Shell-Haus

[1] In 1929 a competition was held between five architects to determine the designer of a prestigious new office block to house the headquarters of the mineral oil company, and Royal Dutch Shell subsidiary, Rhenania-Ossag.

Shell-Haus' forms are stylistically reminiscent of the German modern realist movement New Objectivity, but Fahrenkamp also incorporated more traditional aspects to his design.

The most eye-catching feature of Shell-Haus is its main facade, which jumps forward in six waves whilst at the same time increasing in height from six levels (five at the back) to ten.

[citation needed] Between 1965 and 1967, the Shell-Haus site was extended northwards with the construction of two similarly steel-framed buildings designed by the German architect Paul Baumgarten.

[4] A major contributory factor to the considerable expense was the need to reopen the Longarina quarry near Rome,[5] owned by company CIMEP in Tivoli, in order to supply the appropriate travertine rock for the building façade.

The expenditure and painstaking detail invested in Shell-Haus did not go unrewarded – the year 2000 saw the renovation work awarded the monument preservation prize, the Ferdinand von Quast Medal.