The IG Farben Building was built from 1928–1930 as the corporate headquarters of the IG Farben conglomerate in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. A competition was held to design the building and was won by the architect Hans Poelzig. On completion, the complex was the largest office building in Europe and remained so until the 1950s. The IG Farben Building's six square wings retain a modern, spare elegance, despite its mammoth size. It is also notable for its paternoster elevators. The building was the headquarters for research projects relating to the development of Nazi wartime synthetic oil and rubber, and the production administration of magnesium, lubricating oil, explosives, methanol, and Zyklon B. After WWII, the IG Farben Building served as the headquarters for the Supreme Allied Command and became the principal location for implementing the Marshall Plan, which largely financed the post-war reconstruction of Europe. The US Army returned control of the IG Farben Building to the German government in 1995. It was purchased on behalf of the University of Frankfurt by the state of Hesse, which committed €25 million to the restoration.
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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1485: The Battle of Bosworth Field decisively ended the Wars of the Roses. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bosworth_Field)
1851: The yacht America won the first America's Cup near the Isle of Wight, England. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America%27s_Cup)
1864: The Red Cross movement led by Henry Dunant officially began when twelve European nations signed the First Geneva Convention. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Dunant)
1910: Korea was annexed by Japan with the signing of the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korea)
1989: Nolan Ryan struck out Rickey Henderson, becoming the first pitcher in Major League Baseball to record 5000 strikeouts. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nolan_Ryan)
_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:
"No lesson seems to be so deeply inculcated by the experience of life as that you should never trust experts. If you believe doctors, nothing is wholesome: if you believe the theologians, nothing is innocent: if you believe the soldiers, nothing is safe. They all require their strong wine diluted by a very large admixture of insipid common sense." -- Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, Lord Salisbury (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Gascoyne-Cecil% 2C_3rd_Marquess_of_Salisbury)