Colosseum (Erlangen)

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Building Henkestrasse 28

The Colosseum (also Colosseum ) is a former variety theater and cinema building in Erlangen . The house is registered in the Bavarian list of monuments for Erlangen . In the time of National Socialism it functioned as the central meeting place of the NSDAP . The building has been part of the Bayerischer Hof hotel since 1974 .

history

Great hall in the Colosseum, postcard around 1900

In 1887 the wide but completely undeveloped Henkestrasse was built, named after the physician Adolph Christian Heinrich Henke . Master builder and architect Casimir Böhmer had the Colosseum hall built at Henkestraße 28; the topping-out ceremony took place on September 15, 1894 . On November 16, 1894 the restaurant was opened with the help of the band of the 19th Infantry Regiment. A few days later the Colosseum theater- variety theater also opened . A music pavilion was also built in the garden. In 1895 the pub license was granted and variety theater events were allowed. The plan to organize larger and more frequent variety performances here had to be abandoned due to the low population of Erlangen (approx. 20,000-25,000). Smaller summer and farm theaters then regularly give guest performances in the Colosseum hall for several weeks until 1914. Gymnastics, professional and entertainment associations also used the hall for events, theater evenings and exhibitions (small animal breeders). The theater business continued until the beginning of the First World War . The beer festivals in the so-called Bockkeller were popular and well known. In this vaulted cellar supported by 40 cross vaults (today's courtyard vault), Bock beer festivals took place until shortly before the start of the First World War . The free music in the specially built music pavilion in the large garden was also very popular. In 1896 the Colosseum was acquired by the Erlwein & Schultheiß export beer brewery in Erlangen for around 90,000 marks. The Colosseum remained in the possession of this brewery or its successor, Hofbräu-AG, until 1942 .

During the First World War, until July 1919, the Colosseum served the military as a hospital for the wounded. The theater and restaurant business was resumed after the First World War, but largely ceased in the following years because it was no longer profitable for Erlwein & Schultheiß. The company EOS Elements- und Batteriebau GmbH (special factory for electronic, galvanized elements and batteries) set up its factory for a short time in the small hall. Konrad Scheiderer, the last innkeeper until then, ran an inn in the Colosseum for several years from December 1933. In the 1920s and 30s, the Colosseum hall served as the main meeting place for the NSDAP . Speakers at political events a. Joseph Goebbels and Julius Streicher . Adolf Hitler gave his first speech in Erlangen on May 17, 1923 in front of an audience of 2,000, followed by four more in the Colosseum.

On February 27, 1942, the Nazi organization “Society for the Promotion of an After-Work Home in Erlangen” was founded. She bought the Colosseum property for events and company parties of the German Labor Front . Due to its size and the lack of halls in Erlangen at the time, the Colosseum Hall was ideally suited for this. From this point on, the house also belonged to the German Labor Front. On November 14, 1945, the company was dissolved and the entire ownership of the property including the building was transferred to the Erlangen city administration.

In 1945 the US Army confiscated the entire property and used the building as a troop cinema ("Glider Theater") from 1945–47. From April 1947 to June 1953, the US military administration operated a center for young people as part of its “German Youth Activities Program”, the home of the Erlangen youth with numerous leisure activities and English language courses. The Helene Bross company building on Henkestrasse and the residential building of the Erlangen-based construction company Gebr. Zeitner on Schuhstrasse were built on parts of the entire property that were still undeveloped and sold by the city after 1945. Further commercial properties were built by 1954. In 1948 the Colosseum hall was rebuilt again to accommodate events such as B. Perform theater.

Theodor Kirschbaum had been a limited partner of the Colosseum since 1922 with a deposit of 750,000 marks. These properties were expropriated by the Feierabendgesellschaft (FAG) in 1942, but after the dissolution of the FAG and the takeover of the US occupation power, Kirschbaum applied to the reparation authority for the return of his property in December 1948. He received the property back from the city on January 18, 1952, following a settlement agreement. The Erlangen actors' working group moved into the building from 1954 to 1964 and used it as a "New Theater". In 1956 the hall was converted into a movie theater. This resulted in the two film casinos “Colosseum” and “Atelier”, which opened in November 1956. In 1964 the "Colosseum" light shows had to be closed together with the "Colosseum" restaurants due to unprofitability. In 1968, the entrepreneur Otto Eck acquired the building, which had been vacant since 1964, as well as the former dance, citizens and cinema hall “Colosseum” and the “Atelier” cinema with 300 seats. From 1973/74 to 1981 the two arthouse cinemas “Film-Casino” and “Atelier” were housed in the front building (with the entrance on Henkestrasse).

On November 8th, 1974 the Hotel Bayerischer Hof with the restaurant “Hubmann-Stube” was officially opened, on February 1st, 1975 the “Löwenbräu-Bierkeller”, former Bock cellar and today's vaulted courtyard. Between 1983 and 1985, the Bayerischer Hof underwent another renovation and expanded with an extension at Schuhstrasse 31, where the hotel entrance is today.

architecture

The building was built in the neo-renaissance style and is a four-storey, eaves gable roof construction with flat side projections . The facade is decorated with brickwork with sandstone structure. The building is closed by an attic . In the side projections on the second floor there are exits supported by consoles with stone baluster railings. On the first floor above the narrow entrance in the center there is a smaller balcony with a wrought-iron ornamental iron grille. The facade of the risalits is accompanied by rich neo-renaissance jewelry.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Erlangen List of Monuments , No. D-5-62-000-327, p. 68
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Erlanger Tagblatt: Vom Saalbau Kolosseum . Ed .: Erlanger Tagblatt. Erlangen November 25, 1949.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Erlangen archive: historical information on the Colosseum hall . Ed .: Archive Erlangen. Erlangen January 18, 1952.
  4. ↑ Gary C. Fouse: An American's History of a German Town . University Press of America, 2005, ISBN 978-0761830245 , p. 136
  5. ↑ a b c d e Colosseum . Entry in the Erlanger Stadtlexikon (online edition). Retrieved October 24, 2017
  6. ↑ Gary C. Fouse: An American's History of a German Town . University Press of America, 2005, ISBN 978-0761830245 , p. 274
  7. ↑ Erlanger Nachrichten: For the guest “Oasis of calm” . Ed .: Erlanger Nachrichten. Erlangen April 15, 1984.
  8. ↑ Udo B. Greiner: Daughter takes over . Ed .: Erlanger Nachrichten. Erlangen April 21, 2005.

Coordinates: 49 ° 35 ′ 37.9 ″  N , 11 ° 0 ′ 31.9 ″  E