The Messeturm, or Trade Fair Tower, is a 63-storey, skyscraper in the
Westend-Süd district of
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian dialects, Hessian: , "Franks, Frank ford (crossing), ford on the Main (river), Main"), is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as o ...
, Germany. It is
the second tallest building in Frankfurt,
the second tallest building in Germany and the
third tallest building in the European Union. It was
the tallest building in Europe from its completion in 1991 until 1997 when it was surpassed by 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 bui ...
, which is also located in Frankfurt.
The Messeturm is located near the
Frankfurt Trade Fair grounds.
Helmut Jahn
Helmut Jahn (January 4, 1940 – May 8, 2021) was a German-American architect, known for projects such as the Sony Center on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, Germany; the Messeturm in Frankfurt, Germany; the Thompson Center in Chicago; One Lib ...
designed the Messeturm in a
postmodern architectural style. It is regarded as one of the design classics among European skyscrapers. Despite its name, the Messeturm is not used for trade fair exhibitions but as an office building. It is one of the few buildings in Germany with their own
postal code
A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal a ...
(60308), the others being
Opernturm, another Frankfurt skyscraper, and the summit station on
Zugspitze
The Zugspitze (), at above sea level, is the highest peak of the Wetterstein Mountains as well as the highest mountain in Germany. It lies south of the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and the Austria–Germany border runs over its western su ...
.
Design
The Messeturm is similar in design to towers by other architects including the
Bank of America Plaza in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...
, Georgia and
Key Tower (1991) in
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U ...
, Ohio. Frankfurters often call it ''Bleistift'' ("pencil") due to its shape. The construction of the building's foundation set a world record for the longest continuous concrete pour. Ninety trucks poured concrete for 78 hours into the deep foundation. Its ground floor area is just , and features a pyramid at the top.
The tower uses numerous geometric shapes in its design such as the square footprint which is the main shape used throughout the tower. It then rises to a cylindrical shape which finally completes in a pyramid.
There are 900 parking places in a public parking garage and a direct connection to the subway.
In popular culture
*
SimCity series
** MesseTurm appears under the name ''Hogan Wallace and White Insurance'' as a
vanilla
Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the Mexican species, flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia'').
Pollination is required to make the p ...
stage 8 Euro-Contemporary building set in ''
SimCity 4'' (Deluxe or with Rush Hour).
** There is a building that has a similar appearance to the Messeturm in ''
SimCity 3000''.
Gallery
File:Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage 2, Frankfurt.jpg, The inner city ring with Messeturm in the background
File:Sunset-maintower-2011-ffm-072-b.jpg, Messeturm at sunset
File:Frankfurt am Main Messeturm bei Nacht.jpg, Messeturm at night
File:Messeturm from street level.jpg, Messeturm from street level
File:Messeturm-Frankfurt.jpg, Messeturm from street level
See also
*
List of tallest buildings in Frankfurt
The tallest structure in Frankfurt is the Europaturm, 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 F ...
*
List of tallest buildings in Germany
This is a list of the tallest buildings in Germany that stand at least tall. Only habitable buildings are ranked, which excludes radio masts and towers, observation towers, steeples, chimneys and other tall architectural structures. For those, s ...
*
List of tallest buildings in the European Union
This list ranks the tallest buildings in the European Union that stand at least tall, based on standard height measurement. This means that spires and other architectural details are included in the official height, but not Radio masts and towe ...
*
List of tallest buildings in Europe
This list of tallest buildings in Europe ranks skyscrapers in Europe by height exceeding 190 meters. For decades, only a few major cities, such as Frankfurt, Paris, London and Moscow contained skyscrapers. In recent years, however, construction ...
References
External links
MesseTurm at SKYLINE ATLASMesseTurm at PhorioMesseTurm Paper Model
{{Authority control
Modernist architecture in Germany
Office buildings completed in 1991
Skyscrapers in Frankfurt
1991 establishments in Germany
Helmut Jahn buildings
Skyscraper office buildings in Germany
Art Deco skyscrapers