While the Bauhaus is widely recognised as a school of modernism, the Neues Frankfurt – conceived as a practical urban and social laboratory – remains largely unknown. To mark its 100th anniversary, the Museum Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt is staging two exhibitions that highlight modernist design on the banks of the Main.
by Thomas Wagner
The starting conditions were far from promising. Dark shadows hung over Germany. Although the First World War had not been fought on German soil, the burden of defeat was heavy. Bodies and minds were wounded; humiliation, isolation and deprivation paralysed a country seething with unrest: the November Revolution, the abdication of the Kaiser, radical movements on both the left and the right opposing the Treaty of Versailles, hyperinflation and the Great Depression – the keywords are familiar. Poverty, a housing crisis and social tensions demanded practical solutions from the young democracy of the Weimar Republic. Affordable housing had to be built, government structures modernised and a new sense of community fostered.
By the mid-1920s, a new era of freedom had dawned. Emotional expressionism was replaced by the cool logic of New Objectivity. The ‘New Man’ and ‘New Woman’ symbolised progress, as did innovations in architecture and housing. From the telephone to the car and the aeroplane, in typography, photography, advertising, film and music, as well as in domestic and social organisation, there was a drive to reshape the conditions of everyday life.
The Path to a Cosmopolitan Metropolis
By the mid-1920s, Germany had achieved a degree of economic stability. In October 1924, Ludwig Landmann was elected mayor of Frankfurt am Main, and the following year he appointed the architect Ernst May to head the city’s planning department. Frankfurt was to be transformed into a cosmopolitan metropolis. As the cultural critic Siegfried Kracauer noted, a homogeneous ‘metropolitan public’ was emerging in urban centres – ‘from bank directors to shop assistants, from divas to typists, united by a common mindset’.
May and his team of ambitious architects, engineers and designers did not just focus on the pressing housing crisis. They embraced a broad design ethos that would soon influence many aspects of urban life. In a remarkably short space of time, they implemented ideas that were seen as modern, social and necessary. Their planning approach can still be seen in Frankfurt’s urban landscape: the city centre was designed to serve commerce and offices, while residential areas with green spaces were built on the outskirts – without completely separating living and working.
The legacy of The New Frankfurt is still influential today. May and his colleagues – Martin Elsaesser, Adolf Meyer, Ferdinand Kramer, Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky and others – thought in terms of integrated systems: organisational, economic, social and aesthetic. They unleashed a dynamic that led to far more than just improved infrastructure.
100 Years of the New Frankfurt
The New Frankfurt turns 100 this year, giving Frankfurt’s Museum Angewandte Kunst every reason to revisit the spirit of innovation and key projects of the late 1920s, reflecting on their relevance and extending the perspective to the present day.
Two exhibitions, curated by Grit Weber, explore modernist design along the River Main. ‘What Was New Frankfurt?’ recapitulates key historical aspects and presents itself as a conceptual ‘starting point’ for further reflection. Individuals, initiatives and fields of action are explored through questions illustrated with texts, photographs, posters, infographics, original objects, films and recorded quotations. Among the most successful housing projects were Römerstadt (1927-28), Praunheim (1926-30), Bornheimer Hang (1926-30) and Westhausen (1929-32). In just five years, some 12,000 homes were built. But that was not all: the spirit of progress also led to the construction of schools, kindergartens, libraries, Hans Poelzig’s IG Farben building (now part of the Goethe University), an old people’s home, a power station, the Grossmarkthalle (now part of the European Central Bank complex), hospitals, churches, the Waldstadion with its swimming pool and numerous public parks and sports facilities.
The Pursuit of the Common Good
The second exhibition, ‘Yes We Care’, has a deliberately contemporary tone and focuses on areas of society where the common good has been promoted and strengthened. What institutions, initiatives and ideas existed 100 years ago in education, domestic life, social care and health? How did they enrich daily life? Could some of these approaches help to bridge today’s social divides or provide solutions to the current care crisis?
This exhibition links the past with the present, stimulating debate on the ‘value of a social urban society’ and aiming to provide ‘positive impetus’. Themes include the reorientation of the education system, drawing on pre-war reformist pedagogy, new concepts for kindergartens and open-air or pavilion schools, and the adult education movement, which aimed to democratise knowledge through community centres and adult colleges. It is noble to invoke the spirit of the common good of that era. But we must not forget that some aspects of this communal ethos were not free from Taylorist thinking and were later hijacked by the Nazi regime for nationalist purposes.
While Gropius was able to turn the Bauhaus into a worldwide legend through his influence in the USA, the New Frankfurt has yet to receive the recognition it deserves.
Bauhaus Was the School – Neues Frankfurt the Laboratory
In the 1920s, many intellectuals and designers railed against the ornamentation of the Gründerzeit. Bruno Taut declared ‘death to all mustiness’ and celebrated clarity, transparency and purity. New Building was not invented in Frankfurt, nor did it originate with Gropius and the Bauhaus alone – both aimed to reform the way people lived. But because most of the houses, estates and public buildings of The New Frankfurt are still in use today, its modernist spirit can still be studied in practice. This is where modernism really went into production. Action replaced utopia, standards were set and technical guidelines were published. While Gropius was able to turn the Bauhaus into a worldwide legend through his influence in the USA, the New Frankfurt has yet to receive the recognition it deserves. This makes it all the more important to raise awareness of the concrete achievements of this renewal programme beyond the narrow academic disciplines of architecture and design history. This alone is a message for the present.
But bridging the gap to today’s climate crisis, housing shortages and growing social inequality remains a challenge. Truly sustainable economies and circular construction remain elusive goals. Whatever the approach, they remain wishful thinking unless we can clearly define how each proposal can be implemented under current economic and social conditions. Whether and how the World Design Capital Frankfurt RheinMain 2026 can revive the ideas of the New Frankfurt remains to be seen. One thing is certain: nowhere else was the spirit of renewal so practical and optimistic; nowhere else were social reform and a new way of dealing with objects, processes and structures so practically and thoroughly embedded in politics, business, culture and research as in the New Frankfurt – until the rise of National Socialism and the persecution or murder of the Jewish entrepreneurs, politicians and intellectuals who had shaped the city put an end to this bold movement.
About the Author
Thomas Wagner was born in 1955 and studied German and Philosophy in Heidelberg and Brighton (Sussex). While still a student, he began working as an art critic and freelance journalist. From 1986 he wrote for the art section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, where he was chief editor for visual arts and design from 1991 to 2007. He then continued to work as a freelance author, art critic and columnist. Wagner published an online magazine for Stylepark and was editor of the German Design Council’s design report magazine. He is currently online journalist for ndion. Wagner has also taught as a visiting, guest and honorary professor and was a founding member of the DGTF (German Society for Design Theory and Research). He has served on numerous juries and continues to be active in the field.
Museum Angewandte Kunst
Frankfurt am Main
10. May 2025 – 11. January 2026
Over the coming months, around 150 events will celebrate The New Frankfurt. The exhibition catalogue will be released in June.
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