Seat of the European Central Bank

The European Central Bank (ECB) is seated at the East end of Frankfurt. The premises include the former Wholesale Market Hall (Großmarkthalle), a new 185/165 m twin-skyscraper and a new low-rise building to connect the two. Located east of the city centre it houses the new headquarters for the European Central Bank (ECB). It was completed in 2014 and was officially opened on 18 March 2015.The ECB is required by the Treaties of the European Union to have its seat within the city limits of Frankfurt, the largest financial centre in the Eurozone. The ECB previously resided in the Eurotower and, due to lack of office space there, in three other high-rise buildings (Eurotheum, Japan Center, and Neue Mainzer Straße 32–36) in the city centre of Frankfurt.ArchitectureThe newly built main office building consists of two towers that are joined by an atrium with four interchange platforms. The North tower has 45 storeys and a roof height of 185m, whereas the South tower has 43 storeys and a roof height of 165m. With the antenna, the North tower reaches a height of 201m. The new ECB premises furthermore comprises the Grossmarkthalle, a former wholesale market hall built from 1926–1928 and fully renovated for its new purpose.HistoryDevelopmentIn 1999, an international architectural competition was launched by the bank to design a new building. It was won by a Vienna-based architectural office called Coop Himmelb(l)au. The building was to be 185 meters tall (201 meters with antenna), accompanied by other secondary buildings on a landscaped site on the site of the former wholesale market (Großmarkthalle) in the eastern part of Frankfurt. The main construction work was planned to commence in October 2008, with completion scheduled for before the end of 2011.