Eight decades after its wartime destruction, the "Lange Franz", the town hall tower of Frankfurt's Römer, is to be restored to its historical appearance. On Friday, 25 April, the Frankfurt City Council voted in favour of rebuilding the striking spire. As a next step, the city council must now decide on the submitted construction and financing proposal.
The planned reconstruction is made possible in particular by the remarkable civic commitment: the Neue Brückenbauverein Frankfurt has collected donations totalling almost 1.5 million euros - far more than the original target of one million euros. Work on the tower could begin as early as this year, it said.
"The Lange Franz is a landmark of our city that is to be restored after the destruction of the Second World War," explained Lord Mayor Mike Josef (SPD). He praised the initiative of the bridge construction association and the support of numerous citizens: "Thanks to their tireless efforts, this goal is within reach."
The appeal for donations "Give Tall Franz his hat back" has met with a great response in recent years. Citizens were able to take on symbolic sponsorships for individual components such as roof tiles or windows. Larger individual donations also made a particular contribution to achieving the goal: The Heinmüller Foundation, for example, financed the reconstruction of the spire with a donation of 100,000 euros. A doubling campaign by the banker Konrad von Bethmann and a further donation from Dr Elmar and Ellis Reiss gave the project additional momentum. In total, over 1,200 individual donations were collected.
The chairman of the Brückenbauverein, architect Christoph Mäckler, emphasised the symbolic significance of the construction project: "The town hall tower is the symbol of our municipal city administration, a symbol of local democracy." In other German cities, town hall towers destroyed in the war have long since been rebuilt - only Frankfurt is still making do with a makeshift roof. The name "Langer Franz" goes back to the former Lord Mayor Franz Adickes (1891-1912), who, as a tall incumbent, moved into his office in the tower.
