Freihof (Wiesloch)

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Freihof in Wiesloch

The Freihof in Wiesloch in the Rhein-Neckar district in Baden-Württemberg is one of the oldest buildings in the city. The stone house, which is still medieval at its core, has characteristic stepped gables . Once a noble mansion with goods in Altwiesloch , the property shares its eventful early modern ownership history. The Freihof, which once also had a neighboring brewery and distillery , may have been used for gastronomy since the 18th century, but at the latest since the middle of the 19th century .

history

The origins of the once walled and moated aristocratic residence at the highest point of the medieval city are unknown. The humpback blocks visible on the building have the same features as those of Wiesloch Castle , so that parts of the building could still date from the late 12th or early 13th century. Adolf von Oechelhäuser dates the humpback cuboid later, namely to the first half of the 14th century.

Artur Hochwarth accepts the Edelfrei von Wiesloch as builder and dates the Freihof to the early 13th century. He sees it as the original seat of the noble free of Wiesloch, before they - under the pressure of Wiesloch's becoming a town - would have moved to the Altwiesloch moated castle . The Freihof then came to Lorsch Abbey from the noble free , from this in 1225 as part of the Lorsch curia (i.e. all kinds of farms) in Wiesloch as pledge to Count Palatine Ludwig and finally in 1232 with the entire Lorsch property to the Archdiocese of Mainz . This argumentation is partly in contradiction in terms of time to the more recent research into the early history of Altwiesloch, so that one would have to assume that the building was built by the noble free of Wiesloch to preserve the chronology in the 12th century.

The first reliable documented mention of the Freihof comes from 1340, when Reinhard II von Sickingen had part of the farm as a Mainz fief. Possibly a document from 1290 already refers to the Freihof when the Lords of Weiler / von Hettingen sold a farm to the Count Palatine.

The Freihof was pledged in 1380 within the von Sickingen family. At the beginning of the 15th century the Freihof was owned by Schwarz-Reinhard von Sickingen , who in 1414 also acquired extensive property in Altwiesloch. After Count Palatine Otto Schwarz-Reinhard released taxes from his Wiesloch property in 1425, he significantly expanded the Freihof, which was now part of his allodial property . The walling, which is still partially preserved in Höllgasse, probably goes back to him. The walled area enclosed today's parcels 405, 405/1, 412 and 413. There was also a ditch on the north side of the Freihof.

Copies of historical coat of arms stones at Freihof, v. l. To the right: Ehrenberg, Niefern, Sickingen

Schwarz-Reinhard was married to Kunigunde von Niefern. On the building there are now copies of the weathered original coat of arms stones with the coats of arms of those of Sickingen and von Niefern. According to evidence of a Johannes Baptista altar mentioned in 1496, there was probably also a chapel that was built to the east of the core building and was later added to the half-timbered extension. A third coat of arms on the building, which was once on the outer wall of the presumed chapel area and was only moved to the other two coats of arms on the portal area in 1925, is that of the Lords of Ehrenberg , who are not documented to be associated with the Freihof. However, Gerhard von Ehrenberg , who was bishop of Speyer from 1336 to 1363 , could have sponsored the construction of a chapel for the Freihof , as he did with the Pankratius chapel in Altwiesloch.

The Freihof shares the history of Altwiesloch from the middle of the 15th century. So after Schwarz-Reinhard's death in 1439 it was owned by his son-in-law Reinhard von Neipperg and in 1499 came through his daughter Elisabeth to her husband Wiprecht Sturmfeder von Oppenweiler , then to his son Philipp and his brothers. In 1533 Hans Sturmfeder tried to get the grapes from Altwiesloch vineyards to be pressed in the Freihof press. From 1552 the Freihof was owned by the Lords of Nippenburg . When the Nippenburg inheritance was divided in 1571, when the goods in Altwiesloch were separated, the court passed to Anna von Nippenburg. Her husband Hans Heinrich von Helmstatt was murdered in 1581. Anna then married Wilhelm von Dorbenck around 1586 . Their son Jörg Philipp von Dorbenck sold the Freihof at the latest in 1616 to the Junkers Scheibel family, who died out in the male line with Heinrich Ludwig Scheibel around 1688. As a massive stone house, the Freihof apparently survived the Palatinate War of Succession , in which Wiesloch was burned down by French troops in 1689, but it is likely to have suffered at least fire damage.

