As early as the 1960s, the ball-bearing manufacturer Georg Schäfer entertained the idea of building a gallery to house his collection of 19th-century paintings and graphic works. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Alexander von Branca were commissioned to draw up plans for the building, although these were never realized. Later, a site was found between the town hall and the bridge across the River Main. A new three-storey volume clad in travertine is set on top of the existing basement garage, which projects nearly three metres out of the ground.