Mainz Town Hall

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Mainz City Hall, with Jockel-Fuchs-Platz and the sculpture Lebenskraft
Council chamber from the mayor's point of view

The town hall of Mainz , located on the banks of the Rhine not far from the Theodor-Heuss-Brücke , was designed by Arne Jacobsen and Otto Weitling in 1968/1970 and built from 1970 to 1974. After Jacobsen's death in 1971, the Dissing + Weitling architectural association completed the work he had begun. With the fire center, the Hilton Hotel and the Rheingoldhalle , the listed building forms an impressive complex of post-war modernism .

prehistory

Before the new building in 1974, there had been no actual town hall in Mainz since 1462, when Adolf von Nassau dissolved the city council as a result of the Mainz collegiate feud and the city was only ruled by the representatives of the archbishop and elector. The city council, which was deprived of its powers until the “French era”, met for half a millennium in various buildings, most of which were known as the “town house”.

Since the 1930s, various locations for a new town hall have been discussed, including the plans submitted by the city planning office in 1934 for a new building in the area of ​​the Golden Ross barracks , whereby old and new building fabric should be harmoniously combined. The cool classicism and monumentality of Nazi architecture were incorporated into these plans, but they lacked harshness and brutality, as the standard remained normal in the synthesis of old and new. However, the plans did not materialize.

After the Second World War, the city ​​center , which was still marked by the air raids on Mainz, was significantly redesigned and expanded. For the first time there were proposals for a new town hall in 1954. The FDP city council group suggested using the premises of a school at midnight . Five years later, the city council decided to expand the previously used town house on the Powder Tower . On July 12, 1962, the city council decided to build the new town hall on the "Am Brand" site and to sell the previously used site at the Powder Tower. Almost a year later, on June 27, 1963, the city council had an extensive draft resolution. After it was determined that the previous plans would exceed the financial strength of the city with the “100 million project”, a renewed review of the entire project in the building committee “with the assistance of the experts from the building and civil engineering authorities” was suggested. The vote on a resolution was postponed to a later date.

Building history

Location definition and tender

A renewed discussion of the location only came back on the agendas of the city council between February and May 1967 after the Electoral Palace had meanwhile also been brought up for discussion. On May 31, 1967, the majority of the city council finally approved the location on the square of the former city ​​hall , which was only faced by the fire on the opposite side of the street. On November 29, 1967, the architectural competition was published, which lasted until April 1, 1968. The following points were included in the competition:

  • When the city of Mainz is preparing to build a town hall again for the first time in five hundred years, the citizens rightly expect more than just the fulfillment of certain useful tasks. The earlier town hall plans, which were overtaken by the new location determination - as well as the preparations for the current competition - were met with the greatest general interest.
  • In this building, the interaction and togetherness of the city council and city administration should find their visible expression. In addition, a town hall - as a center of communal democracy - should convey the democratic social order and parliamentary education within their familiar area of ​​life, the city, to the citizens in a clear and tangible way.
  • If a town hall today is supposed to be more and can be more than just an administrative building with a conference room, then it may at the same time express something of what is understood by citizenship and civic pride. In order to avoid misunderstandings, however, it should be said that this thought does not suggest the intention to forcibly change the Mainz cityscape with a new gigantic accent or a new landmark.

What was expected was a preliminary design for a functional town hall that could be implemented with reasonable effort, the urban note of which was described as follows:

“The town hall - just like the town hall and the entire Halleplatz area - should be connected to the fire area and thereby to the city center. This connection is to be understood as the conclusion and climax of the sequence of squares characteristic of Mainz Schillerplatz -  Gutenbergplatz -  Höfchen -  Markt -  Liebfrauenplatz and Brand. The city is no longer to be separated from the Rhine by the Rheinstrasse , as it has been up to now , but is to be finally reconnected to its river bank in a convincing way. This connection is said to be twofold. It requires an urban planning that is correct and, perceived as a single piece, of bringing pedestrians from the city center to the Rhine. On the other hand, the entire hall area must be opened up for vehicle traffic and connected to the existing traffic system in a functioning manner. The invitation to tender attaches great importance to the creation of a 'square on the Rhine' in the center of the banks of the Rhine in the vicinity of the town hall and town hall, which, depending on its location and shape, can really be the highlight of the urban context described above. "

