Gallileo is a 38-storey skyscraper in the
Bahnhofsviertel district of
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
, Germany. It was built from 1999 to 2003.
The towers architecture is made up of two towers linked by a connecting central core. The north tower is with 38 storeys, and the south tower is . The core is the building's full height. Together with its floor space, it is the 26th tallest building in the city. Its name is an intentional misspelling of the scientist
Galileo's name; the extra l comes from the building's other namesake, the nearby park Gallusanlage. Along with the nearby
Silberturm, it served as the corporate headquarters of
Dresdner Bank
Dresdner Bank AG () was a German bank, founded in 1872 in Dresden, then headquartered in Berlin from 1884 to 1945 and in Frankfurt from 1963 onwards after a postwar hiatus. Long Germany's second-largest bank behind Deutsche Bank, it was eventually ...
since 2008. A year later, after the takeover of Dresdner Bank by
Commerzbank
The Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft (shortly known as Commerzbank AG or Commerzbank ) is a European Financial institution, banking institution headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany. It offers services to private and entrepreneurial c ...
, the new owner planned to use only the Gallileo.
Gallileo has a glass facade with 400 individual windows forming an approximately large transparent outer skin. In the glass floors were the American artist James Turrell, integrated lighting, which make the building at night from the inside out glowing. These are not architecturally visible. The undersides of the floor slabs serve as reflective surfaces.
Shops, a bar, and the
English Theatre Frankfurt are located on the ground floor.
In 2018, Gallileo was sold to the Singapore-based real estate investor
CapitaLand
CapitaLand Group Pte. Ltd. is a Singaporean headquartered company focusing on investment, development and management of real estate. The company has a presence in over 260 cities across more than 40 countries.
CapitaLand has six listed real ...
for €356 million, with Commerzbank retaining a long-term lease. Further, in 2022 Commerzbank's rent-free sublease contract of the basement theater space to the English Theatre ended. After negotiations with the new investor failed, in June 2023 Commerzbank filed an action to evict the theatre.
See also
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List of tallest buildings in Frankfurt
Frankfurt, Germany, is one of the few European cities with a large cluster of high rise buildings in its downtown area. In many other European cities, skyscraper construction was not well received in the past due to the historical value of existi ...
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List of tallest buildings in Germany
This list ranks buildings in Germany that stand at least tall. Only habitable buildings are ranked, which excludes radio masts and towers, observation towers, Steeple (architecture), steeples, chimneys and other tall architectural structures.
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References
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Commercial buildings completed in 2003
Skyscraper office buildings in Frankfurt
Bankenviertel
Commerzbank
Dresdner Bank