Deutschherrnbrücke, Frankfurt am Main, Germany (Unsplash)

Seat of the European Central Bank and Frankfurt Skyline at dawn 20150422 1

The tallest structure in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

is the

Europaturm The Europaturm ("Tower of Europe") is a high telecommunications tower in Frankfurt, Germany. History Designed by architect Erwin Heinle, the tower's construction began in 1974. At its completion five years later, it became the tallest free-st ...

, which rises however, the observation tower is not generally considered a high-rise building as it does not have successive floors that can be occupied. The tallest habitable building in Frankfurt is the

Commerzbank Tower Commerzbank Tower is a 56-story, skyscraper owned by Samsung of Korea since September 2016 in the banking district of Frankfurt, Germany. An antenna spire with a signal light on top gives the tower a total height of . It is the tallest build ...

, which rises and has 56

floor A floor is the bottom surface of a room or vehicle. Floors vary from simple dirt in a cave to many layered surfaces made with modern technology. Floors may be stone, wood, bamboo, metal or any other material that can support the expected load ...

s. As of September 2022, it is the 21st-tallest building in Europe and the second tallest building in the European Union. The second-tallest building in the city is the

Messeturm The Messeturm, or Trade Fair Tower, is a 63-storey, skyscraper in the Westend-Süd district of Frankfurt, Germany. It is the second tallest building in Frankfurt, the second tallest building in Germany and the third tallest building in the E ...

, which rises tall and has 55 floors. The 13 tallest buildings in Germany are located in Frankfurt. Frankfurt is one of the few European cities with a large cluster of high rise building in its downtown area; in many other European cities, skyscraper construction was not well received in the past due to the historical value of existing buildings. For this reason, Frankfurt is sometimes referred to as "

Mainhattan Mainhattan is a term referring to Frankfurt's skyline, especially that of its central business district, the Bankenviertel. The word is a portmanteau of Main, the river on which Frankfurt lies, and Manhattan, a reference to the inner city area's ...

" (a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsMain Main may refer to: Geography * Main River (disambiguation) **Most commonly the Main (river) in Germany * Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province *"Spanish Main", the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territories in the 16th and 17th centuries ...

river and

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

), and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

am Main. Most of Frankfurt's downtown area was destroyed by Allied air bombardment during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and only a small number of the city's landmarks were rebuilt. This left ample room for and little opposition against the construction of modern high-rises in the city. Frankfurt went through a first high-rise building boom in the 1970s; during this time, the city saw the construction of nine buildings over . From 1984 until 1993, Frankfurt went through another building boom, during which time the city's second-tallest building, Messeturm, and the third-tallest building, Westendstraße 1, were completed. The city now has 18 buildings which rise at least in height, more than any other city in Germany. Frankfurt entered another building boom in 1997, and saw the completion of 11 buildings over , e.g. the city's tallest building, Commerzbank Tower, as well as

Main Tower Main Tower is a 56-storey, skyscraper in the Innenstadt district of Frankfurt, Germany. It is named after the nearby Main river. The building is when its antenna spire is included. The tower has five underground floors and two public viewing ...

Opernturm OpernTurm (Opera Tower) is a 43- storey skyscraper in the Westend-Süd district of Frankfurt, Germany. The property is situated opposite Alte Oper on the corner of Bockenheimer Landstraße and Bockenheimer Anlage. The building was designed by ...

and

Tower 185 Tower 185 is a 55-storey, skyscraper in the Gallus district of Frankfurt, Germany. It is the 4th tallest building in Frankfurt and the 4th tallest in Germany, tied with Main Tower. The anchor tenant of the tower is the German branch office of ...

. There are several proposed and approved plans for new skyscrapers, including Millennium Tower, , Four I, , Four II , ONE, and Bahn Tower, . As of October 2011, there are 72 high-rise buildings under construction, approved for construction and proposed for construction in Frankfurt. Frankfurt Am Main-Mainkai und Untermainkai mit Dom und Sykline-Ansicht von der Alten Bruecke-20100417

Frankfurt Am Main-Mainkai und Untermainkai mit Dom und Sykline-Ansicht von der Alten Bruecke-20100417

Tallest completed buildings

This lists ranks the tallest buildings in Frankfurt that stand at least tall. Only habitable building are ranked which excludes

radio masts and towers Radio masts and towers are typically tall structures designed to support antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. There are two main types: guyed and self-supporting structures. They are among the tallest human-made ...

observation tower An observation tower is a structure used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision to conduct long distance observations. Observation towers are usually at least tall and are made from stone, iron, an ...

steeples In architecture, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religi ...

chimney A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typic ...

s and other tall architectural structures. These buildings are included for comparison.

Tallest under construction, announced and proposed

Under construction

Announced

Proposed (selected projects)

Timeline of tallest buildings

This lists buildings that once held the title of tallest building in Frankfurt.

Notes

:A. Topped out but not completed.

References

;General * ;Specific {{reflist, 2

External links

SKYLINE ATLAS - An online book about the skyscrapers in Frankfurt with more than 250 pages
- incl. all high-rise buildings under construction and planned
Frankfurt Skyscraper MapDiagram of Frankfurt skyscrapers
on SkyscraperPage.com !