- Mainz Town Hall : p. 76

The eleven-member jury consisted of the seven specialist jury members Egon Eiermann , Rudolf Hillebrecht , Hans Jacobi (Mainzer Baudezernet), Jürgen Joedicke , Johannes Krahn , Arthur Schech , Heinrich Schmidt and the four material judges Jockel Fuchs and the city council members Paul Distelhut (SPD), Fritz Grebner (CDU) and Günter Stroch (FDP) together and examined the 22 submitted designs.

Third place went to Hans Maurer and Horst Mauder with 10,000 DM . The second place was awarded twice with 20,000 DM each to Hentrich-Petschnigg in collaboration with HJ Stutz from Düsseldorf / Cologne and to the free architects Wolfgang Hirsch, Rudolf Hoinkis, Martin Lanz, Paul Schütz, Dieter Stahl. The architects from Mainz bought two further designs for DM 5,000 each.

The first place with 30,000 DM was unanimously given to Arne Jacobsen and Otto Weitling under the chairmanship of Rudolf Hillebrecht . They wrote in their explanatory report:

“To make the town hall a natural attraction of the city in the present situation was the main concern of the authors. The inclination of the east-west pedestrian street has created as many connections as possible to the old town. The pedestrians are concentrated on the building block and finally directed over the pedestrian bridge towards the town hall. The main facade of the town hall in turn leads in its direction to the delightful view of the Rhine and the town hall, but also refers to the historic Iron Tower . The aim is to create a natural, informal relationship between the cathedral and the squares in the old town, the new Brand business center, the town hall and the town hall with the banks of the Rhine. The dominant character in the old town in terms of scale and the formation of building blocks, streets, alleys and squares, which still reveals the medieval origins, has been taken up in its oblique angles and irregularity in the development of Brand and Halleplatz. Facilities that, while maintaining the characteristic scale, offer the modern functions of inner-city life concentrated in a small space, the city should be given the desired expansion of the inner city towards the Rhine. The height of all planned buildings is subordinate to the dominant structure of the cathedral. In the view from the Rhine, the characteristic silhouette with the venerable cathedral as the highlight is preserved; however, the concentration of the Brand business center will reveal the concentrated range of inner-city services. The supporting wall of the Platz am Rhein facing the Rhine corresponds in scale to the situation at the Electoral Palace and the state parliament. The town hall itself, with its building cube, which is different from all sides and appears to be appropriate to the corresponding rooms, is similar in proportion and scale to the historical buildings along the banks of the Rhine. Its location on the square on the Rhine makes its special function recognizable when viewed from the Rhine as well as from the city center "

- The Mainz town hall : pp. 76–77

Construction work and inauguration

Even when the construction and the location had been decided, the discussions continued, this time sparked off by the costs and the architecture. Nevertheless, the city council approved the architectural design on December 18, 1969. The construction management office was set up on April 1, 1970 near Fischtorplatz, the actual construction site only on October 12, 1970 with the official groundbreaking . The foundation was poured on February 1, 1971. Arne Jacobsen died on March 24, 1971, Otto Weitling took over the execution alone, as the planning was completed in every detail. The foundation stone was laid on June 4, 1971.

