Frankfurter Volksbank

Börsenstraße 2–4 is an 8-story low-rise neoclassical building in Frankfurt, Germany. It directly faces the Börsenstraße (Stock Exchange Street) and the Freßgass to the west, the Börsenplatz (Stock Exchange Square) and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange to the north, and the Biebergasse and the Rathenauplatz to the south. The Hauptwache is located fifty metres down the Biebergasse in the eastern direction. It thus occupies a highly central position in the Frankfurt central city district. The building was completed in 1913, and was built for the lace and tulle merchant Sigmund Strauss and designed by the architects Wilhelm Schmitt and Hermann Ritter. It is a listed cultural heritage site. The interior of the building was renovated in 1995. The building is owned by Commerzbank and its main tenants are international financial institutions, particularly the German branch of the investment bank N M Rothschild & Sons. The ground floor is occupied by a Zara store and smaller upmarket stores. Until the early 2000s, the main tenant was the German office of JPMorgan. Börsenstraße 2–4 was formerly also the seat of the Frankfurt Oberjustizkasse and of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper until 1961. It was also the seat of the Bizonal Economic Council, the first de facto West German parliament and the immediate predecessor of the Bundestag.

The Wirtschaftsrat or Economic Council was West Germany's first post-war legislative parliament and progenitor of the German Bundestag. After the American Secretary of State George C. Marshall pushed for organisational improvements in the Anglo-American zone of occupation in post-war West Germany, the two Military Governors Lucius D. Clay and Sir Brian Robertson signed the ‘Agreement for Reorganisation of Bizonal Economic Agencies’ on 29 May 1947 resulting in the creation of the so-called Wirtschaftsrat (Economic Council), which became effective on 10 June 1947. In principle, the Economic Council consisted of three organs concentrated in Frankfurt am Main: the Exekutivrat (Executive Committee) as a second chamber with representatives of the eight Länder in the Bizone, the Direktoren der Verwaltung (Executive Directors) as quasi-ministers presiding over the five already existing administrations, and, finally, the actual Wirtschaftsrat as first post-war parliament. In particular the latter was granted legislative and budgetary competence to facilitate the solution of pressing economic problems and the reconstruction of economic life. On 25 June 1947, the 52 delegates elected in an indirect ballot of one delegate per 750,000 citizens by the Landtage (parliaments) of the eight Länder in the Bizone gathered in Frankfurt am Main; on 9 August, the law for the reorganisation of the bizonal economic agencies was passed. Soon afterwards, however, the constructional flaws of the Economic Council as a whole came to the fore requiring the reorganisation of the bizonal administration. On 9 February 1948, the Frankfurter Statut defining the changes to the Economic Council came into effect. These were the renaming of the Executive Committee as Länderrat, the creation of a Verwaltungsrat (Administrative Council) formed by the Executive Directors and supervised by a chairman officially titled Oberdirektor, and, finally, the doubling of the delegates in the Economic Council, something which did not affect the proportion of political parties in this second economic parliament. While the Economic Council was a decisive platform for the political debate and factual implementation of any emerging economic concept, the parliament’s resolutions and acts remained subject to the authorisation by the Allied Zwei-Zonen-Amt (Bipartite Board) in Berlin and were controlled by the so-called ‘Zweizonenkontrollamt’ (Bipartite Control Office) (BICO) in Frankfurt. Foreign trade and monetary transactions were carried out by the Allied Joint Export-Import Agency (JEIA). Due to the fact that the Economic Council was restricted in its legislative scope and also not a representative assembly elected by the plebiscite, the bizonal institution was often ill-regarded as quasi-parliament. Nevertheless, this first German parliament after World War II was a central prerequisite for Germany’s political and economic reconstruction and marked an important step towards German political and economic self-determination. Henceforth, German political parties were given the opportunity actively to conduct an economic policy and to affect the definition of an emerging economic model for post-war West Germany.

Deutsche Börse AG (German pronunciation: [ˈdɔʏtʃə ˈbœʁzə]), or the Deutsche Börse Group, is a German multinational that offers a marketplace for organizing the trading of shares and other securities. It is also a transaction services provider, giving companies and investors access to global capital markets. It is a joint stock company and was founded in 1992, with headquarters in Frankfurt. On 1 October 2014, Deutsche Börse AG became the 14th announced member of the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges initiative.

