Philipp Holzmann AG was a German construction company based in Frankfurt am Main.

History

Early years

The company was founded in 1849 by Johann Philipp Holzmann (1805-1870) at Sprendlingen in present-day Dreieich near Frankfurt am Main as Philipp Holzmann & Cie. Initially, the former sawmill company was concentrating on the supply of ties for railway construction, but then began to expand into building construction and civil engineering. In 1856, the headquarters moved to Frankfurt where in the late 19th century the company experienced rapid growth. The first large building contract to be finished was the opera house completed in 1880,Groß, p. 50 followed by the central station in Frankfurt am Main completed in 1888 and the

Amsterdam Centraal railway station Amsterdam Centraal Station ( nl, italic=no, Station Amsterdam Centraal ; abbreviation: Asd) is the largest railway station in Amsterdam, North Holland, the Netherlands. A major international railway hub, it is used by 192,000 passengers a day, m ...

in 1889. Holzmann also built the original

Reichstag building The Reichstag (, ; officially: – ; en, Parliament) is a historic government building in Berlin which houses the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany's parliament. It was constructed to house the Imperial Diet (german: Reichstag) of the ...

completed in 1894, the Hamburg city hall completed in 1897 and several railway projects in East Africa and Asia, especially the Bagdadbahn built from 1903 which incorporates the

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finished in 1908, as well as the Varda Viaduct at Taurus Mountains in southern Turkey completed in 1916. Furthermore, the company participated in the construction of the Elbe Tunnel of 1911 and the Hindenburgdamm completed in 1927, and also the modernist

Riederwald Riederwald is a quarter of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is part of the ''Ortsbezirk A ''Stadtbezirk'' (also called ''Ortsbezirk'' in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate) is an administrative division in Germany, which is part of a larger city. It ...

housing estate in Frankfurt. In 1917, Philipp Holzmann & Cie merged with the Internationale Baugesellschaft and became the publicly traded ''Philipp Holzmann

Aktiengesellschaft (; abbreviated AG, ) is a German word for a corporation limited by Share (finance), share ownership (i.e. one which is owned by its shareholders) whose shares may be traded on a stock market. The term is used in Germany, Austria, Switzerland (wh ...

''. In 1938, the company had 20,800 employees and contributed to several major building projects like the new Reich Chancellery in Berlin, the Nazi party rally grounds in Nürnberg, the Prora complex as well as the '' Westwall'' and numerous sections of the '' Reichsautobahn''. In World War II, Holzmann constructed large parts of the

Atlantic Wall The Atlantic Wall (german: link=no, Atlantikwall) was an extensive system of coastal defences and fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia as a defence against an anticip ...

by order of the Organisation Todt.

Post-war years

In the post-war period, the company soon recovered with the rebuilding of Frankfurt, the airport and several public infrastructure projects. Post-war projects included the General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge in Venezuela completed in 1962, the AfE-Turm in Frankfurt completed in 1972, the Westend Gate in Frankfurt completed in 1976, the Eurotower in Frankfurt completed in 1977 and the

Silberturm Silberturm (Silver Tower), formerly known as Dresdner-Bank-Hochhaus and Jürgen-Ponto-Hochhaus, is a 32-storey, Futurist architecture, futurist skyscraper in the Bahnhofsviertel (Frankfurt am Main), Bahnhofsviertel district of Frankfurt, Germany ...

in Frankfurt completed in 1978. These projects enabled Holzmann to expand into the United States and in 1979 it acquired J.A. Jones Construction, a major US contractor. More recent major projects involving Holzmann included the Frankfurter Büro Center in Frankfurt completed in 1980, the

Eurotheum The Eurotheum is a 31-storey, skyscraper in the city center of Frankfurt, Germany. The building was constructed in 1999 to coincide with the adjacent Main Tower, and is one of a few such in Frankfurt that offers office and residential space. Eac ...

in Frankfurt completed in 1999, the Main Tower in Frankfurt completed in 2000, the Trianon in Frankfurt completed in 2003 and the Western Scheldt Tunnel in the Netherlands also completed in 2003.Western Scheldt Tunnel at Structurae database
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Decline

At its peak in 1994, the company had 43,000 employees and was with a revenue of 13.1 billion DM the largest German construction company. Despite public efforts for a recapitalization, the company filed for insolvency in 1999 and was finally liquidated in 2002.

References

Sources

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External links

Former official Philipp Holzmann website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Holzmann, Philipp Defunct construction and civil engineering companies Construction and civil engineering companies of Germany Defunct companies of Germany Companies based in Frankfurt Design companies established in 1849 German companies established in 1849 Companies involved in the Holocaust Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1849 Construction and civil engineering companies disestablished in 2002 German companies disestablished in 2002