At the Central station
| At the Central station | |
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 Eastern development of the square |
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| Basic data | |
| place | Frankfurt am Main |
| District | Bahnhofsviertel |
| Confluent streets | Poststrasse, Düsseldorfer Strasse , Karlstrasse, Taunusstrasse , Kaiserstrasse , Münchener Strasse , Wiesenhüttenstrasse, Baseler Strasse and Mannheimer Strasse |
| Buildings | Central Station |
At the main station there is a square in Frankfurt am Main in front of the main station .
history
The station forecourt was created in the course of the relocation of the Frankfurt railway systems, when the Frankfurt West Railway Stations were replaced by the new central station in 1888 . The entrance of the three railway lines that flow there, the Taunus Railway , Main-Neckar-Bahn and Main-Weser-Bahn , had to be relocated about one kilometer to the west. The new central station was placed on the west side of today's Am Hauptbahnhof square , whose semicircular end to the east - with the street name Am Hauptbahnhof - still traces the former connecting curve between the Main-Neckar-Bahn and Main-Weser-Bahn in the old track apron of the western train stations .
With the new central station, the old routes and the apron of the western train stations were dispensable. Several streets and the station district were built on them . In 1891 the International Electrotechnical Exhibition took place on the site . The perimeter development of the square was built between 1900 and 1915.
From 1918 to 1945 the square was called Hindenburgplatz .
Confluent streets
- Poststraße and Mannheimer Straße (until 1945 Gneisenaustraße ) border the main train station to the north and south and were only created in this form when the reception building and the platform halls were expanded in 1924.
- The Düsseldorfer Straße (until 1945 Hohenzollernstraße ) lies on the former route of the Main-Weser-Bahn and leads north to the Platz der Republik (until 1923 Hohenzollernplatz ).
- Karlstraße branches off at the northeast end of the square and connects it with Mainzer Landstraße . A tram line ran here until 1950 and continued over Feuerbachstrasse to Bockenheimer Landstrasse . Because of the increasing traffic and the narrow street layout, it was then relocated a few hundred meters northwards to the Wilhelm-Hauff-Straße / Mendelssohnstraße street .
- The western part of Taunusstraße is also in the area of the former Main-Weser-Bahn and Taunus-Eisenbahn. It leads to the eponymous Taunustor in the former Frankfurt ramparts .
- The Kaiserstraße (1947–1955 Friedrich-Ebert-Straße ) was mainly built in the area of the former freight yard of the Main-Neckar-Bahn. It was designed as the central boulevard of the new Bahnhofsviertel and leads from the Roßmarkt south of the Hauptwache to the main station. The section of road between Moselstrasse and the main train station ends as a dead end . It is also known under the derogatory name Kaisersack and was at times considered the center of the drug trade .
- The Münchener Straße (until 1947 Kronprinzenstraße ) records the changes in the entrance of the Main-Neckar Railway in the Main-Neckar station after. It runs parallel to Kaiserstraße and leads to Willy-Brandt-Platz .
- The Wiesenhüttenstraße is a short spur road which the square to the south with the Wiesenhüttenplatz and Gutleutstraße connects. This is where the Parkhotel , also from the Wilhelminian era, is located and is still one of the most famous Frankfurt hotels today.
- The Baseler Straße (until 1945 Scharnhorststraße ) follows the course of the Main-Neckar-Bahn over the Baseler Platz (until 1945 Blücherplatz ) to the Friedensbrücke over the Main .
buildings
The square is dominated by the reception building and the track halls of Frankfurt Central Station from 1888 and 1924, which extend over the entire west side.
In the square were two in 1891/92 about 20 meters high, three-armed candelabra made of cast iron , the first electric streetlights Frankfurt built. They were removed when the square was rebuilt in the late 1950s / early 1960s.
