City Hall
| Condition | Despite its status as a listed building, acquired in 2018, the city hall is threatened by demolition. The debate about a new building has been going on for a long time and seemed to have been settled with the decision on heritage protection. But already in November 2019 the bad news accumulated: Due to significant fire safety deficiencies, the option of demolition is now being considered again. When exactly the demolition could start is still open (February 2021). |
| Architects | Arbeitsgruppe Iserlohner Architekten (AIA) / Ernst Dossmann |
| Construction Date | 1974 |
Starting in 1967, the entire inner city of Iserlohn was redeveloped and restructured. This also affected the city hall: from an old picturesque building in neo-Renaissance style, which had been supplemented by other administrative facilities scattered around the city, the city administration moved in 1974 into a new, summarizing, monumental, and angular concrete building – architecturally quite a contrast. While the new building for the city hall is locally not only loved today, people were full of pride in 1974. In a brochure for the inauguration is written: "The most striking thing about the new city hall is its beauty." The building is composed of several accumulating geometric volumes that increase in size toward a 9-story tower. In addition to the exposed materiality, the exterior appearance is determined by open and closed building parts: the façade of the building mass is structured floor by floor by circumferential window bands. In contrast to this rhythmical permeability, a closed concrete cube with the inscription "Rathaus" (German for 'city hall') is set in front of it, seemingly floating on columns.