Christoph Andreae
Christoph Andreae (born September 8, 1735 in Mülheim am Rhein ; † August 3, 1804 there ) was a German entrepreneur.
history
Family and company in Cologne
The Protestant Cologne business family Andreae had its beginning in the of Frankfurt , a prosperous time in Cologne since 1687 coming Christoph Andreae (1665-1742) silk - and linen production had built. Andreae, Gertrude, born Mainau had married (1664-1722) was, with his then-growing family of a small Lutheran congregation joined that in the Catholic -oriented imperial city was formed mostly also had moved merchants. Over time, however, the freedom of these families to develop religiously as well as in business terms was increasingly impaired by measures taken by the Cologne Council.
At the beginning of the 18th century, when restrictions against people of different faiths became stronger and stronger and things came to a head again in Cologne as they did at the time of the Counter Reformation , several of these merchant families, including the Andreae family, decided to accept Duke Johann Wilhelm's offer and the one at that time To move to the neighboring town of Mülheim, which is still part of the Duchy of Berg . In the event of such a settlement in the "Freiheit Mülheim", the new citizens were promised not only freedom of religion but also considerable tax privileges .
progeny
From the marriage of the Cologne company founder and the now successful businessman from Mülheim, six children had emerged, among them three sons born in Cologne. The first two of the sons, Heinrich Anton, the eldest (born around 1695, died in Mülheim in 1763) and the second, Thomas Daniel, born in 1700, probably received their training in their father's business. They were later mentioned in various transactions, especially after the death of their father in 1742, in Mülheim. Johann Adam, born in 1707, married and died (1777) in Frankfurt / Main. The immediate descendants of Christoph Andreaes did not play a significant role in the company's history, Heinrich Anton and Thomas Daniel assisted the senior boss and father. With Christoph Andreae Junior, who is at issue here, the son of Thomas Daniels and grandson of the company founder, the company later acquired an outstanding personality who opened up new sales markets for Andreae's products and helped them to gain a high reputation not only in Germany.
The Mülheim family business
In 1714, Christoph Andreae senior had a dye works and four linen weaver houses built in Taubengasse (today's Formesstraße) in the old town of Mülheim for the permanent workers of his former factory who had moved with his family. (These factory and residential buildings in Taubengasse and Buchheimer Straße totaled 9 houses up to 1808.) As his own domicile , he had acquired the stately inn "Zum güldenen Berg" at the then Freiheitsstraße 40 (today Mülheimer Freiheit).
Thomas Daniel had married Helena, a née Teschenmacher, who gave birth to him in 1735 as the third of four children in Mülheim, who they named Christoph. Nothing is known about his youth and schooling; it is possible that he initially attended the reformed school on Stöckerstraße (today without buildings due to bridge construction and war), which was destroyed in 1784 by the ice from the flood of 1784 . It is also not known whether Christoph also attended the higher “Latin” and also “French” school, which was founded in the middle of the 18th century. Christoph also received his professional training traditionally in his father's business, but his stay in one of the metropolises of the silk trade , the city of Lyon , also seemed to have served this purpose.
Generation change
The young Andreae lost his father at the age of 21 and took over the management of the Mülheim company a little later. At this point in time, Mülheim had grown just as much as the Andreae silk manufacture, even under the improved economic conditions that had also brought its residents an increase in work and income .
Christoph married Maria Christina Katharina Scheibler (1740–1807), the daughter of the Monschauer (Monttoye) cloth industrialist Johann Heinrich Scheibler , in 1761 , a relationship that probably served the business interests of both families. The marriage gave birth to 11 children over the course of 20 years, of which the first male offspring, Christoph, was to run a first branch outside Germany. One of the grandchildren of the person described is the painter Carl Christian Andreae (1823–1904), from whom the Andreaes, who still live in Cologne and the surrounding area, descend. Thomas Andreae (born 1949) continues to run the company under different names, Michael Andreae (born 1950) is a freelance entrepreneur (including the Jäckering Group for nutrients and more), Stephan Andreae (born 1952) is an artist and curator of cultural and historical exhibitions , Martin Andreae (born 1954) is a lawyer residing in Cologne (with a law firm in Bergisch Gladbach).
