Platz der Republik
From the “Platz der Republik” square you can enjoy a view of the high-rise buildings situated along Mainzer Landstraße and the Ludwig-Erhard-Anlage to your right. On the right-hand side, at the intersection with Mainzer Landstraße, you will see the “City-Hochhaus”. The 142-meter-high building is also known as “Selmi-Hochhaus”. Ali Selmi was the owner of the building which was constructed between 1971 and 1974 according to plans by Richard Heil.
Further right on Mainzer Landstraße, you can see the Westend Tower. Together with the City Hochhaus they form the headquarters of DZ-Bank. The Westend Tower is also known as the “Kronenhochhaus” or “Crown Tower”, due to its aureole located at the top. Standing at 208 metres, it is one of the tallest skyscrapers in the city of Frankfurt and even in Germany. The Westend Tower was designed by architect William Pedersen and completed in 1993. The wreath at its top is supposed to refer to Frankfurt as the coronation city of German emperors. Therefore, it is aligned with Frankfurt's Römerberg, where the coronations took place. The wreath is heated in winter to prevent the formation of icicles and the associated danger to traffic flowing below.
Polizeipräsidium
The former Polizeipräsidium (police headquarters) along the left-hand-side of the Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage, was opened in 1914. Since the headquarters moved to a new building on Alleenring, the building has been mostly empty. The police headquarters was built in a historicist style, a mixture of neo-baroque and classicism, and today is a listed building.
Matthäuskirche
Also on the left, and directly after the police headquarters, is the Protestant “Matthäuskirche” church, built in 1905. It was severely damaged during the War and, therefore, largely dates from the post-war period. The associated congregation shrank to just a few hundred members, which led the regional association of the Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau in 2002 to abandon the building and sell it for demolition. The local church community vehemently resisted this decision.
The Frankfurt Westend
Together with the “Bahnhofsviertel” (railway station district), Nordend (Northend) and Ostend (Eastend), the Westend is one of the most densely built-up and populated inner city districts of Frankfurt. Even today, it is still one of the most expensive residential areas in Frankfurt and is mostly located to your right along the route to the city’s “Messe” or “Trade Fair” location.
The south section of the Westend, together with the western city centre and the eastern railway station district, forms Frankfurt's banking district with its numerous high-rise office buildings.
Furthemore, the Westend has an above-average number of educational institutions, above all the “Uni-Campus Bockenheim" run by the Goethe University Frankfurt, as well as the Senckenberg Museum.