IG Farben Building The IG Farben Building or the Poelzig Building was built from 1928 to 1930 as the corporate headquarters of the IG Farben conglomerate in Frankfurt am Main , Germany . It is also known as the Poelzig Ensemble or Poelzig Complex , and previously as the IG Farben Complex , and the General Creighton W . Abrams Building . The building ' s original design was the subject of a competition which was eventually won by the architect Hans Poelzig . On its completion , the complex was the largest office building in Europe and remained so until the 1950s . The IG Farben Building ' s six square wings retain a modern , spare elegance , despite its mammoth size . It is also notable for its paternoster elevators . The building was the headquarters for research projects relating to the development of Nazi wartime synthetic oil and rubber , and the production administration of magnesium , lubricating oil , explosives , methanol , and Zyklon B , the cyanide - based pesticide that was later used by the Nazi regime to generate the lethal gas used in concentration camp s . After WWII , the IG Farben Building served as the headquarters for the Supreme Allied Command and from 1949 to 1952 the High Commissioner for Germany ( HICOG ) . It became the principal location for implementing the Marshall Plan , which largely financed the post - war reconstruction of Europe . The state apparatus of the Federal German Government was devised there . The IG Farben Building served as the headquarters for the US Army ' s V Corps and the Northern Area Command ( NACOM ) until 1995 . The US Army renamed the building the General Creighton W . Abrams Building in 1975 . The US Army returned control of the IG Farben Building to the German government in 1995 . It was purchased on behalf of the University of Frankfurt by the state of Hesse , which committed €25 million to the restoration . In recognition of the original architect , the University renamed the main building the Poelzig Building ( Poelzig - Bau ) and its ancillary buildings and surroundings the Poelzig Complex ( Poelzig Ensemble ) . The restoration work started in March 1998 , and the formal reopening as the Poelzig - Bau was celebrated on October 26 , 2001 . During the ceremony a plaque was unveiled at the building ' s entrance to commemorate the slave labour victims of the IG Farben factory at Auschwitz III and all those murdered by Zyklon B gas . History . The site . The IG Farben Building was developed on land known as the Grüneburggelände in Frankfurt ' s Westend District . In 1837 , the property belonged to the Rothschild family . In 1864 , the city ' s psychiatric hospital known as " Affenfelsen " or " Affenstein " ' , was erected on the site . The name Affenstein derives from an ancient Christian memorial that once stood here on the road outside Frankfurt . It was known as the " Avestein " as in Ave Maria but in the local Frankfurt dialect it was called the " Affe Stein " . Here , Dr Heinrich Hoffman hired Alois Alzheimer to work in the hospital , where they both explored progressive methods of treating the mentally ill . The Grüneburgpark was established in 1880 on the larger western part of the site . Early history . IG Farben acquired the property in 1927 to establish its headquarters there . In the 1920s , IG Farben ( full German name " Interessen Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie Aktiengesellschaft " ) was the world ' s largest drug , chemical and dye conglomerate . Frankfurt was chosen because of its centrality and its accessibility by air and land . In August 1928 , Professor Hans Poelzig won a limited competition to design the building , among five selected architects , notably beating Ernst May , the then Head of Urban Design for Frankfurt . Work on the foundations began in late 1928 , and in mid - 1929 construction started on the steel frame . The building was completed in 1930 after only 24 months , by employing rapid - setting concrete , new construction materials and a round - the - clock workforce . Later in 1930 , the Frankfurt director of horticulture Max Bromme and the artists ' group Bornimer Kreis developed designs for the 14 hectares of parkland that surrounded the building . The grounds , and the complex as a whole , were completed in 1931 at a total cost of 24 million Reichsmark ( DEM , EUR in 2018 ) . Second World War . IG Farben subsequently became an indispensable part of the Nazi industrial base . The building was the headquarters for research projects for the development of wartime synthetic oil and rubber , as well as the production administration of magnesium , lubricating oil , explosives , methanol , and Zyklon B , the lethal gas used in concentration camps . The building was used by IG Farben for 15 years . During World War II , the surrounding neighbourhood was devastated , but the building itself was left largely intact ( and inhabited by the homeless citizens of a bomb - ravaged Frankfurt ) . In March 1945 , Allied troops occupied the area and the IG Farben Building became the American headquarters of General Dwight D . Eisenhower . Eisenhower ' s office was where he received many important guests ; including General de Gaulle , Field Marshal Montgomery and Marshal Zhukov . It was there that he signed the " Proclamation No . 