Shell-Haus, Berlin

Designed by Emil Fahrenkamp, Shell-Haus (1930-1932) is a modernist office block located in the Tiergarten area of Berlin. Fahrenkamp won a 1929 competition to design the headquarters for Rhenania-Ossag Mineralölwerke AG, a Royal Dutch Shell subsidiary. The building is state-of-the-art for its time: steel-framed and clad in travertine (a pale limestone from a quarry near Rome), with window frames of steel and bronze.