Philipp Holzmann AG was a German construction company based in

Frankfurt am Main 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 ...

History

Early years

The company was founded in 1849 by Johann Philipp Holzmann (1805-1870) at Sprendlingen in present-day

Dreieich Dreieich () is a town in the Offenbach district in the of Darmstadt in Hessen, Germany. The town is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area and is located roughly south of downtown Frankfurt am Main. With a population of more than 40,000 ...

near Frankfurt am Main as Philipp Holzmann & Cie. Initially, the former

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

company was concentrating on the supply of ties for railway construction, but then began to expand into building construction and civil engineering. In 1856, the headquarters moved to Frankfurt where in the late 19th century the company experienced rapid growth. The first large building contract to be finished was the

opera house An opera house is a theater building used for performances of opera. Like many theaters, it usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, backstage facilities for costumes and building sets, as well as offices for the institut ...

completed in 1880,Groß, p. 50 followed by the

central station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

in Frankfurt am Main completed in 1888 and the

Amsterdam Centraal railway station Amsterdam Centraal station ( ; Railway stations in the Netherlands, abbreviation: Asd) is the largest railway station in Amsterdam, North Holland, the Netherlands. A major international Rail transport, railway hub, it is used by 192,000 passeng ...

in 1889. Holzmann also built the original

Reichstag building The Reichstag (; ) is a historic legislative government building on Platz der Republik in Berlin that is the seat of the German Bundestag. It is also the meeting place of the Federal Convention, which elects the President of Germany. The Ne ...

completed in 1894, the

Hamburg city hall Hamburg City Hall (, ) is the seat of local government of Hamburg, Germany. It is the seat of the government of Hamburg and as such, the seat of one of Germany's 16 state parliaments. The Rathaus is located in the Altstadt quarter in the city ce ...

completed in 1897 and several railway projects in East Africa and Asia, especially the Bagdadbahn built from 1903 which incorporates the Istanbul Haydarpaşa railway station finished in 1908, as well as the

Varda Viaduct The Varda Viaduct (), aka Giaour Dere Viaduct, locally known as "Alman Köprüsü" or "Koca Köprü" (literally: ''German Viaduct'' or ''Big Viaduct''), is a viaduct, railway viaduct situated at Hacıkırı (Kıralan) village in Karaisalı distri ...

Taurus Mountains The Taurus Mountains (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Toros Dağları'' or ''Toroslar,'' Greek language, Greek'':'' Ταύρος) are a mountain range, mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coastal reg ...

in southern Turkey completed in 1916. Furthermore, the company participated in the construction of the Elbe Tunnel of 1911 and the

Hindenburgdamm The Hindenburgdamm or Hindenburg Dam is an 11 km (7 mile) long causeway joining the North Frisian island of Sylt to mainland Schleswig-Holstein. Its coordinates are . It was opened on 1 June 1927 and is exclusively a railway corridor. Th ...

completed in 1927, and also the modernist Riederwald housing estate in Frankfurt. In 1917, Philipp Holzmann & Cie merged with the Internationale Baugesellschaft and became the publicly traded ''Philipp Holzmann

Aktiengesellschaft (; abbreviated AG ) is a German language, German word for a corporation limited by Share (finance), share ownership (i.e., one which is owned by its shareholders) whose shares may be traded on a stock market. The term is used in Germany, Austria ...

''. In 1938, the company had 20,800 employees and contributed to several major building projects like the new

Reich Chancellery The Reich Chancellery () was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany (then called ''Reichskanzler'') in the period of the German Reich from 1878 to 1945. The Chancellery's seat, selected and prepared since 1875, was the fo ...

in Berlin, the Nazi party rally grounds in Nürnberg, the Prora complex as well as the ''

Westwall The Siegfried Line, known in German as the ''Westwall (= western bulwark)'', was a German defense_line, defensive line built during the late 1930s. Started in 1936, opposite the French Maginot Line, it stretched more than from Kleve on the bor ...

'' and numerous sections of the ''

Reichsautobahn The system was the beginning of the German autobahns under Nazi Germany. There had been previous plans for controlled-access highway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traf ...

''. In World War II, Holzmann constructed large parts of the

Atlantic Wall The Atlantic Wall () was an extensive system of coastal defence and fortification, coastal defences and fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia as a defense (military), d ...

by order of the

Organisation Todt Organisation Todt (OT; ) was a Civil engineering, civil and military engineering organisation in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, named for its founder, Fritz Todt, an engineer and senior member of the Nazi Party. The organisation was responsible ...

Post-war years

In the post-war period, the company soon recovered with the rebuilding of Frankfurt, the

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

and several public infrastructure projects. Post-war projects included the

General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge The General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge is located at the Tablazo Strait outlet of Lake Maracaibo, in western Venezuela. The bridge connects Maracaibo with much of the rest of the country. It is named after General Rafael Urdaneta, a Venezuelan hero ...

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

completed in 1962, the AfE-Turm in

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 ...

completed in 1972, the Westend Gate in Frankfurt completed in 1976, the Eurotower in Frankfurt completed in 1977 and the Silberturm in Frankfurt completed in 1978. These projects enabled Holzmann to expand into the United States and in 1979 it acquired J.A. Jones Construction, a major US contractor. More recent major projects involving Holzmann included the Frankfurter Büro Center in Frankfurt completed in 1980, the Eurotheum in Frankfurt completed in 1999, the

Main Tower Main Tower is a 56-storey, skyscraper in the Innenstadt (Frankfurt am Main), Innenstadt district of Frankfurt, Germany. It is named after the nearby Main (river), Main river. The building is when its antenna tower, antenna spire is included. ...

in Frankfurt completed in 2000, the Trianon in Frankfurt completed in 2003 and the

Western Scheldt Tunnel The Western Scheldt Tunnel () is a tunnel in the Netherlands that carries highway N62 under the Western Scheldt estuary between Ellewoutsdijk and Terneuzen. It is the longest tunnel for highway traffic in the Netherlands. History and descripti ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

also completed in 2003.

Decline

At its peak in 1994, the company had 43,000 employees and was with a revenue of 13.1 billion DM the largest German construction company. Despite public efforts for a recapitalization, the company filed for insolvency in 1999 and was finally liquidated in 2002.

References

Sources

* *

External links

Former official Philipp Holzmann website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Holzmann, Philipp Defunct construction and civil engineering companies Construction and civil engineering companies of Germany Defunct companies of Germany Companies based in Frankfurt Design companies established in 1849 German companies established in 1849 Companies involved in the Holocaust Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1849 Construction and civil engineering companies disestablished in 2002 German companies disestablished in 2002