City-Haus

City-Haus is a 42-storey skyscraper in the Westend-Süd district of Frankfurt, Germany. It was constructed from 1971 to 1974 and designed by architects Johannes Krahn and Richard Heil. It was the tallest building in Frankfurt from 1974–1976 until Westend Gate was constructed. Today, it is part of the headquarters of DZ Bank.

== History == City-Haus is also known under the name Selmi-Hochhaus after the Persian owner Ali Selmi. The project was very controversial. On the night of 23 August 1973, a fire broke out in the upper floors of the building's shell, which was widely visible throughout the city and attracted many onlookers. The fire was put out eight hours later, as at that time the Frankfurt Fire Department was not yet equipped for fire fighting on that scale. Arson was initially blamed, however, it was deemed unlikely as the cause of the fire, as defective welding tools apparently set the woodwork on the 40th and 41st floors ablaze. This fire was the starting point of modern fire protection for buildings in Germany and the start of the career of the chief fire fighter Ernst Achilles.