In 1765, Christoph Andreae built a new "velvet factory" in the northern area of Wallstrasse according to the plans of the master builder Leydel (possibly Georg Leydel, 1720–1785). It was a 130 m long structure that made it necessary to build an archway over the confluence of a newly created cross street (Weberstrasse, today's Silk Road). In connection with this expansion project, the Duke von Berg, like his grandfather before, granted him a privilege. At his request he received tax and duty exemption, as well as the promise that no other entrepreneur in “Berg” would be allowed to build such a factory for a period of 25 years. However, the commitment soon became fragile and Andreae had to assert itself against competition , but the Andreae company prospered nonetheless. At that time about 500 people were employed in his company.
In addition to the pressure of competition, Andreae faced other difficulties. Because of the privileges granted to him, resentment and dissatisfaction arose among the municipal authorities and the citizens of Mülheim. City and citizens demanded the revocation of the privileges granted to Andreae by the sovereign, and when this was unsuccessful, diabolical pamphlets were written against Andreae and distributed in 1769, which, however, brought no change and were prohibited by the highest order.
Ice flood and impact
The ice flood of February 27 and 28, 1784 destroyed a considerable part of Mülheim (161 houses) and was also a huge setback for the Andreae company. At that time Andreae put his damage at 100,000 guilders . In this misfortune, however, he helped the city and the citizens in every possible way, so that his reputation rose again and his critics fell silent.
He presented to the sovereign and was successful in that he was reimbursed half of his damage and duty-free for his future production for 30 years. He also got the promise to build a new Rhine dam to secure the future, as well as for the city the right to levy road fees and their exemption from taxes for 25 years, so that it can recover and be rebuilt. As a shrewd businessman, he had argued that otherwise he would be forced to relocate his business from Berg. One met his wishes in all points. Because of his commitment to the common good, he was later awarded the honorary title of Kommerzienrat .
Manufacturing buildings, employees and expansion
- Wallstrasse north of Buchheimer Strasse, the two-storey velvet factory built in 1765 on Weberstrasse or later Silk Road.
- South of Buchheimer Strasse, in this section of Wallstrasse, which has been expanded since 1765, on the site of former vineyards of the Protestant community, the Andreaesche factory was built in 1773, the area of which later extended to Bachstrasse.
The damage caused by the flood of ice in 1784 mainly affected the dye works (a “whitewash” and a “black dye”) on Wallstrasse, fulling houses, the main boiler, paint magazines, looms, belt mills and finished goods washed away from the neighboring houses on Freiheitsstrasse and the company's own workshops on the Taubengasse. The reconstruction did not take long and the losses were quickly made good.
As a result, the company grew steadily and reached a workforce of around 1500 people. With these figures, Bendel explains that the majority of employees were considered to be those who worked at home on their own loom for the Andreae company in wage or piecework. In addition, there were not only workers from Mülheim, but many lived within a 10-hour radius (according to the distance). They held the championship title, had their own journeymen and trained apprentices. They obtained the raw material from the Andreae company and returned the woven finished goods there and received the agreed wages. So in 1765 the Master were for records per year Elle finished product 16 to 20 Stüber paid, who himself to his companion one day's wages paid from 15 to 20 Stübern.
The good reputation of the velvet and silk goods from the Andreae company rose more and more and had spread throughout Germany, so that Christoph Andreae repeatedly received offers from the rulers of other principalities to relocate his production to their countries for high compensation record. Emperor Josef also courted Andreae, who after appropriate negotiations invited the businessman to Vienna . Andreae decided to expand his business and traveled to Vienna in 1787 with his eldest son Christoph (1766–?), Accompanied by 150 velvet weavers . A branch of the parent company was established there, for which, as in Mülheim, he was granted privileges that included exemption from taxes and duties and guaranteed protection from competitors. The management of the new factory was taken over by his son, who expanded it into a successful branch that existed until the 1870s.
Retirement
After returning from Vienna, Andreae expected the time of occupation by the French troops a few years later . It was connected with looting , which was mostly directed against the wealthy and, according to an estimate in Mülheim, amounted to a monetary and material value of 53,000 thalers. The Andreae family was also affected by these events. There were also billets and all kinds of other quarrels. Immense war demands were made against the city, amounting to 200,000 livres . When Mülheim did not comply with this requirement, Andreae was briefly taken hostage .
