Eurotower is a 40-

storey A storey (British English) or story ( American English) is any level part of a building with a floor that could be used by people (for living, work, storage, recreation, etc.). Plurals for the word are ''storeys'' (UK) and ''stories'' (US). ...

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall Tower bl ...

in the Innenstadt district of

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian dialects, Hessian: , "Franks, Frank ford (crossing), ford on the Main (river), Main"), is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as o ...

, Germany. The building served as the seat of the

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the prime component of the monetary Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's most important central ...

(ECB) until 18 March 2015, at which point it was officially replaced by a new purpose-built building. It now hosts the European Central Bank's

Single Supervisory Mechanism The Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) is the first pillar of the European banking union and is the legislative and institutional framework that grants the European Central Bank (ECB) a leading supervisory role over banks in the EU. The ECB d ...

. The building is located at Willy-Brandt-Platz in Frankfurt's

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

, the

Bankenviertel Bankenviertel (; ''banking quarter'') is the name of the central business district in Frankfurt, Germany where many banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions are located. It is the most important German financial hub, if not o ...

, opposite to the Opern- und Schauspielhaus Frankfurt. Right next to the building is an underground U-Bahn station and an above-ground tram station.

History

The tower was designed by architect Richard Heil and was built between 1971 and 1977. The first main tenant was the ''Bank für Gemeinwirtschaft''. The building was later used by the

European Monetary Institute The European Monetary Institute (EMI) was the forerunner of the European Central Bank (ECB), operating between 1994 and 1997. History The EMI was created 1 January 1994 to oversee the second stage in the creation of monetary union. The EMI itself ...

, the forerunner of the European Central Bank that was established in 1998. Until 2013, a club/restaurant called ''Living XXL'' was situated in the basement. Because of the limited space in the Eurotower the personnel of the ECB were also (up to March 2015) distributed between two other skyscrapers in the Bankenviertel, the

Eurotheum The Eurotheum is a 31-storey, skyscraper in the city center of Frankfurt, Germany. The building was constructed in 1999 to coincide with the adjacent Main Tower, and is one of a few such in Frankfurt that offers office and residential space. Eac ...

and Neue Mainzer Straße 32–36. This was considered less than optimal, so in the late 1990s the ECB began a process to have a new seat built on a site in the

eastend Eastend is a town in south-west part of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, situated approximately north of the Montana border and east of the Alberta border. The town is best known for the nearby discovery of a ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' ...

of Frankfurt. This was originally envisaged to bring together all the bank's personnel in one place, however with the increase in the ECB's responsibilities with the EU

, the ECB will retain its presence in the Eurotower after its refurbishment. Construction of the new tower started in 2008 and was completed in late 2014. In November of that year bank personnel started to transfer from the Eurotower to their new offices at the Seat.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eurotower (Frankfurt am Main) Bankenviertel Buildings and structures of the European Union Eurotower Government buildings completed in 1977 Skyscrapers in Frankfurt Skyscraper office buildings in Germany Office buildings completed in 1977

History

See also

References

External links