The town hall was inaugurated on December 31, 1973. Federal President Gustav Heinemann , Prime Minister Helmut Kohl , Hans Koschnick from the German Association of Cities, Rudi Schmitt from neighboring Wiesbaden and representatives from the twin cities of Dijon, Watford and Zagreb congratulated the inauguration . One day later, on New Year's Day 1974, fools of the Mainz Carnival under the command of the prince couple "Rolf I and Marion I" stormed the town hall.

building-costs

For the entire town hall complex, including the town hall plateau and bridge tower, DM 45 million was estimated in 1969 . In 1973, a year before completion, DM 67 million were calculated, of which DM 40.125 million for the building, DM 20.5 million for the town hall square, parking garage and café-restaurant and DM 6.342 million for the bridge tower including the bridge to the fire.

Ultimately, the town hall complex cost the city of Mainz around 80 million DM, according to today's purchasing power around 114 million euros.

Town Hall Square

The town hall square was renamed to Jockel-Fuchs-Platz one year after the death of the long-time mayor and first host of the town hall Jockel Fuchs in 2002 . The Mainz people also refer to the building as the Fuchsbau , sometimes jokingly as an official prison .

Condition and renovation

At the beginning of the 21st century, the building was having more and more problems. If these were technical defects at first, for example in the outdated ventilation system, later structural defects also increased significantly. According to an appraisal by the Mainz building industry, a municipal company, from 2009, the energetic repair should cost around 14.5 million euros. All installations, some of which were still in their 1973 state, were factored in. At that time, a renovation of the building by the heavily indebted city of Mainz was out of the question for cost reasons.

The honorary president of the Rhineland-Palatinate Chamber of Architects, Günther Franz , saw the reasons for the decline in the use of insufficiently researched materials and in errors in planning and maintenance. He stated that “the architecture of that time found it difficult to age with dignity.” On November 26, 2011, the Mainzer Aufbaugesellschaft presented a feasibility study for the renovation of the building. The renovation costs were estimated at around € 47.6 million. The architecture theorist Werner Durth commented that building the new town hall on “cheap land” would not be cheaper than renovating the existing building. In 2013, Durth also complained in the context of a public information bulletin that the town hall had "not deserved such neglect - and also the neglect in the consciousness of the citizens." to make it so future-proof "that, if successful, future generations of Mainz citizens can [be] proud to own such a landmark."

Seldom used access to the street Am Rathaus
Locked stairs to the Adenauerufer

In autumn 2012, the city announced that it wanted to renovate the town hall, which was now in great need of renovation, for around € 50 million. There was resistance to this in the population. At the time, the need for renovation was also discussed nationwide. In November 2012, the local politicians Tobias Huch (FDP) and Felix Leidecker (CDU) submitted a resident application to Mayor Michael Ebling of Mainz , in which 2,222 Mainz citizens demanded a referendum on the future of the town hall. After the political will to renovate the town hall while capping the costs to € 50 million, the Mainz city council commissioned a Europe-wide tendering process as the basis for further measures in 2016. The planning variants presented by the commissioned general planning office in autumn 2017 clearly exceeded the planned budget, but do not see a more cost-effective and acceptable alternative in a new building. Refurbishing the building is recommended as the only practicable solution. Since the end of 2017, the building has been largely cordoned off with construction fences due to falling roof components. The inner courtyard and the stairs towards the Adenauerufer are also closed. Facade panels are missing in some places and the roofs are partially leaky. In the city council meeting on February 7, 2018, the city council decided to renovate the city hall.

The town hall has been extensively renovated since November 2019. Interim quarters for the council chamber were set up in the stone hall of the Landesmuseum Mainz , while the city administration moved into the former Westdeutsche Immobilien Servicing and the Malakoff Passage in the Große Bleiche town hall . The city bought this building from the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) for around 32 million euros .

use

Chair model 3207 with leather and armrests, model 3108 with leather type "Möwe", model 3107 made of wood, model 3107 with leather
Contemporary wine tasting cellar in the town hall
Council hall with visitors' gallery
Lecture hall below the council hall

The building not only serves as the town hall for the city of Mainz, but also houses the local administration for the old town district . Cultural exhibitions are held regularly in the foyer; Occasionally the foyer or the council hall are also used for music performances, readings or other events. Below the council chamber there is an auditorium that is used for various lectures by the Administration and Business Academy (VWA Mainz), among others .

