Town Halls

Freiburg has a couple of town halls that developed historically. The oldest, somewhat hidden, and the less-known building is the Gerichtslaube (courthouse), first mentioned in 1280 and wherein 1498, an Imperial Diet held its meetings.

Gerichtslaube

On Rathausplatz, in full view, are the so-called old and new town halls, the former built in 1557 in Renaissance style while the latter, following the acquisition of two older buildings, was finished in 1901 in the revival style of historicism.

New and old town hall on Rathausplatz.
The latter is decorated with a color called Ochsenblut (oxblood).

Over time, more space became necessary because a growing Freiburg needed more services and administration. Even the three town halls - nowadays, the Gerichtslaube is only used for ceremonial purposes - soon became too small, so many services had to move into several other buildings scattered all over Freiburg. This was annoying not only for the city administration but for the citizens, too, who had to go all over town to get their official businesses done.

Technical town hall under construction (©Wikipedia/Andreas Schwarzkopf)

This is why a new technical town hall building was planned and is presently under construction. The move of all those scattered offices into the new premises was initially scheduled for November last year and then postponed to April this year. The city informed the press yesterday that it could not move into the new building before November 2017. The technologically complicated suspended ceiling containing air conditioning, sprinkler system, lighting, and loudspeakers is causing further delay.

Accursed ceiling (©BZ/Ingo Schneider) 

We Germans are accustomed to delays and cost overruns at all significant construction sites by now. As the responsible site manager said in his mind-blowing logic, "The building becomes more expensive when we build longer than planned."

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