Frankfurters' local recreation in the still fortified city was accessible through a small gate in the western rampart. The destination: the sulphurous Grindbrunnen at Gutleuthof. Thousands of people made a pilgrimage there to obtain healing water under the hundred-year-old linden trees.

In 1832, the innkeeper Josef Ried acquired the von Guaita'schen Garten at the level of today's Windmühlstrasse. A large hotel, a magnificent restaurant on the way to the Grindbrunnen, the Mainlust extended its summer garden right up to the bank wall. Dance floors, arcades, tea houses on the island - an entertainment establishment.  The desire for the Main must have been irrepressible. Lovers of lively music flocked to the pavilions, liberal members of the Paulskirche parliament mingled with the coffee drinkers, and not only in the revolutionary year of 1848. The first swimming pool on the Main was established.

Thirty years later, the Mainlust was over. It was sacrificed to industry, the Westhafen was built and the old winter harbor, the Kleine Main, was filled in. On the way to becoming a modern metropolis, a harbor track laid across the middle of the newly reclaimed promenade connected the west with the east.

The people of Frankfurt, once again deprived of their local recreation, were furious. First, the Grindbrunnen was moved into the city, to the important Wallanlage/ Untermainkai intersection. In 1875, the city council decided to provide generous funding: the summery Mediterranean climate allowed Lebanon cedars, palm trees, ginkgo and almond trees to grow on Untermainkai. In the vernacular, the Nice is born: it earns the people of Frankfurt a reputation for the Mediterranean way of life. 

The success of the first swimming pool in front of the winter harbour inspires; a bathing island with a roller tennis court is created on the water in front of the Nizza. The Mainlüsteln only comes to an end with the Second World War: The city and the parks, which are expensive to maintain, are gone. The last swimming pool was dismantled in 1954 and the Main degenerated into a cloaca. Directly discharged industrial effluent caused fish to die and people to disappear from the floodplain.

The fascination for the river area remains: fifty years later, it has created new places and facilities for itself. The first major upgrades can be found in the 1980s: the Museumsufer. In addition to the converted summer houses of the old patrician families, high-quality new museum buildings were erected on both sides of the riverbank. The "string of pearls" is imitated throughout Germany.

Today, urban expansions can be seen in four directions. Large companies such as Allianz, SEB and the European Central Bank are direct neighbors on the waterfront 

A recently reclaimed low bank of the Main, the Allianzkai, entices the Main lusters to take a lunchtime stroll to the fallow gem on the south-western edge of the city: the Licht- und Luftbad. Connected to Sommerhoffpark via a ferry in the future, the promenade path rounds off here.

The Westhafen is giving the city a new look: High-quality residential buildings on the pier, surrounded on two sides by water, a private marina, new office buildings on the fixed bank, restaurants with industrial charm, modern parks, strikingly located in front of the Kraftwerk West power station, are raising awareness of this place among Frankfurters for the first time.

The former abattoir in the north-east of the city center has brought Italy to the Main, at least verbally, in the "Florentine Quarter". Subsidized and privately built apartments, a large plaza, revitalized in a very short time by the personal commitment of an investor, would have been well suited to the typical Hochkai, which was relocated here for incomprehensible reasons, with its traffic.

The Grossmarkthalle by Martin Elsässer in the north-east of the city is opposite - it will be the headquarters of the ECB. The relocation of this major bank is casting its shadow - the first results are visible: an education center, new advertising agencies, trendy restaurants, commercial apartment buildings.

Large-scale urban planning is reshaping the city. Small individual measures, some of them private initiatives in the immediate vicinity of the river, reflect the population's joy at having regained the river in the city. In eight years, improvised summer gardens have sprung up along seven kilometers of the river, small bars in former toilet facilities, wooden huts with deckchairs offer drinks for skaters, private rowing clubs open their doors. The level of the offerings varies considerably, the scene is lively and sporty. "Mainlust" has found a contemporary form: Sunbathing with a laptop, bonga sessions by the water, ghetto blasters provide the rhythm for inline ballet, the grass is densely packed. Recently, the first "permanent" construction measures have been approved and carried out.