The conference rooms in the town hall bear the names of the twin cities of Mainz. The seating in it also comes from Arne Jacobsen and, like the town hall, is a listed building . The total of 460 chairs belong to Series 7 , which Jacobsen designed in the 1950s. Model 3107 is without armrests and model 3207 is with armrests. Both types are covered with red-brown leather. At the end of October 2006, 270 Jacobsen seats from the town hall were auctioned at a Stuttgart auction house. The proceeds of almost 85,000 euros were earmarked for the renovation of the remaining 190 listed buildings.

In 2015–2016, the council hall of the town hall was an alternative venue for the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament , as the state parliament building is being renovated and the temporary facility in the Mainz state museum had not yet been set up.

See also

literature

  • Bruno Funk, Wilhelm Jung : The Mainz town hall . Ed .: City of Mainz. Mainz publishing house and printing company Will & Rothe KG, Mainz 1974.

Web links

Commons : Mainz Town Hall  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Mainz town hall ; P. 58.
  2. ^ The Mainz town hall ; P. 59
  3. ^ The Mainz town hall ; Pp. 58 and 65-66.
  4. ^ The Mainz town hall ; P. 66.
  5. ↑ Application no. 5/1967 of FDP and application no. 13/1967 of the SPD
  6. ^ The Mainz town hall ; P. 72.
  7. ^ The Mainz town hall ; P. 76.
  8. ^ The Mainz town hall ; P. 76.
  9. ^ The Mainz town hall ; P. 76.
  10. ^ The Mainz town hall; P. 77
  11. ↑ Development plan: Town Hall on the Rhine (A 155) in the version dated March 20, 1969
  12. ^ The Mainz town hall ; P. 79.
  13. ^ The Mainz town hall ; P. 115.
  14. ^ The Mainz town hall ; P. 120.
  15. ^ The Mainz town hall ; P. 80. (Exactly: 44,848,719, - DM)
  16. ^ The Mainz town hall ; P. 153.
  17. ↑ Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz: Page no longer available , search in web archives: The architect is not to blame for everything. August 10, 2009 (only for subscribers)@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.allgemeine-zeitung.de
  18. ↑ Mainzer Aufbaugesellschaft mbH: Feasibility study for the renovation of the town hall of the state capital Mainz
  19. ↑ Minutes of the 1st Citizens' Information Center "Zukunft Mainz Rathaus" from January 25, 2013 (PDF; 96 kB) p. 4.
  20. ^ Werner Durth: Mainz City Hall. Lecture on January 25, 2013 (PDF; 54 kB)
  21. ↑ Monika Nellessen: Mayor Ebling presents a proposal for a general renovation of the town hall in mid-November. ( Memento from November 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) on Allgemeine-zeitung.de ( Rhein Main Publishing Group ) from October 31, 2012.
  22. ↑ Dankwart Guratzsch: 50 million to save an ugly town hall. on welt.de ( Die Welt ) from December 10, 2012.
  23. ↑ Jens Grützner: Mayor Ebling accepts 2,470 signatures on the future of the town hall. ( Memento from December 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) on Allgemeine-zeitung.de (Rhein Main Publishing Group) from December 14, 2012.
  24. ^ Citizen-friendly nonsense - Süddeutsche Zeitung, accessed on December 6, 2017
  25. ↑ Reference template: 0297/2018 for the city council meeting
  26. ↑ Ailing Mainz town hall is being renovated. Süddeutsche Zeitung , February 7, 2018, accessed on August 26, 2020 .
  27. ↑ Town hall move to the alternative quarter will begin at the end of 2019

Coordinates: 50 ° 0 ′ 3 ″  N , 8 ° 16 ′ 38 ″  E