Saal Lane

Narrow townhouses built in the postmodern style stand along Saal Lane (Saalgasse), which runs between the History Museum and the Weckmarkt. No two are alike, since this is where many well-known architects have realised their visions and concepts. The buildings create a vital, colourful contrast to the clear and linear construction of the Schirn Art Gallery (Schirn Kunsthalle), which rises up in the arcades in the back.

It is almost impossible to imagine how completely different everything here looked before the air raids in 1944 annihilated Frankfurt’s Old Town. In the area of what is now Saal Lane, the Schirn and the Archaeological Garden, narrow lanes met at Five Finger Square. Their frame houses dated back to the late Middle Ages. The narrow streets and squares fell victim to the flames. Only decades later, in the 1980s, did the district attain its present appearance. Apartment houses rose up, postmodern, heterogeneous, and with façades that suggest Mediterranean colours. Since the 1950s, when it was rebuilt, the traditional restaurant “Zum Storch” (Saalgasse 3 -5) has been standing in the same spot, together with its stone emblem. Thus, in terms of development and the way the streets run, at least the proportions of the pre-war period remain recognisable.