Dragon House (Potsdam)
The dragon house on the Bornstedter ridge, on the northern edge of the Sanssouci park in Potsdam , was built from 1770 to 1772 in the style of a Chinese pagoda . Carl von Gontard designed the building, which was built in the taste of the Chinoiserie , according to the specifications of Friedrich II. The pagoda got its name from the dragon figures at the tips of the curved roofs.
history
Six years after the completion of the Chinese House , Frederick II had another building built in the Chinese style, the Dragon House . He received inspiration from the works published in London by the British architect Sir William Chambers “Designs of Chinese buildings, […]” (German: drafts of Chinese buildings) from 1757 and “Plans, elevations, sections and perspective views of the gardens and buildings at Kew in Surry ”(German: plans, surveys, partial and perspective views of the gardens and buildings in Kew) from 1763. The multi-storey Ta-Ho pagoda near the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou and the namesake served as a model for the Potsdam Dragon House Dragons the Chambers designed pagoda in Kew Gardens .
architecture
Gontard reduced the dragon house, which rests on an octagonal floor plan, to four storeys that taper towards the top. On the broader ground floor, with concave walls, a hallway, two rooms and a kitchen were housed. The three floors above remained open and could not be used for residential purposes. The tops of the concave curved roofs were adorned with sixteen gilded dragons and tassels. The kites made of sheet metal by the sculptors Nathanael Eppen († before 1786) and Gerhard Buschmann († 1783) had to be replaced by copies during restoration work in 1904. The building was painted green. Wavy bands with small bouquets of flowers were painted on the ocher-colored pilasters , and Chinese heads were painted over the window arches.
use
The dragon house was not only decorative architecture, but also intended as a house for the winemaker of the royal vineyard established there in 1769 , who did not move into the building. To protect the vacant house from deterioration, it had to be restored in 1787. It was then inhabited by the overseers of the Belvedere, a few meters to the west . The constant use required modifications and additions, which emerged from a plan from 1884. It shows another room, a laundry room and three stables. The Drachenhaus has been used for gastronomy since 1934.
literature
- General management of the Foundation Palaces and Gardens Potsdam-Sanssouci (Ed.): Potsdam Palaces and Gardens. Building and gardening art from the 17th to the 20th century. Castles and Gardens Foundation and Potsdamer Verlagbuchhandlung , Potsdam 1993, ISBN 3-910196-14-4 , pp. 144f.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Heinrich Ludwig Manger: Sine Maltese Haeusgen. In: Heinrich Ludewig Manger's building history of Potsdam, especially under the reign of King Frederick the Second. Second volume (1763 to 1786), Nicolai, Berlin / Stettin 1789, p. 343 .
Coordinates: 52 ° 24 '21.9 " N , 13 ° 1' 17.4" E