Reichsstrasse • Leipzig • Germany
Facade view of the Reichsstrasse in Leipzigs historic centre. The street block in the middle is covered by two buildings only and runs from the Schuhmachergaesschen (english shoemaker alley) on the left to the Grimmaische Strasse on the right. The left one is Speck’s Hof a typical Leipzig Passageway building with inner shopping passages and light courts, restaurated in the mid 1990s. It is named after an earlier building on the area which belonged to Maximilian Speck von Sternburg. It was built in three sections from 1909 onwards and heavily destroyed in 1943. The same fate was suffered by the Riquet-Building on the far left in the panorama, which was restaurated and got its historical face back in the early 1990s. Originally it was built by architect Paul Lange in 1909 for the chocolate manufacturer and colonial trader Riquet & Co. The building is famous for its extensive facade design including two big elephant heads at the entrance, which were the advertising symbol for Riquet. Indeed the street facade ends abruptly with the Riquet-Building. Historically the next building was Deutrichs Hof. To the far right in the foto you see the newly built Galeria Kaufhof warehouse on the important shopping street Grimmaische Strasse.