Henninger Turm or Henninger Tower in Frankfurt’s Sachsenhausen district was one of this area’s famous landmark, and part of the great skyline of this emerging financial district. It was designed by architect Karl Lieser, and built between 1959 and 1961 to serve as a grain storage silo for the Henninger brewery. It rose to a height of 119 meters, equivalent to a 33-story building, and had a storage capacity of 16,000 tons of barley, making it the tallest storage silo in the world. In fact, it was taller than any other building in the city until 1974. It’s also very likely that Henninger Turm was the only storage silo in the world with a revolving restaurant at the top.
Photo credit: penjelly/Flickr
When Henninger brewery wanted to build a storage silo in the late 1950s near its brewery, they faced a problem — they had too little land. So they decided to build a tall silo instead. The actual silo is 87.5 meters tall with a 31.5-meters high cylindrical tower that looks like a beer keg. The cylindrical tower had an observation deck and at one point housed a revolving restaurant. A second restaurant occupied the very top of the silo, just below the cylindrical extension. The rows of windows visible at the top of the rectangular tower are those of the restaurant.
Originally this restaurant was designed as a kind of open roof garden. In the middle were flower beds, a dance floor and water games. Around 1970 it was rebuilt with a proper roof and large skylights. The revolving restaurant was added also around the same time. The restaurants operated until 2002, when lack of a second fire escape prompted authorities to close the tower to the public.
In 2013, Henninger Turm was demolished and a new tower is being erected in its place. The design of the new Henninger Turm will be inspired by the original tower. It will be 140 meters tall and will contain residential apartments, as well as a revolving restaurant at the top.
Photo credit: rupp.de/Wikimedia
Photo credit: penjelly/Flickr
Photo credit: Mathias Gawlista/Flickr
A computer generated image depicting how the new Henninger Turm will look like.
Sources: Wikipedia / www.dein-rhein-main.de
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