Freßgass (literally, "Grazing Street") is an upmarket shopping street in the city centre of Frankfurt, Germany, located in the district of Innenstadt and within the central business district known as the Bankenviertel. It is commonly regarded as Frankfurt's culinary main street. The street is a broad pedestrian zone, and is located between Hochstraße and the Opernplatz (Opera Square) with the Alte Oper in the west and the Börsenstraße (Stock Exchange Street) with the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in the east. The street is also the direct continuation (in the western direction) of the Zeil, and is a parallel street of Goethestraße, Germany's best known luxury shopping street. In recent years Freßgass has increasingly become a luxury shopping street, serving as an extension of the Goethestraße in this regard. Its other primary adjacent street is the Kaiserhofstraße. Freßgass was originally an unofficial name, adopted around 1900 by its local population, for the streets Kalbächer Gasse and Große Bockenheimer Straße, because of their many high-end food shops, bakeries and butcheries, making it the most famous food shopping street serving the bourgeoisie of the Westend. Today the Freßgass is famous as the street where the bankers from the Bankenviertel meet for lunch; banker Alex Bergen notes that "around 90% of the meeting and greeting between M&A bankers happens in one street – the Fressgass." In 1977, the name Freßgass became an official name for the streets Kalbächer Gasse and Große Bockenheimer Straße. Since 1977, the Rheingau Wine Festival takes place annually during the late summer in Freßgass, showcasing wineries from Rheingau and Rheinhessen. The real estate prices in Freßgass and its adjacent streets are the highest in Frankfurt. The Freßgass itself has the third highest rent after its two neighbouring streets, the Goethestraße and the Zeil. Freßgass features the flagship Frankfurt Apple Store, the French luxury sound system vendor Devialet, a Tesla store, many high-end fashion boutiques in addition to many specialty food shops and restaurants.

The Hochstraße (lit., "High Street") is a short street in the city centre of Frankfurt, Germany, located in the Opera Quarter in the western part of the district of Innenstadt, within the central business district known unofficially as the Bankenviertel (Banking District). It runs from the Opera Square and the western ends of the Freßgass and Goethestraße high-end shopping streets to the Eschenheimer Tor, along the Wallanlagen park area to the north. The Hochstraße includes several listed buildings from the Gründerzeit era. It also notably includes the Sofitel Frankfurt Opera five star plus luxury hotel and the Hilton Frankfurt City Centre hotel, both facing the Wallanlagen park from opposite ends. The street also has a number of high-end shops, restaurants, select residential buildings and office buildings, mainly for financial institutions. The Hochstraße has a few smaller adjacent streets, including the pedestrian streets Kleine Hochstraße and Kaiserhofstraße, which both lead to the Freßgass main street around hundred meters down the street, and the Börsenstraße (Stock Exchange Street), which leads to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange 50 metres away from the Hochstraße. The street is also located in close proximity to numerous large financial institutions. The Hochstraße is traditionally considered one of the most fashionable streets in Frankfurt, and the street has in recent years regained this position through major developments, particularly the construction of the widely praised Sofitel Frankfurt Opera hotel in a neo-historicist style as a dominant feature of the street.

The Kaiserhofstraße (lit., "Emperor's Court's Street") (4–19) is a short, mostly pedestrian upmarket street in the city centre of Frankfurt, Germany, located in the Opera Quarter in the western part of the district of Innenstadt, within the central business district known unofficially as the Bankenviertel (Banking District). The 130 meter long street runs from the Freßgass pedestrian main street to Hochstraße, and is situated between Kleine Hochstraße and Börsenstraße ("Stock Exchange Street"). It is located in the immediate vicinity of the Wallanlagen park, which is located just across the street to the north of Kaiserhofstraße, and of the Opera Square with the Old Opera, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the Sofitel Frankfurt Opera luxury hotel, and Germany's most well-known luxury shopping street Goethestraße. In recent years Kaiserhofstraße has also increasingly become a luxury shopping street as some stores from Goethestraße have moved to Kaiserhofstraße a minute's walk away. The street is also located in close proximity to numerous large financial institutions. The street is mainly occupied by office spaces, especially for boutique financial institutions such as investment and wealth management firms, select residential apartments, high-end fashion businesses, and four restaurants. The rent in the area surrounding Freßgass is the highest in Frankfurt.

