In 1951 Ferdinand Möller opened his gallery at , close to the university and a ten minute walk from the city centre. Cologne, like Berlin, had been in large part destroyed by the bombing, and the building in which Möller installed his gallery was a new one, designed by Wilhelm Riphahn, one of the city's twentieth century architects. During the next four years the gallery presented a succession of successful exhibitions featuring not just German impressionist artists from the "Weimar" years, but also classical warks, along with exhibitions of works by well-regarded contemporary artists who were still very much alive, such as Ernst Wilhelm Nay, and Fritz Winter.