Colonia-Haus

The Colonia-Haus in Cologne's Riehl district is a 147-meter residential high-rise completed in 1973, briefly Germany's tallest building until 1976. It remains the second-tallest predominantly residential tower in the country. The building captures the urban optimism of early 1970s West Germany, when vertical living was promoted as a modern lifestyle for the post-war middle class. Today the tower is a protected heritage monument, documenting a moment when concrete, height and technical ambition were equated with progress. Visitors cannot enter the building, but the striking silhouette is best appreciated from the opposite bank of the Rhine, where it punctuates the Cologne skyline north-east of the cathedral.