>> Frankfurt Skyline Countdown # 7 <<
The Trianon got its name because of its triangular shape and because of the upside-down pyramid (or “polygonal diamond”) which is (or seems to be) suspended from the three corners at the top. It is 186 meters tall, which makes it Frankfurt’s seventh tallest building. It has 45 floors and was completed in 1993, refurbished 2014/2017.
It replaced an earlier high-rise building, the twelve-story BfG Bank, which was built on this site in 1964 and demolished twenty-four years later in 1988.
Trianon, 2004
The Trianon is the headquarters of the Deka-Bank, the main securities and investment bank of the German savings banks, which is why the red letters “deka” are visible at the top of one side of the building, and a red savings bank symbol on another side.
The Deka-Bank used to own the building, and they are still the main tenants, but they sold the building to Morgan Stanley in 2007. Since then the building has changed hands several times and seems to have become something of a speculative object. The American investor North Star Realty, in particular, made a huge profit by buying it in 2015 and selling it three years later at a much higher price.
Top of the Trianon
Besides the Deka-Bank, the Trianon has a number of other tenants, including the German Federal Bank and a company called Franklin Templeton Investments.
The current plan is for the Deka-Bank to leave the Trianon in 2024 and move into a new high-rise building tentatively called Four-T1, the first of four towers that are under construction next door to the Omniturm.
Trianon from the Frankfurt Opera, 2004
At the foot of the Trianon there is a NextBike station (number 4235) for spontaneous short-term bicycle rentals. The ground floor of the Trianon is apparently open to the public (not that I’ve ever been inside) and includes a restaurant called “The Lobby” which offers mainly pizzas and pasta at quite reasonable prices.
Schiller grimly ignoring the Trianon
The playwright, poet and historian Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) is obviously unimpressed by the Trianon, and does not deign to even glance in its direction.
Address: Mainzer Landstraße 16-24, Frankfurt am Main
My photos in this post are from 2004 and 2006. I revised the text in 2020.
I’m on Schiller’s side . . . don’t much care for that architectural style. I guess they save ground space, but high-rise buildings tend to be ugly. At least Schiller was placed so he didn’t have to look at it. 😉
I rather like these buildings, perhaps because of my Chicago upbringing.
Where Schiller is standing he is surrounded by high-rise buildings, but is looking through the trees towards the Frankfurt Opera, which is appropriate because all of his plays were made into operas at one time or another — four of them by Verdi, including his marvelous Don Carlo.
It will be interesting to get a birds eye-view of this location. Friedrich in the centre surrounded by towers. Has anyone tried taking a photgraph?