Max Pommer and the Oldest Known Hennebique-Construction in Germany

The oldest known multi-storey Building in Germany with a full reinforced concrete frame on the Hennebique system is a wing of a printing house erected 1898 by Max Pommer at Leipzig. Until 2005 a granary at Strasbourg erected in 1899 was thought to be the oldest Hennebique-construction in the then German Reich. To the well-known pioneers of concrete constructions such as Züblin and Wayss & Freytag, who worked together on the Strasbourg example, we have to add Max Pommer, who changed from architect to building contractor and also had an impact on social reforms. Already by 1899 he had erected five more buildings with Hennebique-construction. While these are mostly renovated and in use, the oldest example is decaying and threatened with destruction.