2 " , which determined which parts of the country would be within the American zone . Eisenhower vacated the building in December 1945 but his office was still used for special occasions : the constitution of the state of Hesse was signed there , the West German Ministerpräsident received his commission to compile the " Grundgesetz " ( German constitution ) and the administration of the " Wirtschaftsrat der Bizone " ( Economic Council of the Bizone ) was also located there . Cold War . From 1945 to 1947 , the IG Farben Building was the location of the Supreme Headquarters , Allied European Forces , and was the headquarters for the US occupation forces and Military Governor . On May 10 , 1947 , permanent orders to military personnel prohibited further reference to the building as the " IG Farben Building " , and instead called for it to be referred to as " The Headquarters Building , European Command " . The United States High Commissioner for Germany ( HICOG ) and his staff occupied the building from 1949 to 1952 . After 1952 , the building served as the European centre of the American armed forces and the headquarters of the 5th US - Corps . It later became the headquarters for the Northern Area Command until 1994 . The IG Farben Building was also the headquarters of the CIA in Germany , which led to its sobriquet ' the Pentagon of Europe ' . On April 16 , 1975 , the US army renamed the building the General Creighton W . Abrams Building . The renaming did not have full authority in law , because the US was technically leasing the building from the German government and thus was not the rightful owner . On May 11 , 1972 , the terrace area in front of the ' Casino ' , was the scene of a bombing by the " Rote Armee Fraktion " ( Red Army Faction , i . e . , the Baader - Meinhof Group ) . The building was attacked again by the same group in 1976 and 1982 . Consequently , the publicly accessible adjoining park , became part of a restricted military zone which also included the military living quarters and work areas at the rear of the building . Recent years . Following German reunification , the US government announced plans to fully withdraw its troops from Frankfurt , Germany by 1995 , at which time control of the entire site would be restored to the German Federal Government . It was suggested that the building could become the location for the European Central Bank . In 1996 , the state of Hesse bought the building and associated land for the University of Frankfurt . The buildings were refurbished at a cost of 50 Million German Mark ( about US $ 26M or 25M € ) , by the Copenhagen - based architecture practice Dissing + Weitling and were handed over to the university . The complex now houses the Westend Campus of the university , which includes the departments of Philosophy , History , Theology , Classical Philosophy , Art and Music , Modern Languages and Linguistics , Cultural and Civilization Studies , the Center for North American Studies and the Fritz - Bauer - Institute . Renaming controversy . The university ' s tenancy of the building sparked a debate regarding the name of the building . Former University President Werner Meissner had started the controversy by renaming it the " Poelzig - Ensemble " " ( Poelzig - Complex ) " ; to him , renaming the building would free it from associations with Nazism . Students and , in increasing numbers , members of the faculty insisted on confronting the building ' s history by retaining its original name , the " IG Farben Building " . Meissner ' s successor , Rudolf Steinberg , upheld the university ' s decision to retain the name , but he did not enforce a uniform nomenclature within the university ' s administration . After the grand opening of the building in 2001 , AStA chairman Wulfila Wido Walter objected to the " misuse of Hans Poelzig " [ sic ] and proposed leaving the name of the main building unchanged , and calling the smaller casino building the " Poelzig Casino " ; this proposal won little support . By 2004 , the " Poelzig - Ensemble " proposal had become a moot point — the debate was overtaken by strong political lobbying for an appropriate commemoration and memorial of remembrance : Vice President Brita Rank set up a permanent exhibition inside the building , and a memorial plaque — for the slave labourers of IG Farben and those who had perished by Zyklon B gas — was