom Römer / Uwe Dettmar)
Image 3 of 3: On the left, Braubachstrasse 23 by architectural firm Eingartner Khorrami. On the right, the ‘Haus am Rebstock’, another reconstruction by Jourdan & Müller. (Both photos: Dom Römer)
To be fair, the Frankfurt’s historic Old Town is and remains irrevocably lost. The new quarter cannot and should not be a return to the past. Regardless of the quality of the individual designs, the large-scale urban development project, with its mix of different architectural approaches, shows the multifaceted potential of design freedom that the task of reconstructing in the present day opens up.