Neues Rotes Haus am Markt, Medieval timber-framed house in Market Square, Frankfurt, Germany
Neues Rotes Haus am Markt is a timber-framed house on the market square in the Dom-Römer district of Frankfurt am Main. The upper floors feature a visible framework of wooden beams, while the ground floor is held open by heavy pillars, creating a covered passage at street level.
The original building dates from the 14th century and stood along the route used by Holy Roman Emperors during their coronation processions. It was destroyed in 1944 and rebuilt as part of a wider effort to restore the historic center of Frankfurt between 2012 and 2018.
The house stands on a square that has been a trading and meeting point since the Middle Ages, and its red upper floors make it easy to spot from across the market. The open ground floor still recalls the way merchants once used covered spaces to do business in the open air.
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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