Kennedyplatz (Essen)
| Kennedyplatz | |
|---|---|
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 Kennedyplatz to the south; From left: Gildenhaus, corner house formerly Cramer & Meermann , former Boecker mansion and ladies' houses, Haus Am Markt 1 |
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| Basic data | |
| place | eat |
| District | City center |
| Created | 1953 |
| Newly designed | January / August 1989 (design: Gruppe Hardtberg, Bonn, Ernst-Günther Ruhbaum, 1987) |
| Hist. Names | Guild place |
| Confluent streets | I. Hagen, II. Hagen, Vereinstraße, Brandstraße, Schwarze Horn, Kornmarkt, Markt, Kardinal-Hengsbach-Platz |
| Buildings | Europahaus , Heroldhaus, Kennedy Tower, Allbauhaus, Gildenhaus, former Cramer & Meermann house, former Boecker mansion and ladies' houses, Am Markt 1 house, C&A house |
| use | |
| User groups | Foot traffic |
| Technical specifications | |
| building-costs | Last redesign in 1989: DM 20 million including underground car park |
The Kennedy Square is a central place in Essen city center . It was created by the city of Essen on an area destroyed in the Second World War that was previously densely built up. Today the area serves as an inner-city open space and space for events.
history
prehistory
Before the Second World War, the area of today's Kennedyplatz in what was then the center of Essen's old town was densely built with smaller houses. After around 90 percent of the inner city had been destroyed in the war, this area was also mostly in ruins. After the rubble had been removed, the city administration had one-story commercial buildings erected here from March 1949 after the currency reform in order to lease sales areas to retailers.
In 1952, the Amerikahaus Ruhr in the southern area of the site was completed according to plans by the architect Hermann Gehrig . The Americans, who ended the war by invading Essen in April 1945, had it set up as the America House and the first main base of their information network in selected large cities and opened it in Essen on February 22, 1952, the 220th birthday of the first US President George Washington .
Guild place since 1954
In 1953, during the period of reconstruction after the war, urban planning provided for larger open spaces for the city center. So the secular area, later called Kennedyplatz, was created next to the Essen cathedral next to the spiritual Burgplatz . The square was initially named Gildenplatz on October 18, 1954 , in order to emphasize the tradition of Essen's bourgeoisie and merchants. The provisional one-story shops have now been closed again.
As a result, most of today's buildings were built around the square. In 1954/1955 the architect Emil Jung had the Heroldhaus built, which borders the square in the south. It was built as the administrative headquarters of the German Herold Public and Life Insurance Company (now the Zurich Group ) and was listed as a historical monument in 2010 . This was followed by the opening as a hotel two years later, after a renovation in line with listed buildings. In 1955 the architects Wilhelm and Hans Eggeling had the eleven-story guild house built, which, together with the Allbau house, delimits the square to the west. This was built in 1956 according to plans by the architect Willy Maximilian Schneider.
Kennedyplatz since 1963
On December 17, 1963, the guild square was renamed Kennedyplatz in memory of the US President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated on November 22, 1963 . The America House closed in 1964 and was then also known as the Kennedy House.
After the old Essen town hall , which touched the northeast of Kennedyplatz, was demolished in 1964, the Amerikahaus served as the seat of the mayor and the city director until the opening of today's town hall in 1979.
Instead of the old town hall, the department store of the then Wertheim Group was placed, which in 1986 gave way to today's commercial building Am Markt 1 by architects Genheimer & Partner from Essen. The C&A house, built in 1934 by the architect Sepp Kaiser , was connected to the south. It was replaced by a new building in 1980, into which the Primark chain moved in 2011 .
In the years 1962 to 1965 , the house of the church of the Evangelical City Church Association was built in the southwest of the square, on the property of the St. Paul's Church , which was destroyed in the war, according to plans by architects Wolfgang Müller-Zantrop and Heinz Kalenborn . After renovation in 2009, the twelve-story twin tower was opened as the Kennedy Tower office building . A year earlier it was listed as a historical monument.
