Old Forestry Office (Wiesloch)
The Old Forestry Office is a listed Art Nouveau building in Wiesloch in the Rhein-Neckar district in Baden-Württemberg . From 1903 to 1998 it served as a forestry office with an apartment for the head of the office, and in 2003 it came into private hands.
history
After the Wiesloch forest district was initially administered from Heidelberg , the Baden District Building Inspectorate planned to build its own forestry office in Wiesloch in 1902. A representative location on the state road from Heidelberg to Bruchsal (today's B 3 ) was chosen as the building site. In addition to the area of the house and the courtyard, the plot for this also comprised around 11 ares of garden land. The property to the right of the building was intended for the establishment of the Grand Ducal Domain Office (built in 1903/04, later a notary's office). The plans for the building came from Dr. Hirsch, the head of the building authorities at the time, was in charge of the site's construction inspector Frischmuth. The building was erected in the style of Art Nouveau and was the only Art Nouveau state building in Baden when it was completed in 1903. The building housed both the office and the apartment of the respective forestry officer.
Despite the generous shape of the building and the almost luxurious furnishings, there were several protracted disputes between the respective forest officials and the Heidelberg building management in the years after the completion. In 1903, forts administrator Heuss complained about the lack of light switches on the bed and in 1904 about the allegedly insufficient heating output of the stoves. After a room fire in 1908, there was a protracted dispute over the assumption of costs for necessary repairs. When construction responsibility was transferred to an authority in Wiesloch in 1914, the heating output of the stoves came back onto the parquet. The request of the forest office for a shed for dry storage of firewood also turned out to be very protracted, but the building authority delayed it for years. In 1923, forestry officer Thoma even suggested selling parts of the building's decorative elements, namely the large stag sitting on the gable and a dog relief on the outside staircase, in order to be able to build the shed with the proceeds. However, the parts of the building were preserved and the disputed shed was never built.
In the course of the economic crisis of 1919, an apartment was set up in the attic of the forestry office for the locksmith and machinist from the Wiesloch sanatorium , who lived there with his family until 1927. In the 1920s, maintenance of the building was kept to a minimum due to financial need. It was not until 1938 that the building underwent major repairs, as a result of which an unsuccessful application to build a shed was submitted again.
The building was renovated in 1970, although at that time little value was placed on maintaining the existing structure true to the original. After a style report from 1989, another renovation was carried out, with artistically valuable parts of the building such as the ceiling paintings in the entrance area and in the hall being renovated.
The building remained the official seat until the Wiesloch Forestry Office was dissolved in 1998. The State Property Office Heidelberg / Mannheim then separated around 2000 square meters from the garden of the building and sold this area as building land. It was quickly built over with dense row houses. A buyer was sought for the old forestry office, which had been vacant for several years, who found himself in 2003 in the Wiesloch-born entrepreneur Berthold Wipfler, who renovated the building in keeping with the style and in keeping with the historic monuments until 2005.
literature
- Karin Hirn: Pearl of Northern Baden Art Nouveau , in: Kurpfälzer Winzerfestanzeiger, 2005 edition, p. 62ff.
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 17 '50 " N , 8 ° 42' 0.6" E