→ Overview - History and concept- From Westhafen to Römer - An der alten Brücke - Im Osten

An eyesore on the north-western bank - the roller skating rink. It constricts the promenade path to one meter. The Westhafen is cut off, the 1945 building has been a ruin since the last flood. In a prime location, five minutes' walk from the main railway station, opposite the Städel Museum, it is hard-fought terrain. Some city councillors consider roller skating right by the water to be out of place, while thousands of inline skaters use the promenade paths. If a replacement location is found for the roller skating club, the existing building will probably disappear without replacement. Our office has drawn up plans with the municipal authorities that are ready for approval: Catering facilities with clubhouse and public roller skating rink. Cost-cutting measures by the city in 2002 put a stop to implementation.

The Städelschule, Academy of Arts, has taken over the site for one summer. The construction of half-pipes, ski jumps and art events created a highly attractive scene in the summer.

Two hundred meters to the east, the first established restaurant opened: the Nizza-Pavillon. At the striking intersection of Wallanlage and Untermainkai - a canteen during the day and a high-quality restaurant in the evening - the building replaces the Grindbrunnen fountain, which was relocated to the city in 1873 and unfortunately completely conceals its former existence at this location.

At the same time, a winter-proof bar below the Postmuseum opens opposite, in a former toilet facility on the south bank. Permanent permits were blocked for years - the city council only rented out derelict vaults, bridge piers and suitable green spaces on a seasonal basis, and established investors stayed away.

The city's central location, the Fahrtor at the Rententurm, was a central port for people, wine and books until the beginning of the 19th century. Today degenerated into a three-lane road with a private parking lot, the former most central square is known to Frankfurters only as the Eiserner Steg / Römer crossing.
Preliminary plans by our office in 1998 make the square visible as a central square while retaining road traffic - with a strong geometry, a 100 m long set of steps along the water. Conversion of the surrounding ground floors to semi-public functions such as cafés, bookshops, tourist attractions, boat ticket sales; a simple connection to the inner courtyard of the historical museum could recreate this important central location.

Used as a storage area for street grates, in 1997 our office designed a small bar, the Strandperle, in a former toilet on the southern bastion of the Iron Bridge. A summer garden with a skyline view under plane trees in the evening sun can be installed on the weighty north-south axis. Ten narrow, elongated windows provide a view of the city along the suspension bridge.

The small bar is the first completed project in our study "26 forgotten places on the Main". Developed in 1997 on behalf of the city council and awarded the BFG Bank's German Urban Development Prize in 1998, it now forms the central theme in the development of the "small places on the Main".

→ Overview - History and concept- From Westhafen to the Römer - At the old bridge - In the east

The old bridge, the only bridge for around 650 years, is the focus of several "forgotten places". The complete renovation of the structure has been delayed for financial reasons - every serious investor is holding back in anticipation of years of construction work. 

The Fischergewölbe, a four-barrel vault built as a bridge approach, was flooded by the waters of the Main until the harbor railroad was built in 1865. They provided the fishermen of the Middle Ages with parking and escape routes under the city. Over the past eight years, plans for everything from clubs run by famous DJs to established restaurants have been shelved by the expected construction site. 

On the promenade twenty meters away is the entrance to the northern bridge pier. The "asparagus vault" in the middle landing is ideal for installing a flood-proof bar. Associated with the belly of the whale, the semi-circular recessed concrete bulkheads form the most interesting cavity on the walkway.

The private rowing and canoeing club Schauermänner, located between the southern bank of the festival and Vogelinsel , has become a trendy apple wine venue. The old, run-down facility is to be replaced in the medium term by the construction of a restaurant ship that can be used all year round.