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Neckermann Headquarter
Hanauer Landstrasse 360-400, Frankfurt
1958 - 1961
Today the Neckermann headquarters, designed by Egon Eiermann, is considered to be one of the outstanding pioneer buildings of the modern industrial age and is now under a preservation order.
The headquarters of the mail-order company is located in the east of Frankfurt, surrounded by factory constructions of the late 19th and 20th centuries.
In this heterogeneous environment, the modernity of this simple, geometric and functional building catches the eye. One of the decisive factos for the
design of the building was the extremely short construction period - the structural constraction had to be built within only 180 days. The six-story building with
reinforced concrete supports is based on a grid of 6 x 6 meters. In east-west direction, the impressive building extends over a length of 257 meters
along the Hanauer Landstrasse. The building is divided into 21 independent construction stages by several expansion joints. This allowed different construction companies
to be entrusted with the mission, which was necessary because of the short construction time. Four supply cores are arranged in front of the building.
In these towers are housed the stairs and elevators as well as adjoining rooms. The outside front is dominated by emergency balconies and cascading stairways.
This organization made it possible to indemnify the interiors of disturbing traffic. The main entrance is located in a free and central standing tower in front of the building.
The main entrance is accented by a striking curved red roof which is suspended by steel ropes. The mentioned entrance tower is connected to the main building by glass bridges.
The functions of the building are immediately readable and make the complex of the mail-order company at a glance clear despite its enormous dimensions.
In the basement, which occupies only a part of the covered area, changing rooms for the staff are housed. On the ground floor and in the first three upper floors is located
the shipping division. In the top two floors, the offices, the archives, the rooms of the executive committee and the canteen with kitchen were arranged between two accesible patios.
Various outbuildings such as boiler house, gatehouse, garages, gas stations, and a department store complete the facility. The main building, which covers a total of 400,000 m3
of enclosed space, allowed it to the company Neckermann to centralize their premises which were previously scattered in various parts of the city.
In 2012, the Neckermann mail order company went into bankruptcy, and the future of the building is uncertain.