Gerling-Hochhaus

Gerling-Hochhaus rises 56 metres above Cologne’s Friesenviertel, facing south towards the Gereonshof. Built between 1950 and 1953, it forms the centre of the Gerling Quartier.

A slender steel skeleton supports the Muschelkalk cladding, whose regular grid gives the façade its distinctive order. Helmut Hentrich and Hans Heuser designed the original structure, while Arno Breker directed its completion. Together with the five-storey Friedrich-Wilhelm building, the tower creates an honorary courtyard. The ensemble grew from the post-war expansion of the Gerling insurance headquarters across four to six hectares. During its later conversion, workers stripped the tower to its steel frame and preserved the characteristic façade grid. Recessed loggias now sit behind the long-side façade, remaining almost invisible from outside.

Lowered window parapets and glass railings bring residential use into the protected structure. Fifty-one privately owned apartments now occupy the former headquarters, which retains its limestone exterior and mid-century character.