Master tower

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Master tower
Image of the object
Basic data
Place: Kapellenberg , Hofheim am Taunus
Country: Hesse
Country: Germany
Altitude : 292  m
Coordinates: 50 ° 5 ′ 53.9 ″  N , 8 ° 26 ′ 12.3 ″  E
Use: Observation tower
Tower data
Construction time : 1929
Construction costs : 14,000 M
Client : Taunusklub beautification club
Building material : steel
Total height : 30.8  m
Viewing platform: 27.5  m
Further data
Inauguration: June 1930
Number of steps: 173 steps
Position map
Master Tower (Hessen)
Master tower
Master tower
Localization of Hessen in Germany

The master tower is a 30.8 meter (with antenna approx. 37 meter) high observation tower in Hofheim am Taunus . It is located 292  m above sea level. NHN on the wooded Kapellenberg northwest of the city. Today it only towers above the surrounding trees by a few meters. But it offers a complete all-round view, to the south over the Rhine-Main area , on a clear day to the Odenwald , to the north of the mountain ranges of the Taunus including the Great Feldberg .

Tower from 1895

As early as 1895, the Hofheimer Taunusklub-beautification association built a wooden observation tower on the Kapellenberg. A stone tower was actually planned. For cost reasons, a wooden tower was implemented by master carpenter Fleischmann from Seidenbuch . The 24 meter high tower cost 4,000 gold marks . The opening was on October 13, 1895. A refuge was built next to the tower, which was open on Sundays and public holidays. At the beginning of the First World War , the tower was used to keep an air watch. Due to the war, the necessary maintenance measures were waived and the tower fell into disrepair. In 1919 it was also badly damaged by a lightning strike and was finally demolished on July 31, 1920.

New building in 1929

On the initiative of the then Taunusklub-beautification association , a new tower made of steel framework was built in 1929 to replace it. This was built by the locksmith's shop Josef Herzog and Sons from Hofheim within 13 weeks, consists of 21 tons of steel and 6,000 rivets and cost 14,000 marks.

The tower is named after Dr. Wilhelm von Meister , who became the first district administrator of the district of Höchst (forerunner of the Main-Taunus district ) in 1893 , later of the Obertaunus district , then regional president in the Wiesbaden district (until 1919), then member of the supervisory board of the Hoechst paintworks ( co-founded by his father ) , 1926 bis 1935 by IG Farben AG. The rebuilt, now steel tower was officially inaugurated in June 1930 with a "Wäldchestag". During the Second World War , French bombers flew an air raid on the tower in 1940 without causing any damage.

The master tower consists of a steel framework with a square floor plan. In the center of the steel frame there is a right-hand spiral staircase that leads over 173 steps and four intermediate landings to the covered viewing platform at a height of 27.5 m. The filigree-looking construction rests on a square concrete foundation measuring around eight by eight meters. At the foot of the tower there is a restaurant with a beer garden.

gallery

  • Signs on the tower

  • Stair access

  • Spiral staircase

  • Platform and antenna

  • View from the platform to the southeast

  • View from the Meisterturm to Hofheim

literature

  • Günter Rühl: The master tower on the Hofheimer Kapellenberg . In: Otto Winterwerber (Red.): Architectural monuments in the outdoor area (Förderkreis Denkmalpflege Main-Taunus-Kreis; Vol. 16). Hofheim / Taunus 1987, ISSN  0176-7097 , page 65.
  • Rolf Kubon, Günter Rühl: The Kapellenberg near Hofheim am Taunus (contributions to the history of Hofheim). History and Antiquity Association Hofheim eV, Hofheim / Taunus 1977.

Web links

Commons : Meisterturm  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Information on heights according to privately carried out measurements (Note: The height information on the information board in the restaurant probably refers to the upper edge of the foundations or the beginning of the metal staircase. Information in other sources differs greatly from the measurements)
  2. ↑ Map services of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation ( information )
  3. ↑ Master Tower (sights in Hofheim)
  4. ^ Photo of the information board on the history of the master tower in the restaurant
  5. ↑ Meisterturm in Hofheim (accessed in the Höchst District Gazette on April 29, 2014)