Bismarck House (Leipzig)

The Bismarck House in 1897

The Bismarckhaus was a commercial building that stood on the market in Leipzig from 1895 to 1943 .

Location and shape

The Bismarckhaus was located on the southwest corner of the market square at the junction of Thomasgasse and extended along it. It had the addresses Markt 14/15 and Thomasgasse 2.

The house was a five-story building in the historicism style . The roof had three ornate dormers facing the market and seven facing Thomasgasse . The peculiarity of the house was that it was the first private house in Europe whose load-bearing elements were all made of iron and stone was only used for filling. In terms of building services, the building was state-of-the-art.

The richly decorated facade culminated in the sloping corner . Above the corner entrance there was a large bronze medallion of Prince Bismarck with the signature “The best German. April 1, 1895 ". A mighty bronze group rested on the roof of the bay window: an eagle carried a female figure, the Patria, who held a shield with Bismarck's name in her left arm and held up a torch wrapped in laurel with her right. The corner of the building was completed by a tower structure with an open lantern .

history

In 1894, the Leipzig master furrier Ferdinand Witzleben had two houses on the market (no. 14 and 15) torn down and the architect Ottomar Jummel built his new office building. The demolished plots were not completely built on, but Thomasgasse was widened in the southern part. Since the Witzleben fur manufactory had already worked for the Bismarck family, Witzleben asked to be allowed to use Bismarck's name for his house, which was granted to him by the former chancellor. The sculptor Adolf Donndorf contributed parts of the facade decoration .

In addition to the fur goods manufacturer Witzleben as host, the following companies rented, in some cases with separate entrances and room groups over several floors: "FG Mylius - paper and computer utensils" (with its own print shop), "FH students - elegant plaster and women's fashion", “ Wilhelm Felsche - Chocolate and Cocoa Factory” as well as the “Bruhm and Schmidt Banks”. In the following years there were also changes, for example, fashion students moved out again in 1905.

The Bismarckhaus was destroyed in the bombing raid on Leipzig on December 4, 1943 . Later the ruins were demolished and the place remained undeveloped for many years. In the years 1963 to 1965, a seven-storey multi-purpose building was built on it and the neighboring properties to the north, into which, among other things, the Leipzig trade fair office moved.

In the summer of 2001 the trade fair building was demolished and the market gallery was built in its place , a residential and commercial building with different parts of the facade facing the market. The former Bismarckhaus corresponds roughly to a piece of the southern part of the building with the Breuninger department store .