User:Eli185.2/House for trade and commerce

The Haus für Handel und Gewerbe (House for trade and commerce) is an office building built between 1899 and 1901 by the Chamber of Commerce and the Munich Stock Exchange in Munich by the architect Friedrich von Thiersch. The interior was designed by Ignatius Taschner. The building site at Maximiliansplatz 8 in Maxvorstadt was located on land outside the former city moat. Today, the headquarters of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) for Munich and Upper Bavaria is located in the building and the adjacent A. S. Drey office building at Max-Joseph-Straße 2.

History
After the establishment of the German Customs Union in 1834, a large German domestic market emerged for the first time. In 1843, King Ludwig I authorized the founding of a chamber of commerce in his capital and residence city, Munich to promote trade. In 1968 King Ludwimoteg II issued a decree making it a permanent institution. In 1898 the Chamber of Commerce and Industry together with the Münchener Handelsverein, the sponsor of the stock exchange selected by competition the architect Friedrich von Thiersch (1852-1921), who had already designed the Munich Palace of Justice. After one and a half years of construction, they move into the new "House for Trade and Commerce" in April 1901. At the time, it was considered a successful example of "new living design through new color combinations, new lines and forms". The representative interior was the paneled stock exchange hall, which extended over two floors and was decorated with murals. The elegant "Neue Börse" café-restaurant opened on the first floor.

In 1911, a residential and commercial building for the Jewish antiques dealer A. S. Drey was built on the neighboring property on Max-Joseph-Straße according to plans by Gabriel von Seidl (1848-1913). The new building in the neo-Renaissance style was one of the most magnificent private buildings in the city.

Nazi era
When the Nazis came to power in 1933, the Drey and Stern families were persecuted due to their Jewish heritage. They were obliged to sell the building to the Chamber of Industry and Commerce for 1.3 million Reichsmark in 1935. The senior former owner, Privy Councillor of Commerce Siegfried Drey died in Munich in 1936.

During the Second World War, the two parts of the building were severely damaged by two bomb hits on April 25 and July 12, 1944 and the IHK had to move into emergency quarters. It was not until April 1, 1950 that it was able to return to its headquarters.

After the Bavarian Stock Exchange moved to Lenbachplatz in the 1960s, the building underwent a major refurbishment with contemporary, sober functionality. As part of the preparations for its 150th anniversary in 1993, the Munich Chamber of Industry and Commerce carried out a comprehensive renovation of the event areas from 1992 onwards, which drew on the former interplay of architecture, painting and arts and crafts. Further renovation work was completed in 2002. Since then, an atrium with a self-supporting glass roof has connected the two buildings.

Due to fundamental structural defects in both buildings, a general refurbishment was carried out from 2012. In this context, fire protection upgrades, barrier-free access to all rooms and energy-efficient operation (including LED lighting, district heating, district cooling) were also implemented. The IHK employees moved back into the building on December 3, 2018.

Literature

 * Heinrich Habel, Johannes Hallinger, Timm Weski: Landeshauptstadt München – Mitte (= Bayerisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege [Hrsg.]: Denkmäler in Bayern. Band I.2/1). Karl M. Lipp Verlag, München 2009, ISBN 978-3-87490-586-2.
 * Eva Moser, „München, Industrie- und Handelskammer für München und Oberbayern“, in: Werner Kraus (Hrsg.), Schauplätze der Industriekultur in Bayern, Regensburg 2006, S. 89 f.
 * Angela Toussaint, Eine Zierde der Stadt. München – Maximiliansplatz. Das Gebäude der Industrie- und Handelskammer im Wandel der Zeit, Dachau 1998