The New Frankfurt Old Town (), also known as the Dom-Römer Quarter ( or ), is the centre of the old town of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was reconstructed from 2012 to 2018 as part of a major urban development project called the Dom-Römer Project ().
Project The project redesigned and developed a property between Römerberg in the west and Domplatz in the east, delimited by Braubachstrasse in the north and the Schirn Kunsthalle in the south, in an effort to remake the old city centre, the Altstadt (old town), which was severely damaged during World War II, in the style of the pre-war architecture. Before its widespread destruction during the war, the Frankfurt old town contained one of the largest collections of historical timber frame constructions (German: Fachwerkhäuser), with around 1250 buildings primarily from the renaissance and medieval era.
Due to the heavy bombing of Frankfurt am Main in World War II, most of the city's old town was destroyed. Efforts to rebuild parts of the historic fabric of the old town began in the 1950s with the Römer city hall, which was built as a modern office building behind the old façade that was still standing after the war. An underground car park was built under the Römerberg square, and on top of the Romerberg area, in front of the cathedral, the brutalist Technisches RathausPhotos of the former Technisches Rathaus Frankfurt ("Technical City Hall") was built in 1974. The was demolished in 2010–11, and the reconstruction of the old town core began. The project was built on top of a 1970s underground multi-storey car park and the U-Bahn Line B station.
Civic engagement in particular led to the old town-oriented planning of the Dom-Römer project. The 35 designs of new buildings were determined in several architectural competitions with more than 170 participants. The foundation stone was laid in January 2012. At the end of 2017, all of the houses' exteriors were largely completed. On 9 May 2018, the fences were removed and the new district was made fully accessible to the public.The construction fences fall: opening of the new Frankfurt old town from par.frankfurt.de, the former website of the city of Frankfurt am Main From 28 to 30 September 2018, a three-day festival was held for the opening,Altstadtfest Frankfurt, official website, accessed 1 October 2018. which attracted between 250,000 and 300,000 visitors.Over 250,000 visitors: everyone wanted to go to the Altstadtfest bei par.frankfurt.de, the former website of the City of Frankfurt am Main, accessed on 1 October 2018. In March 2019, the Frankfurt Dom-Römer project received the prestigious international MIPIM award.Recognition by Messe-Award: City of Frankfurt wins award for new old town, fnp.de, 16 March 2019.
History
During the Second World War, the medieval old town of Frankfurt am Main, until then one of the best preserved in Central Europe, was almost completely destroyed by bombing. Only a few historical buildings remained, and in the post-war period, other damaged buildings were also demolished, mostly in favour of "car-friendly" traffic planning. There were very few external reconstructions of buildings and the majority of the former old town was rebuilt in the style of the 1950s, largely abandoning the historic street network.
The area between Römerberg and the cathedral remained as a rubble clearance wasteland for many years and its development was debated for a long time. In 1953, archaeologists uncovered the remains of a Roman settlement, and traces of the Carolingian period, beneath the area of the high medieval layers. The archaeological finds were preserved and made accessible to the public as an archaeological garden.
In 1966, the Frankfurt subway was extended under the old town. When the Dom/Römer underground station was built in 1970–71, it destroyed much of the oldest section of Frankfurt (which had not yet been archaeologically examined).
Subsequently, after years of discussion, the Technisches Rathaus was created in 1972–1974 as the seat of the technical offices of the city administration. Five old town houses on Braubachstrasse that had survived the war were demolished to excavate the construction pit. The building, built in the brutalist architectural style, dominated the former old town, in a style very different from that of the small-scale buildings in the area. The construction costs totalled DM 93 million according to the word transcript of the 19th session of the town parliament on December 15th 1994.
Planning history
The 1980 National Competition for the Dom-Römerberg Area
“Frankfurt is not yet ready for a Roemerberg development in this generation, or: the square should remain completely open, and — the most hotly contested position of all — can one even dare to undertake a historical reconstruction of the east side of the Roemerberg featuring the ‘Black Star,’ the ‘Angel,’ the ‘Wild Man,’ and others?” said then Mayor Walter Wallmann ironically in August 1980 in the foreword to an issue of the “Publications Series of the Building Department on Construction Projects of the City of Frankfurt am Main.” In fact, policymakers had already decided otherwise. The urban planning design competition, based on City Council Resolution No. 2302 of July 31, 1978, called for the historic reconstruction of the eastern row of buildings and the “Schwarzer Stern” and was announced on October 15, 1979, for the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany and West Berlin. In addition, three foreign architects were “admitted”: Charles Moore, Herman Hertzberger, and Bruno Reichlin. Under the chairmanship of Max Bächer, the jury - which also included Heinrich Klotz (the founder of Deutsches Architekturmuseum as an expert - decided to award the first of 8 prizes to the architectural firm BJSS (Dietrich Bangert, Bernd Jansen, Stefan Jan Scholz, and Axel Schultes).
