Old Kurhaus Wiesbaden
The Alte Kurhaus was a society building in Wiesbaden that existed from 1810 until it was demolished in 1904, which led to the construction of the new Kurhaus at the same location.
history
After Nassau was enlarged and made a duchy by the Rheinbund in 1806 , Wiesbaden became the capital of the southern administrative district. Many civil servants and other new residents moved in, so that the number of inhabitants had doubled to 4,000 between 1803 and 1815. Wiesbaden should therefore be expanded into a representative seat of government. In addition, since the middle of the 18th century, the operators of the baths in Wiesbaden had repeatedly suggested the construction of an "entertainment room". Duke Friedrich August von Nassau-Usingen and Prince Friedrich Wilhelm von Nassau Weilburg, who ruled the state of Nassau jointly, approved the construction of a company building in November 1807, which was to be financed by issuing shares . The building to be erected should be outside the city at the end of a promenade, which in turn should be near a street that leads to Frankfurt, because this is where most of the spa guests came.
The architect Christian Zais was commissioned to plan and build the Kurhaus in 1807. The foundation stone was laid on April 21, 1808; the Kurhaus was opened on May 31, 1810. According to the final invoice, the construction costs amounted to 149,691 guilders; thus the originally set amount of 100,000 guilders was clearly exceeded. In order to develop the Kurhaus and to create a connection between the Sonnenberger Tor (today's location of Webergasse ) and the Mainzer Tor (today Kirchgasse ), it was decided in the same year to build a "Grosse Allee" - today's Wilhelmstrasse . By 1812 a garden with a pond was laid out behind the Kurhaus. Once in the 1820s the annual number of spa guests in Wiesbaden has always continued to rise, built Heinrich Jacob Zengerle 1826 at the green area in front of the Kurhaus, today's Bowling Green , the Kurhauskolonnade , were placed in the stores for spa guests. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was one of the spa guests . After his visit on July 30, 1814, he judged it: The great Cursaal as well as the newly laid out streets will give pleasure and samples to the friends of architecture. These facilities, which are decidedly favored by considerable exemptions and grants from the highest authorities, testify to the talents and activities of Mr. Baudirector Götz and Mr. Bauinspector Zais . The Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky visited the casino in the Wiesbaden Kurhaus and was probably inspired to write his novel The Gambler while playing roulette .
In the years 1835 and 1859, extensions and renovations were made to the old spa house. Parts of the building were raised, farm buildings were added, and the rear side wings were widened to the width of the colonnades. Numerous changes were made to the interior.
In 1873 the old Kurhaus became the property of the city of Wiesbaden. In the 1880s and 1890s, various structural defects in the building were found; In addition, the building no longer met the requirements that have since changed. The population of Wiesbaden had increased tenfold, as had the number of spa guests, and the existing spa building had meanwhile also become too small, so that it was finally decided to build a new spa building. In 1904 the demolition of the old spa house began. The nearby Paulinenschlösschen was now used as an alternative location for the Kurhaus events. Today's Kurhaus was built on the site of the old Kurhaus by 1907 . The large hall of the old spa house was reconstructed in the new building as a replica using the original columns; apart from that, only two pillars from the portico, which were set up in the spa gardens, are reminiscent of the old spa house. A crystal chandelier that hangs today at the choir entrance of the Union Church in Idstein has also been preserved .
architecture
The model for the Alte Kurhaus was the shooting house built in Weimar in 1803/04 . After abandoning the originally planned wood version, the finished structure was kept in light red and gray tones on the outside; Walls, cornices and gables were painted in a reddish tone that approximated the sandstone. On the gable of the portico was the inscription FONTIBUS MATTIACIS MDCCCX. On the garden side, the building had an unadorned central risalit with round arches and rectangular windows . The Great Hall, located at the ballroom of Weimar City Palace oriented and at the Weimar Schießhaus hall was flanked laterally by galleries, whose gray marble columns Corinthian stucco capitals contributed.
literature
- Eduard Sebald: The old Kurhaus from Christian Zais
- Christian Spielmann: The Kurhaus in Wiesbaden 1808–1904. Wiesbaden 1904
- Clemens Weiler: Johann Christian Zais 1770–1820, in Nassauische Lebensbilder, 1955
- Heinz Hildner: Wiesbaden residential buildings of the classical period, with a comparative consideration of the model buildings in southwest German residential cities in the 17th - 19th centuries, dissertation November 19, 1931, Darmstadt, L. Schellenberg'sche Hofdruckerei Wiesbaden
- Bertold Bubner: Christian Zais 1770–1820 in his time, On the exhibition from May 12 to 26, 1993 in the building of the Chamber of Industry and Crafts , Ed. Erich Haub Zais Foundation for Monument Preservation, Wiesbaden, 1993
- Matthias Bitz: The “Place Gutenberg” in Mainz and the “new society house” in Wiesbaden, Nassauische Annalen, 1986
- Rolf Bothe (Ed.): Kurstädte in Deutschland, On the history of a building type , Frölich & Kaufmann publishing house
Individual evidence
- ↑ JW Goethe: "Aesthetic writings 1816–1820, about art and antiquity", editor Hendrik Birus, Deutscher Klassiker Verlag
- ^ Website of the State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 5 ′ 5 ″ N , 8 ° 14 ′ 51 ″ E