A protracted illness from which he did not recover eventually led to the death of Christoph Andreae on August 3, 1804. He was buried in the Evangelical Cemetery in Mülheim.
Family property on Freiheitsstrasse
House of the Golden Mountain
The house "Zum golden Berg", located at the then Freiheitsstrasse 40/42, was an old inn. After a lawsuit brought by Johann Ritgens, it was auctioned in 1648 and, including the rear buildings, a stone path and garden, went to Lic. Jur. For the amount of 1710 thalers . Johann Peter Müller, who sold the property again. In 1678 it was owned by Johann Abraham Backhoven, who sold it with all accessories to Christoph Andreae (senior) in 1714.
Christoph Andreae (junior) house and administration
The aforementioned property was partially redesigned in 1780 at the instigation of his grandson Christoph Andreae, who also had a new building built. The new buildings were apparently very solid and survived the flood of ice in 1784 with repairable damage. The house with side wings and other outbuildings, in which the business premises were located, received a sophisticated interior design and its exterior roughly corresponded to the new building of the court chamber councilor Bertoldi, whose house, the Bärenhof, had been built by the same specialists on Buchheimer Straße. As this was the keystone of the central portal of the coat of arms of the family and a balcony had also been decorated by an elaborate wrought-iron railing. On the level of the mansard roof rose a splendid belvedere with a gallery . A lateral archway on the south side of the house led to the courtyard area with the eight-sided garden house built there in graceful forms of the late Rococo . In 1808, the stately property had an insurance value of 8,000 Reichstaler and in November 1811 served briefly as quarters for Emperor Napoleon and his wife Marie Louise. The property remained in the family's possession until it later came to the cloister of the Cologne Ursulines and then to the city of Cologne. At the end of the Second World War it burned down together with the associated outbuildings and, although it was worth building, was cleared.
Half moon house
Between the building described above and the following house on the balcony, house no. 42 on "Freiheitsstrasse", which the family owned later, was originally located. It was the house "Zum halben Mond", already mentioned in 1648, the upper floor of which had been converted into a hall, which then had access to both neighboring houses.
House to the arbor
The "Haus zum Altan" was located at Freiheitsstrasse 44 and was a representative building with an extensive side wing and a central porch and a balcony facing the street. Most recently, it was a new building from the beginning of the 19th century that replaced a previously existing structure that came into the possession of Mrs. Andreae in 1770 and then passed to Karl Christian Andreae. The house remained in the Andreae family until 1841 when it was married into another property.
Commemoration
Before the war damage, there was a building from the end of the 18th century on the corner of Wallstrasse and Bachstrasse at the entrance to the factory premises, the skylight of the entrance bearing the initials of the client, Christoph Andreae.
Family burial ground
Christoph Andreae was buried in the Evangelical Cemetery of the city of Mülheim, which was established in 1612 . On top of this there is a low-edged, larger parcel which, according to the cemetery administrator and evidenced by an entry plate and a few ventilation hatches, also has a family crypt . On the above-ground surface overgrown with lawns, tombs, tuff, sandstone, marble, etc. were erected for numerous deceased of the family in various designs and materials. These reflect the changes in the grave architecture of the past centuries, but also illustrate the demands of a well-to-do family who, in addition to personal feelings, commissioned demanding sculptural work for representative reasons.
Tomb of the married couple Christoph Andreae
The married couple's tomb rises in an almost square shape on an identical base to a height of over 2 meters. The stele begins on the front and back with ribbon-like ornamentation, followed by engraved central parts. In their upper area, these contain niches in which urn-like vessels stand, with the front niche vessel bearing the name Christoph Andreae. A circumferential frieze decorated with raised stars follows over the middle sections , which is covered by a crown projecting as a cornice , which in turn forms a flat gable shape on the front and back . Underneath the niches are chiseled texts and dates of life that are individually tailored to the deceased. The ribbon in the lower area of this stele side contains the virtues associated with the husband, in four wreaths, with the virtues said to the deceased . The “charity”, the “truthfulness”, the “Mä… .eit” (possibly temperance) and the “diligence” were cited. The wife also has four decorative representations in the lower part of the stele. Here it is diamonds , the text of which emphasizes the good qualities of the deceased. The "domesticity", the "peacefulness", the "motherly love" and the "cleverness" were named. Except for a few places, all of the inscriptions on the tomb are in relatively good condition. They have apparently been restored and are clearly legible as a gilded inscription.
