Bahnhofsviertel (Frankfurt am Main)

Infobox Frankfurt Stadtteil
name = Bahnhofsviertel

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image_district = Mk Frankfurt Karte Bahnhofsviertel.pngarea = 0.525
population = 2,505
density = 4,771
postal_code = 60329
areacode = 069
ortsbezirknumber=1
ortsbezirk=Innenstadt I
stadtbezirk=
* 090 - Bahnhofsviertel
website=http://www.frankfurt.de/sis/sis/detail.php?id=1628The Bahnhofsviertel is a district or "Stadtteil" of Frankfurt am Main. It was developed between 1891 and 1915 on the land of the established Westbahnhof.

Geography

The Bahnhofsviertel is scarcely half a square kilometre larger than the Altstadt, making it the second smallest borough of the city. The longest border line is just short of a kilometre long. Almost trapeze shaped, this borough lies between the Alleenring to the west, Mainzer Landstraße in the north and the Anlagenring to the east. The River Main forms a natural border in the south. Adjacent boroughs to the west are Gutleutviertel and Gallus around Frankfurt Central Station, Westend-Süd in the north and Innenstadt in the east. To the south, on the opposite side of the Main, lies Sachsenhausen-Nord.

History

The area between the Frankfurt city wall and field of the gallows had hardly been constructed by the early nineteenth century. Only farming estates were to be found in this area. Near to the city gallows and as an unprotected site outside the city walls, it was left alone for a long time. As industrialisation came in, the city walls and its gallows were torn down to be replaced initially by villas with large gardens. The technical advances were especially noticeable here. When in 1839 the Taunusbahn was taken into the still nassauisch town of Höchst am Main, the first station was constructed on the Anlagenring. The track of the Taunusbahnhof ran through the middle of the district of today's station quarter. Later the stations of the Main-Neckar and Main-Weser-Bahn were added to that. The western stations were in enterprise together until 1888, after which time they were replaced by the new central station of Frankfurt which was situated another 500m further west. Thus the railway tracks also became redundant, and the year 1889 was able to begin with a dividing up of the area. As there was still no significant residential zone existing in 1891, the area became the central site of the international electrotechnical exhibition led by Oskar von Miller. In the meantime, the large civil land development in the style of the Wilhelminian period was placed under monument protection. In the Second World War the quarter was not so strongly bombed as the inner city, but nevertheless many buildings were destroyed, particularly in the north. In the time of the occupation by the American armed forces the district developed an active nightlife.

Infrastructure

The Bahnhofsviertel is well connected to the public transport system because of its central location. The Hauptbahnhof, which borders the borough, offers connection to regional and long distance trains. Two tram lines (11 and 12) cross the Bahnhofsviertel on Münchner Straße. The U-Bahn station "Willy-Brandt-Platz" and the S-Bahn station "Taunusanlage" are also easily reachable. The well-known meaning of Kaiserstraße has been lost among the street traffic, travel from the Alleenring to the Hauptbahnhof is no longer possible through the Kaisersack. Instead the main traffic vein today is Gutleutstraße, which flows into the theatre tunnel and offers a connection to the old part of town. The roads arrange in a chessboard-like fashion and make orientation easy. The wide east-west streets are constructed like boulevards and communicate the charm of a big city. Numerous nineteenth century buildings have survived through World War II and became chaste residential houses in the 1950s and 1960s, whilst several supplemented skyscrapers. Best known are the Silvertower and the Gallileo at Jürgen-Ponto-Platz (named after the murdered president of Dresdner Bank), the Skyper and the Gewerkschaftshaus in Wilhelm-Leuschner-Straße. The latter was built in 1931, (the architect was Max Taut), and was then the biggest skyscraper in the city. The best known of many hotels in the Bahnhofsviertel, the InterContinental, is also in Wilhelm-Leuschner-Straße.

There are no large parks but in the south of the district lies the Main Riverbank, one of the most popular green areas in Frankfurt. In 1860 a silted branch of the Main, the Kleine Main, was filled up and the offshore island Mainlust was connected to the main bank. On this land Sebastian Rinz, the city gardener, laid out a green area with Mediterranean vegetation which was soon named Nizza in common speech. The Frankfurt families Guaita and Loeen had already possessed large landscaped gardens in the climatically favoured area of the river west of the old city walls since the seventeenth century.

Life

Against commonly held opinion, the red-light district now occupies only a small part of the Bahnhofsviertel which is concentrated mainly along Taunusstraße and in parts of its side roads.

External links

*commonscat|Frankfurt-Bahnhofsviertel|Bahnhofsviertel (Frankfurt am Main)