Crüwell House (Bielefeld)

View of Obernstrasse from the Alter Markt (before 1900). The facade of the Crüwell house (far left) is still provided with light-colored plaster.

The Crüwell house on the Alter Markt before the restoration work

The Crüwell house in Bielefeld after the restoration in 2005. The renewed sandstone sections can be clearly recognized by their lighter color.

The Crüwell house is from the late Gothic originating community center in Bielefeld in the district center . It was built around 1530.

location

The Crüwell house is located in downtown Bielefeld in the immediate vicinity of the Old Market . It marks the beginning of Obernstrasse and bears house number 1. In the Middle Ages, Obernstrasse was the main traffic artery of the old town - next to Niedernstrasse, which also started from the market. Above all wealthy citizens and merchants lived here. A narrow lane runs along the south side of the Crüwell House, Piggenstraße leading to the wave.

history

The builder of the house was probably a certain "Johan Crevin" (or Grevin [g]), whose name can be found on a coat of arms in the lower part of the gable. However, nothing is known about him. The current name of the building goes back to the Crüwell family, who bought it in 1813 for 2570 gold thalers and set up a smoking tobacco factory in it. According to tradition, Johann Georg Crüwell, an ancestor of the current owners, is said to have produced rolling tobacco as early as 1705 in the house of his in-laws (formerly Obernstrasse No. 6, today No. 12). In 1826 a Göpelwerk powered by two horses was installed in the Crüwell House , which was used to cut smoking tobacco and grind snuff . In 1983 tobacco production was finally stopped due to lack of profitability; However, there is still a smoking tobacco shop in an outbuilding on Piggenstrasse, which was opened in 1985. The Crüwell house is still owned by descendants of the Crüwell family.

Building history

The Crüwell House was built around 1530. The date refers to an inscription that is said to have been on a column in the cellar of the house. The gable was therefore not built until after 1530. In 1901 the building was renovated and the ground floor was provided with large shop windows that ended in flat pointed arches. A frieze above the window area indicated the renovation work. Over the years, the property has been significantly enlarged through land purchases and the building complex has been expanded to the shaft. At the corner of Welle and Goldstrasse, the architect Paul Griesser built an extension in the New Objectivity style in 1936 .

As early as June 13, 1941, the Crüwell house was badly damaged in a bomb attack. During the devastating air raid on September 30, 1944, which left large parts of the city in ruins, the building burned down to the surrounding walls. The reconstruction took place in 1948/49 under the direction of Paul Griesser. The ground floor was changed again, the frieze removed and the cross-frame windows inserted. The current design of the shop goes back to 1965.

The gable was last restored in 2005 with the participation of the German Foundation for Monument Protection . At that time, a large part of the heavily weathered sandstone had to be replaced.

Building description

The Crüwell House is a two-storey solid building with a four-part stepped gable with tracery crowning. The above a low base uplifting building is a gable roof completed, which is covered with red pantiles. The today unplastered, three-axle street facade consists of carefully hewn sandstone blocks. The high ground floor, which earlier presumably contained a hallway , is separated from the significantly lower upper floor by a narrow cornice . The ground floor is provided with two large (not original) cross-frame windows, which are designed as shop windows in the lower part. The rectangular passage leading into a small passage is arranged in the central axis. A total of six windows arranged in pairs have been broken in on the upper floor, with wall anchors between them .

The gable consists of a total of three storeys with rectangular openings. These are glazed in their upper part, but closed by wooden flaps in the lower part. In the lower gable field, instead of two glass panes, two coats of arms are attached in the middle window axes, the one on the left showing a bear and the inscription "JOHAN GREVIN". On the right you can see the coat of arms of the Crüwell family with the name of the company's boss Arnold Crüwell (1847–1935) underneath, who managed the company's fortunes from 1867 to 1935. It was added as part of the renovation of the building in 1901. The fourth gable floor is already above the roof ridge and has an openwork tracery window . The individual storeys are framed on both sides by panels decorated with tracery . Openwork tracery adorned with fish bubbles can also be found on the individual seasons , the outer edges of which are studded with inclined, crab-covered pinnacles that are crowned by finials .

Others

In the stairwell on Piggenstrasse and in a sales room there are around 7,000 historical Delft tiles from the 16th to 18th centuries, which come from the collection of the merchant Richard Mitzlaff-Crüwell. It is probably the largest collection of its kind in northwest Germany. Since the stairwell has a glass door, you can see part of the tiles from the outside.

role models

One of the models for the Bielefeld Crüwell house: Prinzipalmarkt 11 in Münster (left), built around 1490.

Not a direct model for the Crüwell House: The gable of the historic town hall in Münster has a completely different structure.

The models for the Crüwell House are likely to have been the Gothic town houses on Prinzipalmarkt and Roggenmarkt in Münster , although some of them were built much earlier. The town hall in Münster , which is mentioned again and again in connection with the Crüwellhaus, is ruled out as a model, however, as its facade is completely different. On the upper floor it has four large tracery windows and the gable has a vertical structure, while the Crüwellhaus is structured horizontally by cornices. The gable end of the town hall is also much more richly decorated.

Successor buildings

The Bielefeld town hall on the Alter Markt, built from 1538 and completely rebuilt in 1820/21, once had a similar façade to the Crüwellhaus. The pinnacles, however, were designed as twisted columns with figures at their upper end. In Ostwestfalen-Lippe there are still two other town houses, some of which are called Crüwell-Haus and have late Gothic stepped gables: The mayor's house (Höckerstraße 4) in Herford, dated 1538, and the Wippermann house in Lemgo (Kramerstraße 2), but only in 1576 originated when the Renaissance had long since established itself.

