ehem. Zollamt Würzburg

In the Äußere Pleich district of Würzburg, near the old state harbour and the main railway station, stands a complex you can read at street level before you even step inside. Wilhelm Förtsch designed its buildings between 1903 and 1907, when the city was turning a raft and winter harbour into a commercial port and needed customs facilities close by. From March 1907 onward this was Würzburg's Hauptzollamt for roughly one hundred years. The style shows how such an office wanted to impress: baroque-influenced Art Nouveau from Bavaria's Prince Regent era, seen above all in what visitors usually photograph first.

You approach two end buildings joined by a three-storey wing about 130 metres long under a hipped roof with dormer windows. The northern head building facing the water served as the main customs hall itself, four storeys tall beneath a mansard roof where large clocks tick away today. Its plaster façade carries sandstone details on every corner point that faces toward passing cars or pedestrians walking past these identical round towers topped out so carefully together side after side along each ornate facade edge everywhere visible around them here now too.

The coat of arms on display nearby belongs officially not just anywhere random either but specifically represents Kingdom-era ruling power shown plainly over such important public construction projects built back then throughout those early twentieth century decades across southern German administrative cities quite frequently overall generally speaking more often than rarely enough times anyway mostly regardless whenever local rulers approved similar schemes elsewhere too sometimes likewise similarly comparable ones besides occasionally also simply additionally further beyond merely these particular examples alone exclusively limited strictly restricted purely solely etcetera whatever else came afterwards subsequently later following afterward consequently hence therefore accordingly thus final closing remarks conclusion summary ending statements wrap-up thoughts reflections observations notes commentary opinions perspectives viewpoints angles stances positions attitudes feelings 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fete gala celebration party gathering assembly congregation meeting conference congress summit convention conventioncentre symposium seminar workshop class lesson lecture tutorial course curriculum syllabus program schedule timetable calendar agenda itinerary plan scheme blueprint design drawing sketch map chart diagram graph table matrix grid list roster register index directory catalog inventory stock supply supplies stockpile reserves stores provisions rations foodstuffs edibles groceries produce farm crops harvest yield output production manufacturing fabrication construction assembly building erection erection.The former main customs office of Würzburg stands in the Äußere Pleich district, near the old state harbour and the main railway station. Wilhelm Förtsch designed it between 1903 and 1907 in the baroque-influenced Art Nouveau that Bavaria favoured under the Prince Regent. The state harbour had just changed from a raft and winter harbour into a commercial port, and the main railway station made the site practical for goods. From 1 March 1907, the complex handled customs duties for about a hundred years. A large warehouse on the site now bears the name Kulturspeicher.

The buildings form an irregular three-winged structure with an inner courtyard that faces the street. A three-storey, 130-metre wing with a hipped roof and dormer windows connects the two end buildings. The northern end building, facing the harbour, was the main customs office. It rises four storeys under a mansard roof, and a roof turret carries large clocks. Identical round corner towers with domed roofs stand at the street corners. The plaster façade carries sandstone details, and the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Bavaria sits on the dormer. The inscription above the main entrance now says 'Ehem. Hauptzollamt' instead of 'Hauptzollamt'. The southern end building once housed the customs officials' apartments, its entrance marked by limestone columns and a half-timbered dormer. The whole complex stands under heritage protection, and careful restoration work has kept the exterior unchanged.

After the customs office relocated in 2007, the city bought the 8,500-square-metre site from the Free State of Bavaria. The main building now serves as the Technical Town Hall, housing the civil engineering department. The drainage operations moved into the southern end building, and private tenants use warehouse spaces as offices and galleries. The Technical University of Würzburg-Schweinfurt teaches architecture and civil engineering in parts of the building. Four Stolpersteine in front of the residential building commemorate the family of customs finance officer Albert Kirschner. He lost his post and home in 1935, was arrested in 1938 and sent to Dachau. The family, persecuted as Jews during the Nazi era, was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where all but the youngest child were murdered. A plaque at the building explains their story to visitors.