The other sides of the square were originally bounded by numerous representative hotel buildings in the historicizing style of the late 19th century, including the Hotel Bristol , which opened in 1900 on the corner of Kronprinzenstrasse (today Münchener Strasse), and the Hotel d'Angleterre (1903) on the north corner of the Kaiserstrasse , the Carlton Hotel (1907) between Karlstrasse and Hohenzollernstrasse (today Düsseldorfer Strasse). In 1905 the Albert Schumann Theater , Frankfurt's largest variety theater and one of the few Art Nouveau buildings in the city , was built on the previously undeveloped property between Taunusstrasse and Karlstrasse . As the last new building at the main train station, the neoclassical Hotel Excelsior, opposite the north portal of the main train station on the corner of Poststrasse, completed the ensemble in 1914/15 .
During the Second World War , all buildings at the main train station were more or less damaged in the air raids on Frankfurt am Main . In 1945 the American forces confiscated the Excelsior, Carlton and Schumanntheaters. In 1956 the Excelsior was first opened again and converted into a commercial building that still exists today. The Carlton became a hotel again in 1956, but closed in 1976 due to insufficient profitability. The building was torn down and replaced by an inconspicuous office building. The same fate had befallen the Schumanntheater back in 1961.
The other historic buildings on Taunusstrasse and Kaiserstrasse, however, remained. They have been extensively renovated in recent years, but still have a flat roof that was built in the post-war period.
Traffic function
The Am Hauptbahnhof square is, together with the Hauptbahnhof, a central hub in the public transport system in Frankfurt . Originally it was dominated by the tracks and stops of the tram . Since 1978 part of it has been laid underground as a subway . The same thing happened with the S-Bahn , which crosses the square in an east-west direction. The underground shopping arcade, known as B-level, is reserved for pedestrians and, like the square itself, was temporarily a meeting place for the homeless and dealers .
The main aim of the construction of the extensive B-level was to accelerate road traffic in the spirit of the car-friendly city , in which all crossing pedestrian traffic was moved underground. Crossing the lanes was made impossible, and the tram stop on the square could only be reached via the B level. Most of these measures have been reversed. For years now, pedestrians have been able to cross the square at ground level, secured by traffic lights. As a result, the importance of the underpass for pure pedestrian traffic has decreased significantly. The large entrance to the B-level in Kaiserstraße was reduced to half of its original width in 2005 and the part that had become superfluous was filled in. The main entrance on the station side from the square to the B-level has been closed with a rolling grille for a long time, and defective escalators are often not repaired for months. Most of the buildings have not been renewed since the redesign at the end of the 1970s, so the ambience of the square and its facilities appears neglected accordingly.
literature
- State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen (Ed.): Railway in Hessen. Railway buildings and routes 1839–1939 , 1st edition. Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-8062-1917-6 , vol. 2.1, series 001, p. 19ff.
- Monument topography of the city of Frankfurt am Main, publisher: Magistrat der Stadt Frankfurt, Braunschweig 1986.
- Wolfgang Klötzer: Visiting the old Frankfurt , Heinrich Hugendubel-Verlag, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-88034-493-0
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ They were composed of almost 500 individual parts. The design came from the sculptor Franz Krüger , the mold was created by Otto Funke , and they were manufactured in 1891 in the Tangerhütte iron foundry near Magdeburg. The candelabra was provided with the allegorical attributes “ generator coil ” and “light” and decorated on the four meter high plinths with three larger than life winged and fish-tailed naiads .
- ↑ The light poles were scrapped. The owner of the Marienhütte branch of the Tangerhütte in Hanau- Großauheim had the candelabra plinths still preserved in front of the entrance to the Großauheim factory, later in the park of the director's villa. ( 11) Marienhütte and Villa von Arnim. In: local route guide Hanau II. September 2, 2011, accessed on May 5, 2014 .
- ^ Bettina Grimm: Redesign of the station forecourt Frankfurt / Main Hbf. Pro Gaslicht - Association for the preservation and promotion of gas light as a cultural asset, March 23, 2009, accessed on May 5, 2014 .
- ↑ Industrial cultural sites in Steinheim, Großauheim, Klein-Auheim and Wolfgang | Industrial culture Rhine-Main. Route of industrial culture - local route guide Hanau II. Archived from the original on February 27, 2007 ; Retrieved May 5, 2014 .
Coordinates: 50 ° 6 ′ 27 ″ N , 8 ° 39 ′ 54 ″ E