Wayss & Freytag Ingenieurbau

After Wayss & Freytag had established further branch offices in Strasbourg, Frankfurt and Düsseldorf due to the high demand in reinforced concrete constructions, the first works abroad followed from 1899 on, namely in Russia. In 1899 a boiler house with a coal bunker was built in Pernau for the Waldhof pulp mill and subsequently several bridges in Yekaterinoslav. W&F's first branch offices abroad were founded in Riga in 1903 and in St. Petersburg in 1909. In 1912 the hotel "Astoria" was built there at the company's own expense and put into operation by their own management - the first PPP model in the company's history. In 1907, an affiliate was established in Innsbruck in cooperation with the Austrian civil engineer Ritter von Meinong, which was active in the territory of the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy and the Balkans. Further branch offices followed in Sarajevo and Trieste. The head office of the Italian subsidiary Società Anonima Italiana Ferrobeton Systema Wayss & Freytag, also founded in 1907, was located in Genoa, with branch offices in Milan, Rome, Naples, Messina and Palermo. In 1909, W&F was awarded with the first overseas contract in Buenos Aires. The production of "Reinforced concrete in German manner" caused a sensation in Argentina. With the construction of the Caja Internacional Mutua de Pensiones, W&F built the tallest apartment building in South America which, with a height of 100 m, was the first skyscraper in Buenos Aires.