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Eurotower (Frankfurt)
Encyclopedia
Bankenviertel (Frankfurt am Main)
The Bankenviertel is an area in the city centre of Frankfurt, Germany.It is not an official city district but it is a commonly used designation to describe the not exactly defined area where most of Germanys major banks have their headquarters and where many foreign banks have their representation...
(financial district) of Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
The tower is 148 m (485.6 ft) tall, with 40 floors and 78.000 m² of office space. It is the seat of the European Central Bank
European Central Bank
The European Central Bank is the institution of the European Union that administers the monetary policy of the 17 EU Eurozone member states. It is thus one of the world's most important central banks. The bank was established by the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1998, and is headquartered in Frankfurt,...
(ECB) and currently the 11th tallest building in Frankfurt as well as the 14th tallest building in Germany.
The tower was designed by architect Richard Heil and was built between 1971 and 1977. The first main tenant was the Bank für Gemeinwirtschaft. The building was later used by the European Monetary Institute
European Monetary Institute
The European Monetary Institute was the forerunner of the European Central Bank , operating between 1994 and 1997.-History:The EMI was created 1 January 1994 to oversee the second stage in the creation of monetary union. The EMI itself took over from the earlier European Monetary Cooperation Fund...
which was the forerunner of the 1998 established European Central Bank.
The building is located at Willy-Brandt-Platz in the city center vis-à-vis to the Opern- und Schauspielhaus Frankfurt. There is an Euro Information Center of the ECB on the first floor open to the public and a club/restaurant called Living XXL in the basement. There is an underground U-Bahn station
Frankfurt U-Bahn
The Frankfurt U-Bahn, together with the Frankfurt S-Bahn and the Frankfurt Straßenbahn, is the backbone of the public transport system of Frankfurt, Germany. Its name derives from the German term for underground, Untergrundbahn. The U-Bahn opened in 1968 and now consists of 87 stations on nine...
and an aboveground tram station (Willy-Brandt-Platz) right next to the Eurotower.
The personnel of the ECB are also distributed to two other skyscrapers in the financial district, the old Commerzbank Tower
Commerzbank Tower
Commerzbank Tower, located in the city centre of Frankfurt, Germany, is the tallest completed skyscraper in the European Union. After it was completed in 1997 it ranked as the tallest skyscraper in Europe until 2005 when it was surpassed by the Triumph-Palace in Moscow...
and the Eurotheum
Eurotheum
The Eurotheum is a skyscraper in the city center of Frankfurt. It was built to coincide with the neighbouring Maintower and was completed in 1999....
, because of limited space in the Eurotower. The ECB plans to build a new headquarters in the eastern part of Frankfurt to bring together all personnel in one place. Construction of the new tower started in 2008 with a completion date for 2014.