installed on the front of the building . The Senate of the University agreed on a joint initiative by the student senator of the Green University group , David Profit , and Angelika Marx the senator of the United Services Union , to name a place on the new campus ' s western end after the former slave labourer Norbert Wollheim . Despite the renamings by the University and the American military administration , the building is still usually called the " IG Farben Building " by the general public . The association of the building with Nazism has been hard to shake off , partly because of the close involvement of IG Farben with the Nazi regime and partly because of the building ' s imposing and monumental appearance . " Der Spiegel " wrote of its " Smell of Guilt " . Only with the departure of the Americans , the subsequent renovations , and the use of the building by the university has the building ' s association with the third Reich in the popular consciousness receded . As of 2010 , the building is referred to as IG Farben Hochhaus on the campus map . Future . Behind the IG Farben Building , the state of Hesse intends to build " Europe ' s most modern campus " to accommodate the remaining departments of the University ' s old Bockenheim campus , law , business , social sciences , child development , and the arts . Building . In 1928 , IG Farben was the world ' s fourth largest company and its largest chemical company . Consequently , the space requirements for the building were for one of the largest office buildings ever constructed . It was designed in the " New Objectivity " style . IG Farben did not want a specifically ' Bauhaus ' styled building — it wanted : The 250 - metre long and 35 - metre tall building has nine floors , but the height of the ground floor varies ( 4 . 6 – 4 . 2 m ) . This variation is reflected in the roof line which looks taller at the wings than the spine . The volume of the building is 280 , 000 m³ , constructed from 4 , 600 tonnes of steel frame with brick infill and floors constructed of hollow blocks to provide over 55740 m² of usable office space " . The façade is clad with 33 , 000 m² Stuttgart - Bad Cannstatt Travertine marble , punctuated in bands of windows decreasing in height with each storey . Only at the corners are the glazed strips interrupted for emphasis . The top storey is lit from skylights rather than banded glazing and has a very low ceiling height . It forms a clear building conclusion . Until the 1950s , the building was the largest and most modern office building in Europe . The IG Farben Building consists of six wings , connected by a gently curved , central corridor . This arrangement provides all of the offices with sufficient natural light and ventilation . This design approach for large complexes offers an alternative to the " hollow rectangle " schemes of the time , with their typical inner courtyards . The prototype of this form is the General Motors Building in Detroit ( 1917 – 21 ) by Albert Kahn . The building presents a very large and weighty façade to the front , but this effect is reduced by the concave form . The main entrance is at the axial centre of the building , comprising a temple - like portico standing in front of the doors — a relatively common motif of administration buildings of the time . The entrance arrangement is regarded by some people as slightly pompous : the entrance and lift doors are of bronze , and the ceiling and walls of the porch are clad in bronze plate and copper frieze s . The inner lobby has two curved staircases with a sheet aluminum treatment , and marble walls with a zigzag pattern . The axial centre at the rear of the building has a round glazed façade ; here , the view of the buildings at the rear of the site ( the " casino " ) is maximised by the curved walls that afford vistas to the subsidiary buildings 100 m distant , separated from the main building by parkland and a pool . During the American occupation of the building , this rotunda housed a small kiosk ; later , it was used as a conference room . Nowadays , it is called the Dwight D . Eisenhower room and accommodates a café . The paternoster lift s that serve the nine floors are famous , and are popular with the university students . After the recent restoration , the university has pledged to preserve them in perpetuity . Behind the rotunda is an oblong pool with a " Nymphenskulptur " ( German : Nymph sculpture ) at the water ' s edge created by Fritz Klimsch entitled " Am Wasser " . Behind it stands a flat building on a hill with a terrace — the casino of IG Farben , which now houses a refectory and lecture - rooms . Rumours . A number of unconfirmed rumours concern the complex : Text of memorial plaque . Translated inscription from the plaque placed in front of the IG Farben Building main entrance on October 26 , 2001 :