In March 1979, the Vigilant Chicken monument was erected on Kennedyplatz in front of the Amerikahaus because of the renovation of the adjacent Kurienplatz (called Kardinal-Hengsbach-Platz since 1994). When the Kurienplatz was completed, the monument was returned to its place there in October 1980.
The Kennedyplatz, still surrounded by traffic, was designed by the architect Gerd Lichtenhahn and now had an elongated, terraced fountain on its long eastern side. The bronze sculpture of the Great Bathers by the sculptor Georg Kolbe, created in 1914, was placed in a square fountain in the northern area . She was brought to the sculptures in Grugapark in the late 1980s . Also on the north side of Kennedyplatz is the Boecker mansion, which today houses other retail stores, and to the east of it is the former Boecker ladies' house, which was later redesigned for the Mayersche bookstore and other shops, which were located until 2017 .
In 1988 the underground car park was built under Kennedyplatz. It cost 14 million DM and was financed by the retail trade. It is accessed from the southwest, with several staircase exits on the sides of the square and a barrier-free elevator at the Europahaus. On November 18, 1988, the garage was inaugurated in the presence of Lord Mayor Peter Reuschenbach .
Today's character
Between January and August 1989, Kennedyplatz was redesigned to its present appearance based on a design by the Hardtberg group from Bonn in 1987. It was expanded to include the streets surrounding it, so that the square is only touched by car traffic on its south side. Seating and new tree planting around a large open space now shape the picture. The round fountain designed by the architect Hardtberg was erected in front of the Amerikahaus. It measures about ten meters in diameter, has a ball made of squid-red granite in the center and cost 250,000 DM . A total of 6 million DM was estimated for the redesign of the square.
After the renovation of the former Amerikahaus in 1992, it was called the Europahaus from 1994 on account of the EU summit in Essen , and today's cabaret and a restaurant were opened in it. In 2001 it was entered as a monument in the city of Essen's list of monuments. A few other cafes and restaurants are located on the edge of Kennedyplatz with outside operations.
A work of art by Serge Spitzer (* 1951) was placed behind the Europahaus on March 24, 1996 . The so-called Spitzer spiral is formed from a double T-beam , has a diameter of five meters, is eight meters high and weighs around 22 tons.
The Essen Christmas market has been held here since 1973 and was later expanded to include other surrounding areas. Other events are sometimes held regularly on the square. This includes the Essen.Original city festival since 1996 . and since 2000 Essen On Ice with ice skating and toboggan run. At times there was a public viewing at major sporting events .
View to the southwest; From left: Heroldhaus, Kennedy Tower, in front of that Europahaus and Allbauhaus
1989 built fountain in front of the Europahaus
East side: department store built for C&A in 1980
Spitzer spiral in the southwest corner of Kennedyplatz
Web links
- Historical association for the city and monastery of Essen e. V .: Kennedyplatz ; Retrieved April 22, 2015
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Erwin Dickhoff: Essener streets . Ed .: City of Essen - Historical Association for City and Monastery of Essen. Klartext-Verlag, Essen 2015, ISBN 978-3-8375-1231-1 .
- ↑ Excerpt from the list of monuments of the city of Essen, Heroldhaus ; Retrieved January 5, 2017
- ↑ Berger Bergmann, Peter Brdenk (Ed.): Architecture in Essen 1960–2013 . Klartext Verlag, Essen 2013, ISBN 978-3-8375-0832-1 , p. 70 .
- ↑ Excerpt from the list of monuments of the city of Essen, Kennedy Tower ; Retrieved January 5, 2017
- ↑ Simon Gerich: Monument Vigilant Chicken commemorates war dead from Essen; In: Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung of September 10, 2018
- ↑ Erwin Dickhoff: Essen heads . Ed .: City of Essen - Historical Association for City and Monastery of Essen. Klartext-Verlag, Essen 2015, ISBN 978-3-8375-1231-1 , p. 226 .
- ^ Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung WAZ of June 27, 1987
- ↑ Parking garage opening: OB comes in the Rolls-Royce ; In: Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung of November 19, 1988
- ↑ Excerpt from the list of monuments of the city of Essen, Europahaus ; Retrieved January 5, 2017
Coordinates: 51 ° 27 '23.4 " N , 7 ° 0' 39.7" E