The central section of the so-called Schirn was constructed by the BJSS firm beginning in 1983 and inaugurated in February 1986. The postmodern individual buildings on Saalgasse were later directly contracted by the City Building Department. With the exception of the second prize (PAS - Projektgruppe Jourdan, Müller et al.) and Charles Moore (sixth prize) - to participants in the lower ranks (Peter A. Hermes/Berlin, 10th place), to offices in Frankfurt or to architects who had received special prizes or had participated “out of competition,” such as Adolfo Natalini.
Initial development 2004
In 2004, developers discussed plans for renovating the 30-year-old technical town hall.
The city council then decided in December 2004 to carry out an urban planning ideas competition with the option of either renovation of the current building or demolition and subsequent small-scale development in its place. There was demand for a return of the small-scale structures that used to form the Gothic old town. The councils competition was considered an unusual procedure. The Chamber of Architects in Wiesbaden opposed the competition approach and considered the obligation to submit two drafts impractical and called for a clear decision by politicians. The competition, originally announced for January 2005, ultimately did not take place.Matthias Alexander: Stadtplanung – Beim Technischen Rathaus auf dem Weg zur großen Lösung. In: faz.net, 4. September 2005.
In May 2005, the political powers decided not to pursue the competition any further. They nevertheless insisted that the following requirements be in place for any further urban planning competition: small-scale buildings with facades and roofs need to fit harmoniously into the old town, housing 20,000 m2 of gross floor space within the property boundaries of the Technisches Rathaus, with overbuilding of the archaeological garden, but maintenance of it as an indoor museum, and a restoration of the old "coronation path" street layout between the cathedral and the Roman. The name "Coronation Trail", an alternative name for the alley market (also known as the Old Market), which existed until 1945, arose from the fact that a total of 16 coronation ceremonies for Roman-German kings were held in Frankfurt from the 14th to the 18th century. 20 offices took part in the urban planning competition.Abriß des Technischen Rathauses gesichert. In: faz.net, 25 July 2005.
In August 2005, an application was submitted suggesting the reconstruction of some important historic buildings that had been destroyed in the war. However, the winning design chosen by the Frankfurt office KSP Engel and Zimmermann in September 2005 met only a few of these requirements. In this plan, the "Coronation Trail" was not going to follow the original route, but was to be built in a straight diagonal line from the Stone House () to the cathedral tower. The plan involved construction of large scale buildings and a trapezoidal shaped square was planned at the level of the archaeological garden, which, like the diagonal to the cathedral tower, had never existed in a similar form in Frankfurt's urban history.
At the presentation of the draft, however, Edwin Schwarz (CDU), head of the planning department, emphasised that it was only a suggestion of how the required building dimensions should be made: "What can be seen here will not be built this way". Other architectural competitions would decide on the final design. Schwarz also spoke out against the reconstruction of individual historical buildings, since these would then stand next to modern buildings.Günter Murr: Der lange Weg zur neuen Frankfurter Altstadt., In: fnp.de, 8 May 2018.
The winning design was received with controversy. People criticised the layout of the "Coronation Trail" and the buildings were felt to be too massive, with flat roofs designs that did not harmonise with the gable roofs of the old town. The city council decided to revise the draft significantly and to lean more closely toward the historical model.Stadtplanung: Dezernat will Architektenwettbewerbe für Frankfurts neue Mitte In: faz.net, 20 September 2005. In September 2005, the Frankfurt SPD proposed to leave the decision on the design for the area up to a citizens referendum. The SPD said that two or three competing designs with historical or historicizing and modern buildings should be developed.SPD will Bürger zu künftiger Altstadt-Bebauung befragen. In: faz.net, 23 September 2005.
In October 2005, voters presented their concept for a historically accurate reconstruction of old houses, alleys and squares under the title "An Old Town for Frankfurt's Soul".Ideen für den Wiederaufbau. In: faz.net, 7 October 2005.
In December 2005 the CDU tried to set up a special committee for the old town development, similar to the committee that had been formed during the planning for the reconstruction of the row of houses built on the Romer Square in the early 1980s. It became clear that the competitors were largely able to agree on a common line: the most exact possible restoration of the historical floor plan with its alleys, squares and courtyards, as well as the reconstruction of individual, significant houses.Matthias Alexander: Sonderausschuß zur Altstadt. Viele Wünsche und manche Bedenken. In: faz.net, 8 December 2005.
In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Mayor Petra Roth (CDU) suggested that four buildings, including the Haus zur goldenen Waage and the Neue Rote Haus could be reconstructed, but Roth believed that these could not be rebuilt in their original locations."Ich will Frankfurt sein Herz zurückgeben". In: faz.net, 31 December 2005. In May 2006, the German Federal Government architect (BDA) Workshop organised 50 architects to draft proposals for 20 plots to be built, with the spectrum of designs ranging from modern buildings with high proportions of glass to modern interpretations of half-timbered houses (similar to the houses built in Saalgasse in the 1980s).Matthias Alexander: Ansichten zur Altstadt. In: faz.net, 7 May 2006.