The new Aliceplatz (from 1945)
After the end of the Second World War, Horst-Wessel-Platz was given its former name back on May 12, 1945: Aliceplatz. Many buildings in Frankfurter Straße and Große Marktstraße were destroyed or severely damaged by bombing raids. These included the town hall, the western corner building Aliceplatz / Frankfurter Straße, the publishing house of the Offenbacher Zeitung and many others. The post office
and the former princely corner building survived the war unscathed.
In 1958, the city had the Victoria Monument moved to the Old Cemetery. With the rapidly
traffic, the former square was converted into a multi-lane thoroughfare with many parking spaces.
In 1971, a massive parking garage was built at the southern end.
By around 1967, the last remaining intact historic houses were replaced by modern new buildings. The south side is dominated by the new Offenbach Post publishing house. Opened in 1971, the town hall at the now extended northern end of the square redefines the axes of Aliceplatz. In 1975, the side wing of the post office built in 1902 was also replaced by a new building designed in the Brutalist style. The reconstruction is a new design.
"The choice of the location of the town hall in the heart of the city is particularly symbolic, as the will for urban redevelopment is visibly expressed here at the intersection of all socially active forces." (From the document laying the foundation stone of the town hall, 1968)
"For eighty years, the monument dominated the face of Aliceplatz" (Offenbach Post, 10.6.1958)
On June 9, 1958, the Victoria monument on Aliceplatz was taken down and placed in the old cemetery. The former postcard motif and popular meeting place "am Engel" had thus disappeared.
"The Offenbach city councillors have decided to give the war memorial on Aliceplatz, which, wedged between cars and a kiosk, is no longer a pretty sight, a more dignified location in the Old Cemetery." (Offenbach Post, 10.5.1958)
The destroyed Stadthaus and the Stadthof behind it were demolished in the early 1950s. The ruins of the western Frankfurter Straße with the two traditional stores Steinmetz'sche Buchhandlung and Löwenapotheke were replaced by modern low-rise buildings at this time. In 1989, the family who owned the Löwenapotheke had a carillon installed above the entrance, which chimes at 11, 12, 17 and 18 o'clock. In 1994, the pharmacy building was extended to four storeys and has also been a medical center ever since. Since 1998, the bronze sculpture "Krieh die Kränk" by the renowned Aachen sculptor Bonifatius Stirnberg has stood next to the Löwenapotheke on the site of the former town hall. It was donated by the Hoefer family of pharmacists.
The rapidly growing car traffic changed the square within just a few years: Offenbach's first parking meters were installed on Aliceplatz in front of the post office as early as 1958. The square developed into a busy thoroughfare after
The square developed into a busy thoroughfare with numerous parking spaces after the creation of several lanes.
From the 1960s onwards, the Große Marktstraße changed into a narrow street with many stores and a lot of car traffic, as well as pedestrians and cyclists.
The last time a historic house on Aliceplatz was demolished and replaced by a new building was in 1967. It is now home to Café Veres.
The princely corner building and the post office had been completely surrounded by post-war architecture since 1975 at the latest. The advertisement for the large curtain and flooring store Gerhardt from 1961 (top left) clearly shows this. The Hassert fashion store - along with the Löwenapotheke pharmacy - was one of the few long-established stores on Aliceplatz to continue operating in the post-war period. It ceased trading in 1999. Many other stores and chain stores had already closed there.
In 1975, the post office was given an extension in the then modern Brutalist style, for which the historic side building erected in 1902 on Grosse Marktstrasse was demolished.
After a long political discussion, the city councillors decided in 1995 to return the square to a pedestrian zone. In the first stage of the conversion work at the end of the 1990s, a large parking area was retained at the southern end of Aliceplatz. The conversion to a pedestrian zone was completed in 2005.
In 2009, the KOMM shopping center designed by architects Novotny Mähner Assoziierte (NMA) opened with 22,000 square meters of space, restaurants, a parking deck and doctors' surgeries.
In August 2011, 45 red outdoor chairs invited people to relax on Aliceplatz for the first time. The "Little Alberts" remained there all summer and were stored at KOMM in winter. The idea to improve the quality of stay came from a working group to revitalize the city centre.
It included urban designer Hanne Münster-Voswinkel as well as members of "Aktive Innenstadt", "Karree", the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Local Agenda 21 and the "Besser leben in Offenbach" campaign.