Aarstrasse 240 (labor)

View of the gable end

The house at Aarstraße 240 in Wehen is a listed building that is centrally located at the through-road. It is a two-storey, eaves- facing timber-framed building from the Baroque era , which was used in earlier times as a town hall, community bakery and schoolhouse.

View of eaves side

description

The elongated half-timbered house was built around 1718 according to the inscription on the wooden plaque on the street side. The two-zone building was expanded early to include a third zone to the southwest. The representative visible framework has a richly figured framework with curved struts, fire braces and diamonds in the parapet zone, which is continued in the later extension.

While the half-timbered construction of the upper floor has largely survived undisturbed, the half-timbered structure on the first floor is only partially available in the area of the first building from 1718.

The roof structure has already been changed many times and was probably rebuilt at the beginning of the 20th century while retaining the old chair columns. In the course of this refurbishment, all attachments and the previously existing crooked hip were removed.

The interior room layout has been preserved almost undisturbed, and most of the building still has its original collar walls. The existing outbuildings as we find them today have only existed since the 50s and 60s of the 20th century. The old buildings consisted of a bakery, a barn, two stables and a gate.

history

The history of the house begins in the year 1718. This is attested firstly by the attached message bar from that year and secondly by the written entry in the manual of the municipality of Wehen (municipality book). This reads: "In 1718 the local town hall was built by the citizens of the time." Below it is written: This year the mayor was Johann Ludwig Weiß.

Entry on the construction of the town hall in 1718, from the community manual Wehen

The previous building that stood here fell victim to the fire in 1644, which destroyed the whole place. It is no longer possible to determine when this was built, because all the documents stored there were also burned in this fire. So 1644 records from the time before were lost forever.

The probable construction time of the first town hall is the time after the granting of town charter on June 23, 1323 by Emperor Ludwig IV “the Bavarian” . This document was given to the then ruling Count Gerlach I of Nassau .

From the beginning it was a central building of the community of Wehen with the functions of town hall, community baking house and school house. The school era ended in 1764 when a new school building was opened. The number of children in labor rose steadily, and the previously enlarged classroom in the council and bakery had become too small. There was no longer any possibility of expansion.

The time as town hall lasted until 1857 when a new and contemporary building was put into operation. As the administrative tasks of the municipality increased over the years, the space in the previous town hall was no longer sufficient. Only the council chamber and a storage room were available.

The first written mention that the municipality put their bakery into professional hands came from the year 1724. It says:

Note that the bakery was leased in 1724

"Today, the September 16, 1724 verlehnt the community you Backhaus in master Peter lap home for three years until Christmas 1727. But he has as an interest to give 45 Reichstaler and a half Ohm wine, as well as the Conditionen listed in Lehnbrief." From 1725 is an entry about the receipt of the rent i. H. v 45 thalers of the tenant Johann Peter Schossheim available.

The final sale of the house (including the bakery) took place in 1749 to the tenant JP Schoßheim. He and his wife bought the property, with the exception of the council chamber and the attendant store, for 1225 guilders. The sales contract contains other interesting points for the buyer. This buyer (and his descendants and heirs or buyers) had the following conditions:

to bake bread for the community,
to make the oven available for weddings or baptisms,
to take care of the maintenance of the house, bakery and other related inventory (the municipality was only responsible for the maintenance of the council chamber),
to prepare the mayor and the council members a roast at martini every year, along with two measure of wine and cake.

Purchase agreement from 1749, page 1
Purchase agreement from 1749, page 2
Purchase agreement from 1749, page 3

This treaty was then revised in 1752, but unfortunately no longer exists today. It was destroyed in a bombing raid in 1945, along with a large number of other historical documents from the State Archives, which were stored in a railroad car. There is only one entry in the finding aid (Hessian Main State Archive, Wiesbaden) on this event. However, the obligation to bake bread for the community of Wehen remained. Even until the last stock book entry in 1880!

The time after the 1750s can only be partially reconstructed. The next owner and thus also the community baker was a Johann Peter Dörr from Sonnenberg.

After him, a Philip Heinrich Krämer from Erbenheim owned the property. In which year he bought the house cannot be determined. His name appears in the building control register from 1820. In addition to the job of the community baker, he also held the office of community computer.

He was followed by PH Krämers' son-in-law, Carl Wilhelm Hart , who bought the property on October 14, 1848. During his time he bought the council chamber, which the municipality sold to him in 1857. This ends the time as the town hall.

The last community baker was Hart's son-in-law, Philipp Wilhelm Schneider , who bought the property and the associated liability on June 22, 1880.

The house was still operated as a bakery by the next owner until the 1960s. However, he was no longer a community baker, as this function did not exist.

Today the house is used as a residential building. Today almost nothing reminds of its eventful history. Except for a few existing tools of the bakery trade and the rest of the old oven located at the house, as well as an old painted picture from 1926, on which the former bakery can be seen.