Frankfurt (Main) Hauptwache station (German: Bahnhof Frankfurt (Main) Hauptwache) is a major train station in the city centre of Frankfurt, Germany. With 181,000 passengers per day, Hauptwache station is the third-busiest rapid transit station in Frankfurt after Frankfurt Central Station and Konstablerwache station and a major hub for commuter transport in the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region. It is served by eight S-Bahn lines (S1–S6, S8, S9) and six U-Bahn lines (U1-U3, U6-U8) on 2 levels.

The Hauptwache (English: "Main Guardroom") is a central point of Frankfurt am Main and is one of the most famous plazas (German: An der Hauptwache) in the city. The original name Schillerplatz was superseded in the early 1900s. It lies to the west of Konstablerwache with both squares linked by the Zeil, the central shopping area of the city.

Goethestraße is a luxury shopping street in the city centre of Frankfurt, Germany, located between Opernplatz (in the west) and Börsenstraße and Goetheplatz (in the east) in the district of Innenstadt and within the Opera Quarter and the broader central business district known as the Bankenviertel. It is a parallel street of Freßgass and located in the immediate vicinity of Kaiserhofstraße. The street is Germany's third-busiest luxury shopping street.The street was constructed between 1892 and 1894 and named for Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Sofitel Frankfurt Opera is a luxury hotel in Frankfurt, Germany. It is part of the French Sofitel chain of luxury hotels, and is located in the Opera Quarter and in the centre of the central business district known unofficially as the Bankenviertel (Banking District), in the Inner City district. The hotel is facing the Opera Square with the Old Opera on one side, the upmarket street Hochstraße on another side and the Wallanlagen park on the third side. The main entrance of the hotel is directly facing the Wallanlagen park, and the hotel also has entrances from the Opera Square and Hochstraße. The hotel is located in the immediate vicinity of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, numerous other financial institutions, and some of Germany's most well-known high-end shopping streets, e.g. Goethestraße and Freßgass. Its Hochstraße front faces the short upmarket pedestrian streets Kleine Hochstraße and Kaiserhofstraße, with several restaurants and high-end shops and which both lead to the Freßgass a hundred meters down the street. The Freßgass and the Goethestraße can also be reached from the Opera Square. The hotel was built in a neohistoricist style between 2011 and 2016 after extensive public discussion and is scheduled to officially open in Autumn 2016. The hotel is targeted at highly wealthy individual customers as well as corporations. The building complex includes office spaces and conference facilities, a ballroom, 150 hotel rooms, 30 suites, one presidential suite, apartments for rent, a gourmet restaurant named Schönemanns (after the Frankfurt banking family to which Goethe's fiancée Lili belonged), a bar, select high-end shops, a fitness studio and an underground parking garage.The hotel's soft opening took place on 20 October 2016, with French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, French Culture Minister Audrey Azoulay and Frankfurt Lord Mayor Peter Feldmann in attendance.The hotel manager is Steffen Opitz.

The Palais Thurn und Taxis (German: [paˈleː ˈtuːɐ̯n ʔʊnt ˈtaksɪs]) in Frankfurt, Germany was built from 1731 to 1739 by Robert de Cotte and commissioned by the Imperial Postmaster, Prince Anselm Franz von Thurn und Taxis (1714–1739). The building was heavily damaged in World War Two and then demolished. Today a reconstruction houses some shops.

St. Catherine's Church (German: Katharinenkirche) is the largest Protestant church in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is a parish church in the old city centre near one of the most famous city squares, the Hauptwache. The church is dedicated to the martyred early Christian saint Catherine of Alexandria. The building was completed in 1681 in a Baroque style. After being heavily damaged in 1944 during allied air raids in World War II, the church was rebuilt in the 1950s in a simpler style. More detailed restorations of the exterior and interior, including original baroque paintings that survived the war, were completed between 1978 and 2005. The steeple and roof were fully restored in 2011. St. Catherine's has a long tradition as a centre of church music, starting from the days when Georg Philipp Telemann was director of the city's music. It hosts a regular concert series around the Rieger organ, installed in 1990.