Christoph Andreae's tomb
The virtues ascribed to him
Maria Christina Andreae née Scheibler
Butterflies or hint of silkworms
Whether or not the two spouses can be assigned one of the design areas on the side of the stele with raised reliefs can only be determined by today's descendants. The right-hand side shows in the middle a vine plant that is difficult to determine , which entwines a trunk or a column in the inflorescence or fruit cluster. Oil lamps are shown on both sides in the upper area , which receive their counterpart in the same way on both sides through amphorae in the lower area. The opposite side is an ancient musical instrument, probably a lyre . More than this, and in comparison to her, there are two filiggran crafted butterfly . Such an oversized butterfly adorns the center of the front gable frieze, whereas the repaired area in the same place on the back is empty today.
It is unclear why the person who commissioned the tomb, instead of a coat of arms or a cross, chose a butterfly as an ornament in a prominent place, to whose group the type of silk moth belongs. However, the butterfly was already considered a symbol of rebirth and immortality in ancient times , but is still the symbol of the resurrection in Christian tradition and art alongside the Ostung and the lamb .
Memories in the cityscape
The urban Cologne reminiscence of the industrialization of the city of Mülheim am Rhein is evident in the care and protection of historical buildings, objects in the form of many works of art, but also in the naming of streets that refer to outstanding families of that time and the basis of their processed raw material recall.
Evangelical parish in "Mülheim am Rhein"
The streets named after Christoph Andreae and his wife
The Bertoldi house, which is similar to the Andreae house
Gatehouse of the Wall and Silk Road transit
On the tower of the Luther Church there is still the inscription of the evangelical parish on "Mülheim am Rhein", on Wiener Platz there is the shipping fountain, reminiscent of Mülheim's commercial power, and the Silk Road, which runs between Clevischer Ring and Wallstrasse, is reminiscent of the material that is used by many Looms, was also processed at home and thus provided an income for a large number of the citizens of Mülheim. Andreae and Mainaustraße are dedicated to the founding family of the silk and velvet manufacture in Mülheim, which was established in 1714 in the “Freiheit Mülheim”.
literature
- Johann Bendel : The city of Mülheim am Rhein, history and description, legends and tales. Mülheim am Rhein 1913. Verlag J. Bendel, print: Gebrüder Künstler, Mülheim am Rhein 1913.
- Stephan Skalweit: Andreae, Christoph. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 279 ( digitized version ).
- Ulrich S. Soénius, Jürgen Wilhelm (Ed.): Kölner Personen-Lexikon . Greven, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-7743-0400-0 .
- Hans Vogts : Mülheim's old town in the last 150 years of the Bergisch rule . In: Yearbook of the Cologne History Association. V., Volume 26, Cologne 1951
Individual evidence
- ^ Johann Bendel, Die Stadt Mülheim am Rhein , with reference to: Contributions to the genealogy and history of the Andrae family. Cöln 1902, Volume 1, Issue 3, p. 27.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Johann Bendel, Die Stadt Mülheim am Rhein , p. 307 f
- ↑ Ulrich S. Soenius, Jürgen Wilhelm, Kölner Personen-Lexikon , p. 26 ff
- ↑ Andreae family data on heidermanns.net
- ↑ Andreae family data on heidermanns.net
- ↑ a b c d e f Hans Vogts, Die Mülheimer Altstadt in the last 150 years of the Bergisch rule , p. 199 f, p. 216, p. 229, p. 236
- ↑ Andreae family data on heidermanns.net
- ↑ Andreae family data. On: heidermans.net.
- ↑ According to Vogts (treatise from 1951), a good drawing of the garden house (1944/45) was in the planning chamber of the city curator
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Andreae, Christoph |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German industrialist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 8, 1735 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mülheim am Rhein |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 3, 1804 |
| Place of death | Mülheim am Rhein |