Neues Rotes Haus am Markt, Medieval timber-framed house in Market Square, Frankfurt, Germany
Neues Rotes Haus am Markt is a reconstructed timber-framed house at Markt 17 in Frankfurt's old town, between the Hühnermarkt to the north and the Tuchgaden lane to the south. Its three-storey upper structure rests entirely on three oak columns, leaving the ground floor open; the neighbouring Alte Rote Haus held the staircases that served it.
A document of 1322 first mentions a "Rodinhus" on this site; a 1360 lease describes a red house standing on "new" columns, so the column-supported building was erected between 1322 and 1360. It burned in the March 1944 Allied air raids. After the Technisches Rathaus built on the plot in 1973–1974 was demolished in 2010–2012, the house was reconstructed faithfully between 2013 and 2018 as part of the Dom-Römer project.
For centuries the building was known as a Schirn, a covered sales stall where the famous Frankfurt sausages were sold. The name Rotes Haus appears in a 1360 lease document describing a red house standing on "new" columns above the cloth and meat stalls. The neighbouring Alte Rotes Haus held the staircases that gave access to the upper floors.
The house sits in the heart of the Dom-Römer district and is easy to reach on foot from the Römerberg square. The facade is best seen during daylight from the opposite side of the square, where there is enough distance to take in the full height of the building.
The ground floor of the house was designed so that merchants could sell goods directly beneath it without blocking the flow of people across the square. Raising a building on pillars to free up trading space was rarely done in medieval German town planning.
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