Leipzig
Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
is a 13-storey and 56 m (184 ft) tall listed office building at
Augustusplatz
The Augustusplatz is a square located at the east end of the city centre of Leipzig, borough Leipzig-Mitte. It is the city's largest square and one of the largest squares in Europe. It is also part of the city's inner-city ring-road and a centra ...
7.
History
According to the 1928 ''ring city concept'' of the city planning officer
Hubert Ritter
Hubert Hans Ritter (17 March 1886 – 25 May 1967) was a German architect, urban planner and building official.
Life
Hubert Ritter came from a Nuremberg family of artists on his father's side, his grandfather was the painter and engraver Lore ...
, it was possible to build free-standing high-rise buildings along Leipzig's inner city ring road, which were intended to look like pillars in a city crown. Due to the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
, only the
Kroch High-rise
The tall Kroch high-rise in Leipzig was the first high-rise building in the city. It was built in 1927/28 as the headquarter of the Kroch Banking House, a private bank of the German-Jewish banker Hans Kroch (1887–1970), and is located on the w ...
and the Europahaus were actually realized in Leipzig at that time.
The Europahaus, the second high-rise in Leipzig, was built in 1928/29 by
Otto Paul Burghardt
Otto Paul Burghardt (17 January 1875 in Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony, German Empire – 29 December 1959 in Oldenburg (city), Oldenburg, Germany) was a German architect. Biography
Burghardt received his Abitur from the ''Höhere Bürgerschule'' i ...
(1875-1959) as a counterweight to the Kroch high-rise at the other side of the Augustusplatz. In May 1928, Burghardt had to follow demands from the Saxon Ministry of the Interior and had to revise his first draft, under the guidance of
Wilhelm Kreis
Wilhelm Kreis (17 March 1873 – 13 August 1955) was a prominent German architect and professor of architecture, active through four political systems in German history: the Wilhelmine era, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, and the found ...
(1873–1955), in which the taller tower was in an axial corner position. Hereby, the facade of the office and commercial building got a significantly simplified form with a vertical structure running between the windows. Burghardt dispensed with any
ornaments
An ornament is something used for decoration.
Ornament may also refer to:
Decoration
*Ornament (art), any purely decorative element in architecture and the decorative arts
*Ornamental turning
*Biological ornament, a characteristic of animals tha ...
, and the house only takes effect by an expressionistic emphasis on the vertical. The revision was completed in July 1928, so that the shell was completed in early November 1929 and most of the rooms could be used from 1 January 1930.
The cost was 2 million
Reichsmarks
The (; Currency sign, sign: ℛ︁ℳ︁; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of German Reich, Germany from 1924 until the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945, and in the Bizone, American, British and French occupied zones of Germany, until 20 June 19 ...
, 600,000 Reichsmarks were planned.
Architecture and usage
The
reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...
skeleton building with shelly limestone cladding, which today borders directly on the ''Ringbebauung'' of the 1950s at the ''Roßplatz'', consists of a 56 meter (184 ft.) tall tower with 13 floors, which has seven-storey side wings on both sides. Today's " Radisson Blu Hotel Leipzig" is directly connected on the other side. At the time of construction, there was a roof garden restaurant on the top of the high-rise building which is said to have been the “highest roof garden café in Europe” until the 1950s. According to the same source, early tenants included Claire Sigall, a gymnastics practice room on the 12th floor and
Norddeutscher Lloyd
Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL; North German Lloyd) was a German shipping company. It was founded by Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann in Bremen on 20 February 1857. It developed into one of the most important German shipping companies of th ...
on the ground floor. Since 2020, the city of Leipzig has officially reminded that the German golf publisher, which brought out the first German specialist magazine for the "entire sport of
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...
", had its headquarters in the Europahaus. The publishing house was owned by the family of Bernhard von Limburger, who won the German championship three times from 1921 to 1925.
In
GDR
East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...
times, the house was the seat of the
district
A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...
administration of the GDR State Insurance. In 1965, Frieder Gebhard and Hans-Joachim Dreßler carried out a reconstruction in the style of the 1960s, with the upper end being significantly altered.
Colonnade
In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...
s were built on the ground floor, which were necessary after the inner city ring road had been widened.
The building was renovated in 1997/98. The windows were renewed and repairs were carried out on the listed facade.
Allianz
Allianz SE ( , ) is a German Multinational corporation, multinational financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core businesses are insurance and asset management.
Allianz is the world's largest List of largest insurance ...
Versicherungs-AG then moved in as the new host.
After conversion and modernization work by ''Leipziger Stadtbau AG'', the municipal energy supplier ''Stadtwerke Leipzig'' moved into the Europahaus in 2014 with around 160 employees. In 2015, the building was acquired by a Union Investment fund.
In Leipzig, there is also another operating association named ''Europahaus Leipzig e.V.''Self-portrayal of the association ''Europahaus Leipzig e.V.'' /ref> since 1990, which has its headquarters elsewhere in Leipzig (address:
10). The official EU information center Europe Direct for the Leipzig / West Saxony region is also located there and not at Augustusplatz.
Gallery
File:AHW Europahaus Leipzig 1930.jpg, Pre-war image with a part of the Dutch House on the left and a part of the Leipzig Museum of Fine Arts in front, which were both destroyed in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
File:Europahaus Leipzig.jpg, Europahaus as Leipzig branch of Allianz with corresponding
electronic signage
Electronic signage (also called electronic signs or electronic displays) are illuminant advertising media in the signage industry. Major electronic signage include fluorescent signs, HID ( high intensity displays), incandescent signs, LED sig ...
at the roof (2007)
See also
*
Architecture of Leipzig
The history of the architecture of Leipzig extends from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. Numerous typical buildings and valuable cultural monuments from History of construction, different eras are still preserved or have been rebuilt. Leipzi ...
*
List of tallest buildings in Leipzig
This list of tallest buildings in Leipzig ranks high-rise buildings and important landmarks that reach a height of . Only habitable buildings and a book magazine are ranked, which excludes radio masts and towers, observation towers, Steeple ( ...
Literature
*
* Wolfgang Hocquél, ''Leipzig. Architektur von der Romanik bis zur Gegenwart'', Passage-Verlag, Leipzig 2004, ISBN 3-932900-54-5, p. 122 f., in German
* Peter Leonhardt: ''Moderne in Leipzig. Architektur und Städtebau 1918 bis 1933.'' Pro Leipzig, Leipzig 2007, ISBN 978-3-936508-29-1, pp. 35–37 (in German)
* Weinkauf, Berndt: ''Architekturführer. Die 100 wichtigsten Leipziger Bauwerke.'' Berlin, Jaron Verlag, 2011. p. 156—157. ISBN 978-3-89773-913-0, in German
*
* Annette Menting, ''Leipzig. Reclams Städteführer Architektur und Kunst'',