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The Helfmann Brothers (1873-1896)
HOCHTIEF was founded by two brothers: Balthasar (1848-1896) and Philipp Helfmann (1843-1899).
Balthasar Helfmann originally served an apprenticeship as a mechanic, and Philipp took up the trade
of a mason. In 1872 Philipp Helfmann moved away from Kelsterbach, where he and his brother had
been born, to the Bornheim district of Frankfurt to start up in business as a lumber merchant. Soon
after that he become a building contractor. His brother Balthasar followed him in 1873, having previously
worked as a self-employed mechanic in Frankfurt. In 1874 the Bornheim address book first recorded
the firm as "Helfmann Brothers".
Clear division of responsibilities between the founders of the firm
There was a clear division of labor between the two brothers. Balthasar concerned himself more with carrying out the building work and with the increasing size of the company.
Philipp's field of work focused more and more on the banking business and the gaining of
new orders that, from year to year, were gaining steadily in importance. Philipp's son-in-law, Hans
Weidmann (1862-1948), who worked in the company for many years and recorded its history in a
detailed chronicle, described Balthasar as the craftsman of the two brothers. Philipp Helfmann was
described as dominant, dynamic, and far-sighted. As his son-in-law reported, he seems to have
been a self-made man:
"Philipp Helfmann was everywhere at once, whether expected or unexpected: in the office, on the storage lot, in the workshops, and out on the construction sites. He usually traveled at night in order to be on the construction sites before work started in the morning, so that he could gain an overview of the status of the work without any outside influence and before the foremen, supervisors, or engineers could report to him."
