InterContinental Frankfurt

InterContinental Frankfurt, River Wing from the west, February 2012

# LightsofLove initiative of the InterContinental Frankfurt during the COVID-19 pandemic 2020

The InterContinental Frankfurt is the second largest hotel in Frankfurt am Main in terms of capacity and fifth largest in Germany in the same respect . It is located on Wilhelm-Leuschner-Straße (house number 43) in the Bahnhofsviertel district . Since it opened in 1963 , the operator, the InterContinental Hotels Group , has deliberately never had the DEHOGA classified as a star , as the "InterContinental" brand name is already associated with a corresponding classification.

The umbrella brand InterContinental Hotels & Resorts was founded in 1946 as a subsidiary of Pan American World Airways, better known as Pan Am . Once intended as a hotel for stewardesses and passengers, the company has developed into one of the largest hotel groups with almost 6000 hotels and a loyalty program with 100 million registered customers.

history

The property of the hotel is located in the southwest of the Bahnhofsviertel , which, in contrast to the northern parts, was only built loosely and villa-like at the end of the 19th century. It cannot be determined to what extent the existing building fabric was removed for the new building project in this area, which was only slightly affected by the bombing of the Second World War . The foundation stone was laid on June 8, 1961, the official opening after almost exactly two years of construction on June 6, 1963. The construction costs for the project, which was based on a design by the Frankfurt architects ABB Architects Otto Apel , Hannsgeorg Beckert , Gilbert Becker, were around 40 million marks .

At the inauguration, it was not only the largest hotel in Germany in terms of rooms, but also one of the tallest buildings in the city. Notable features at the time included the availability of a bathroom with a toilet and a television in each room. In addition, several bars, restaurants, four banquet halls, a ballroom, a cocktail lounge and a hairdresser were available to guests. In 1972, directly opposite the City Wing - to separate it from the southern River Wing - a slightly smaller extension with an almost identical look was built. In the crime series A Case for Two , hotel rooms were used as the law firm of the lawyer Dr. Dieter Renz used.

In 1998 there was a renovation for around 90 million marks, in 2004 another for around 13.3 million marks. In 2006, both buildings were transferred to Morgan Stanley Real Estate , with the InterContinental Hotels Group promising continued operation under a 50-year management contract.

As early as March 2009 it was announced that another renovation was to take place, which the responsible office currently has on its website with the status of execution unclear . A planning with visualization by the Schneider + Schumacher office has meanwhile also become public. However, neither has yet been implemented.

At the beginning of 2011, the previous owner sold the building to the Lebanese investor Toufic Aboukhater for around 60 million euros . Around a year later, the new owner separated from the City Wing with effect from March 1, 2012. The sales proceeds are to be used to renovate the River Wing and, as a “completely rejuvenated 'Landmark Intercontinental' with new conference and congress rooms, catch up with the top hotels in the city” . In 2018 the hotel was taken over by Aroundtown SA and has been managed by Ronald Hoogerbrugge as General Manager since summer 2019.

architecture

The almost square parcel with the River Wing takes up about the middle third of a street block that is bordered by Wilhelm-Leuschner-Straße in the north, Windmühlstraße in the east, Untermainkai in the south and Wiesenhüttenstraße in the west . Since the Untermainkai follows the course of the Main, the street block and parcel are rotated about 45 degrees counter-clockwise.

River Wing from Schaumainkai, left the Union Investment high-rise , October 2010

The elongated, rectangular River Wing, correspondingly in a northeast-southwest orientation, is in turn in the southern third of the plot, with low annex buildings to the north and south of the streets. The northern one houses the main entrance on Wilhelm-Leuschner-Strasse, which was stylistically changed in the 1980s with a porch; the southern one, including a restaurant with a roof terrace.

The building of the River Wing has 21 stories, is 67 meters high and houses 470 rooms. As is typical of the time, there is no architectural decoration, only a horizontal structure is achieved by changing the surrounding ribbon windows and cladding the parapet fields with a very dark natural stone. Since this is now darkened and soiled due to the weather, especially towards the south, the building often looks falsely like exposed concrete from a distance .

Only the 21st floor has a more extensive design with a few window cuts and a long opening for the terrace of the roof restaurant. On the narrow sides in the east and west there are stairwells, of which the more prominent western one stands free and is connected to the main building via open walkways. On the flat roof end there is a technical floor, which is slightly recessed compared to the floor plan.

The Wyndham Grand Frankfurt Hotel has been located in the former City Wing of the Hotel InterContinental since 2014. The building has 300 rooms and is located on the opposite side of the street on Wilhelm-Leuschner-Straße. Including the ground floor, it has 18 floors. The design almost corresponds to that of the main building, the entrance also faces Wilhelm-Leuschner-Straße. In contrast, the stairwell is set in the south-western corner of the building and the ribbon windows on the narrow eastern side are interrupted, the roof edge is flat. City Wing and River Wing were connected by a tunnel.