English Church (Bad Homburg)

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Apse and west side of the English Church

The English Church is a former church building of the Church of England in Bad Homburg , which is now used as a cultural center. It is a listed building .

Building history

Many of the spa guests in what was then Homburg were English; in 1857 1,703 of 8,500 guests came from the kingdom. And especially when it became custom from 1876 to go to Homburg for a cure after the parliamentary sessions ended, their share rose. As early as 1859, the English spa guests wanted their own Anglican church in Homburg.

Landgrave Ferdinand made the building site at Ferdinandsplatz (or Ferdinandstrasse 16) available from the estate of the late English Landgrave Elisabeth . The local hoteliers and the casino leaseholders, Gebrüder Blanc, contributed to the financing . The building plans come from the English architect Ewan Christian. The church was built from 1861 under the direction of the Homburg master builder Christian Holler (1819–1903). Completion was in 1863 or 1865. In 1908, the Landgravine Elizabeth monument was erected on the green space in front of the east side .

architecture

The sacred building is a two-story hall church with a semicircular closed choir and a towed gable roof that is covered with slate. The original of a church window from that time can be seen in the Historical City Museum in the Gothic House .

Architecturally, the building is reminiscent of English village churches. Their style is described as Gothic or Neo-Gothic , but also as Norman , Neo-Romanesque .

Church use

The inauguration of the church, then called Christ Church , took place on September 2, 1868 by the Lord Bishop of London . The first services were celebrated as early as 1866. On Sundays there were two services, as well as weddings, baptisms and funerals for English and American spa guests who belonged to the Anglican churches. The last church act was a wedding on June 6, 1914. On August 1, 1914, the First World War began . The profanation took place in 1914 after the property was confiscated by the city.

organ

The organ was built in 1866 by the London organ builder JW Walker. It was donated by the city of Bad Homburg to the Catholic Holy Cross Church in Gonzenheim for its inauguration in 1953, i.e. after the church was no longer in use. It is now the only surviving English organ from the 19th century in Germany.

Worldly use

It was converted into a secular building in 1914. On August 19, 1916, the Städtisches Historisches Museum (Städtische Heimatmuseum) opened here, but in 1925 it moved to the stables of Homburg Castle . The building was empty from 1925 to 1946. From 1946 the building was used as a municipal concert hall.

After the first renovation in 1964, theater performances, lectures, conferences and exhibitions were held here. From 1989 to 1990 the second renovation took place based on a design by the architect Reinhold Kargel, Darmstadt. A new foyer building was erected in front of the western entrance of the church. The materials of the new building were chosen to match the old building. A glazed corridor connects the two buildings.

Since it reopened on September 14, 1990, it has been a cultural center. B. Jazz concerts, classical concerts, cabaret, cabaret, lectures and exhibitions are presented.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Siegfried Rudolf Carl Theodor Enders: Cult buildings of foreign guests in European spa and bathing towns - a neglected, shared heritage? In: ICOMOS, Hefte des Deutschen Nationalkomitees, No. 52, Stuttgart, 2012, ISBN 978-3-8062-2729-1 , pp. 201–210, here p. 207 (PDF; 2.9 MB). Retrieved March 16, 2016 .
  2. ^ A b State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (ed.): English Church In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hesse . Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  3. ↑ a b c The English Colony and its "Christ Church" in: Publishing supplement "150 Years of the Heilbad" by Taunus-Kurier from July 1984
  4. ↑ a b c d e English Church receives nationwide attention in: Taunuszeitung from October 10, 1991
  5. ↑ a b c Project description 311 English Church: Renovation and extension of a neo-Gothic church to a concert and exhibition center (PDF 1.0 MB). (No longer available online.) In: KKS ARCHITEKTEN, formerly Kargel Architects. Archived from the original on February 18, 2016 ; accessed on March 16, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / kks-archi.de
  6. ^ A b Heinrich Jacobi : Who owns the local "English Church" in: Der Taunusbote from January 13, 1920
  7. ↑ a b Heike Straesser: Conversion of the former "English Church" in Bad Homburg In: db deutsche bauzeitung, issue 10 , 1991, pp. 140–141
  8. ^ Heinrich Jacobi: To the history of the Homburger mineral springs In: To the centenary of the Heilbad Homburg. Association for history and archeology in Bad Homburg vdH, XVII. Heft der Mitteilungen , 1935, pp. 1–264, here p. 248. Jacobi writes about this: "Since 1865 there was a larger English church in Homburg."
  9. ^ State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (ed.): Monument Landgräfin Elizabeth In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hesse . Retrieved March 19, 2016.
  10. ↑ a b Ferdinandstrasse 16, English Church. Bad Homburg digital building book. (As of March 2016). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  11. ↑ Kleine Zeitung in: Der Taunusbote from September 6, 1868
  12. ^ Peter Schiebel in: Taunuszeitung from May 5, 2001
  13. ^ Description of the organ memorial  in the German Digital Library
  14. ^ Fugato organ festival: Walker organ (1867), Holy Cross Church. In: Kur- und Kongreß-GmbH. Retrieved March 16, 2016 .
  15. ^ English Church, Ferdinandstrasse 16. Places of the cure. (As of March 17, 2016). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  16. ^ City of Bad Homburg: A city writes history - 100 years of the Städtisches Historisches Museum, Bad Homburg vdHöhe. (No longer available online.) In: Bad Homburg Tourismus. Formerly in the original ; Retrieved March 19, 2016 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.bad-homburg-tourismus.de   Taunus Information Center: A city writes history - 100 years of the Städtisches Historisches Museum, Bad Homburg vdHöhe. (No longer available online.) In: Taunus Touristik Service eV Archived from the original on March 25, 2016 ; Retrieved March 19, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / taunus.info
  17. ^ City of Bad Homburg: History of the Museum. In: Municipal historical museum. Retrieved March 19, 2016 .
  18. ^ City of Bad Homburg: The English Church as an event center. In: Bad Homburg Tourism. Retrieved March 16, 2016 .

literature

  • Siegfried Rudolf Carl Theodor Enders: Cult buildings by foreign guests in European spa and bathing towns - a neglected, shared heritage? In: ICOMOS, Hefte des Deutschen Nationalkomitees, No. 52 , Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-8062-2729-1 , pp. 201–210, here p. 207

Web links

Commons : Englische Kirche (Bad Homburg vor der Höhe)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 13 ′ 30.6 ″  N , 8 ° 37 ′ 21.6 ″  E

gallery

  • View from the southeast

  • View of the old main entrance

  • the main entrance

  • The glazed connecting passage

  • View from the north

  • Apse with monument to Landgravine Elisabeth