Herford, Höckerstraße 4, view from the southwest

The Crüwell House is one of the most famous and important historical buildings in Bielefeld. In a reader survey by the Neue Westfälische in 2011, it was voted the most beautiful building in the city.

References and comments

↑ While A. Ludorff's name ( Die Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler des Kreis Bielefeld-Stadt , Münster 1906, p. 27) is given as "johan crevin", Flaskamp (cf. Franz Flaskamp: inscriptions, coats of arms, house brands and Steinmetzzeichen der Graflich-Ravensberger state capital Bielefeld, sources and research on the nature and history of the Wiedenbrück district, 55th issue, Wiedenbrück 1940, page 36) read as "Johann Grevin [g]".
↑ See: Bernd Hey u. a .: History processes. Historical walks through Bielefeld. Bielefeld 1990, page 14
^ After Arnold Crüwell: The Bielefelder Tobacco Industry. In: Bielefeld. The book of the city. Bielefeld 1926, page 479
↑ A. Crüwell, ibid
^ Georg Dehio: Handbook of German Art Monuments, North Rhine-Westphalia II: Westphalia . Munich / Berlin 2011, page 113
^ According to Franz Flaskamp: inscriptions, coats of arms, house brands and stonemason marks of the Graeflich-Ravensberg state capital Bielefeld. Sources and research on the nature and history of the Wiedenbrück district, 55th issue, Wiedenbrück 1940, page 36
↑ Cf. on this: Dorothea Angermann: The oldest Bielefeld town hall in the context of city and building history. In: 84th annual report of the historical association for the county of Ravensberg, JG. 1997, page 33.
↑ See: Brochure for the Open Monument Day in Bielefeld on September 12, 2010. Topic: Culture in motion - travel, trade and traffic. Publisher: City of Bielefeld Building Authority - Lower Monument Authority. Bielefeld 2012, page 5.
↑ According to a memorial plaque on the left side of the eaves
↑ In older photos that were taken before the extensive renovation in 1901, the entire structure is still provided with a light-colored plaster.
^ Bielefeld: City tour. (PDF; 1.3 MB) City of Bielefeld, accessed on November 19, 2012 .
↑ See: Karl E. Mummenhoff: The profane buildings of the Westphalian gentry. In: Der Raum Westfalen, Volume IV / 2, Münster 1965, pp. 238–239. The house Roggenmarkt 11 , which was destroyed by a fire in 1904, and the Prinzipalmarkt 11 house, which was restored after the Second World War, should be mentioned here. Both were created around 1490.
↑ Heidi Hagen-Pedekmir: A building like a painting. Crüwell House undisputed winner of the “Bielefelds most beautiful buildings” campaign . In: Neue Westfälische from October 1, 2011.

Web links

Commons : Crüwell House - collection of images, videos and audio files

Crüwell-Haus, Bielefeld, Obernstrasse 1. Image index of art and architecture , accessed on November 19, 2012 .
Crüwell House. German Foundation for Monument Protection, accessed on November 19, 2012 .

52.02013 8.53138Coordinates: 52 ° 1 ′ 12.5 ″ N , 8 ° 31 ′ 53 ″ E

[1] While A. Ludorff's name ( Die Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler des Kreis Bielefeld-Stadt , Münster 1906, p. 27) is given as "johan crevin", Flaskamp (cf. Franz Flaskamp: inscriptions, coats of arms, house brands and Steinmetzzeichen der Graflich-Ravensberger state capital Bielefeld, sources and research on the nature and history of the Wiedenbrück district, 55th issue, Wiedenbrück 1940, page 36) read as "Johann Grevin [g]".

[2] See: Bernd Hey u. a .: History processes. Historical walks through Bielefeld. Bielefeld 1990, page 14

[3] After Arnold Crüwell: The Bielefelder Tobacco Industry. In: Bielefeld. The book of the city. Bielefeld 1926, page 479

[4] A. Crüwell, ibid

[5] Georg Dehio: Handbook of German Art Monuments, North Rhine-Westphalia II: Westphalia . Munich / Berlin 2011, page 113

[6] According to Franz Flaskamp: inscriptions, coats of arms, house brands and stonemason marks of the Graeflich-Ravensberg state capital Bielefeld. Sources and research on the nature and history of the Wiedenbrück district, 55th issue, Wiedenbrück 1940, page 36

[7] Cf. on this: Dorothea Angermann: The oldest Bielefeld town hall in the context of city and building history. In: 84th annual report of the historical association for the county of Ravensberg, JG. 1997, page 33.

[8] See: Brochure for the Open Monument Day in Bielefeld on September 12, 2010. Topic: Culture in motion - travel, trade and traffic. Publisher: City of Bielefeld Building Authority - Lower Monument Authority. Bielefeld 2012, page 5.

[9] According to a memorial plaque on the left side of the eaves

[10] In older photos that were taken before the extensive renovation in 1901, the entire structure is still provided with a light-colored plaster.

[11] Bielefeld: City tour. (PDF; 1.3 MB) City of Bielefeld, accessed on November 19, 2012 .

[12] See: Karl E. Mummenhoff: The profane buildings of the Westphalian gentry. In: Der Raum Westfalen, Volume IV / 2, Münster 1965, pp. 238–239. The house Roggenmarkt 11 , which was destroyed by a fire in 1904, and the Prinzipalmarkt 11 house, which was restored after the Second World War, should be mentioned here. Both were created around 1490.

[13] Heidi Hagen-Pedekmir: A building like a painting. Crüwell House undisputed winner of the “Bielefelds most beautiful buildings” campaign . In: Neue Westfälische from October 1, 2011.