| Industry | Construction |
|---|---|
| Fate | Liquidation |
| Founded | 1849 |
| Defunct | 2002 |
| Headquarters | Frankfurt am Main, Germany |
| Key people | Johann Philipp Holzmann, founder |
Philipp Holzmann AG was a German construction company based in Frankfurt am Main.
The company was founded in 1849 by Johann Philipp Holzmann (1805-1870) at Sprendlingen in present-day Dreieich near Frankfurt am Main as Philipp Holzmann & Cie. Initially the former sawmill company was concentrating on the supply of ties for railway construction, but then began to expand into building construction and civil engineering. In 1856 the headquarters moved to Frankfurt where in the late 19th century the company experienced rapid growth.
The first large building contract was the construction of the Amsterdam Centraal railway station in 1882, followed by the opera house and the central station in Frankfurt am Main. Holzmann also built the law courts of Munich, the Hamburg city hall and several railway projects in East Africa and Asia, especially the Bagdadbahn built from 1903 on, the Istanbul Haydarpaşa railway station finished in 1908, as well as the Varda Viaduct at Taurus Mountains in southern Turkey completed in 1916. Furthermore the company participated in the construction of the Elbe Tunnel of 1911 and the Edersee reservoir, but also of the modernist Riederwald housing estate in Frankfurt.
In 1917 Philipp Holzmann & Cie merged with the Internationale Baugesellschaft and became the publicly traded Philipp Holzmann Aktiengesellschaft. In 1938 the company had 20,800 employees[1] and contributed to several major building projects like the new Reich Chancellery in Berlin, the Nazi party rally grounds in Nürnberg, the Prora complex as well as the Westwall and numerous sections of the Reichsautobahn. In World War II Holzmann constructed large parts of the Atlantic Wall by order of the Organisation Todt.
In the post-war period the company soon recovered with the rebuilding of Frankfurt, the airport and several public infrastructure projects. At its peak in 1994 the company had 43,000 employees and was with a revenue of 13.1 billion DM the largest German construction company. Despite public efforts for a recapitalization the company was finally liquidated in 2002.