Around 1690 Philipp Adam von Berlichingen inherited the Freihof , who through his wife, a née von Helmstatt , already owned property in Altwiesloch. Baron Joachim Friedrich von Lietzen (also von Lizen ) acquired the Altwiesloch estate with the Freihof from Philipp Adam in 1701 and lived in it for his family. The baron gave the Lutheran congregation, which had lost its church in the fire of 1689, a prayer room in the Freihof. His son Friedrich Sigmund von Lietzen let the Freihof face south after 1737, adding an extension with a half-timbered gable for an adjoining room, including the old chapel extension. The Lietzen daughter Theresia and her husband Ernst Johann Philipp von Holzhausen sold the property in 1773 to the State Councilor and Chancellery director Johann Georg von Stengel , who eleven years later to Friedrich August and Emich Johann von Uexküll. The Freihof is described in detail in the sales document. In addition to the large stone house and the wine press, the perimeter also included a farmer's house and a day laborer's house opposite, a large fruit barn, three gardens, various stables existing within the curtain wall and a wine cellar.

There are no known reports about the Freihof from around and after 1800. It is also uncertain when and to whom the Barons von Uexküll sold the property again. Around 1840 they still had property in Altwiesloch.

It was not until 1850 that the Freihof reappeared in the documents when it was auctioned off with a brewery building that had emerged from the wine press, including a summer bar and bowling alley, owned by the cooper and brewer Jakob Vogt, and was sold to the Steidel couple for 6714 guilders. The character of the property had changed fundamentally since it was sold to Uexküll in 1785. The goods in Altwiesloch had taken a different route of ownership. The entire complex of the Freihof within the ring wall was obviously split into smaller parts, because the farm and day laborer's house no longer belonged to the property. The wine press had become a brewery and the summer inn and bowling alley had probably replaced some of the gardens or outbuildings. It is possible that the restaurant in the Freihof had already been set up during the Uexküll times and operated by a tenant.

The Freihof in Wiesloch 1909. To the east there is only a narrow two-story extension, the half-timbered structure is plastered. Behind it is a low kitchen wing. There are only two coats of arms on the portal, the third is still on the east wall of the extension.

The Steidel couple donated the property to their daughter Katharina in 1853 on the occasion of her wedding to the brewer Jakob Heinrich Hendle from Weingarten, but retained a right of residence in the Freihof and the relapse of ownership in the event of Hendle's death or a childless marriage. On the occasion of the donation, it is learned that there was a distillery on the ground floor of the brewery building, while the actual brewery was on the first floor. Hendle obviously didn't stay long, because in 1858 the single brewer Georg Steidel bought Freihof and Brauhaus. The property remained in the family until 1904. In 1898 the brewery building was separated as parcel 405/1 from the actual Freihof (parcel 405) and Freihofstrasse was rebuilt. The old Freihofgasse was renamed Schustergasse. The old Schustergasse from the market square to Freihofgasse became part of Höllgasse.

In 1904 the Wagner Philipp Schweinfurth III acquired the Freihof and the brewery from Jakob Heinrich Steidel. Schweinfurth had the old brewery demolished and built a two-story house with a schnapps distillery in its place. In 1909 the Freihof, without the new brewery, came into the possession of the brewer Zorn. Adolf von Oechelhäuser describes the condition of the building externally and internally as neglected at that time . Zorn ran a brewery on Marktstrasse and let the previous owner Steidel continue to run the Freihof as a tenant until after the First World War.

Between 1918 and 1920 the innkeeper and fire brigade commander Georg Zutavern came back into the possession of the Freihof and distillery through several purchases and land swaps, and in 1925 with the acquisition of a small house even in the possession of the entire former Freihof area. The renovation work also took place in 1925, giving the Freihof its present-day appearance. Zutavern had the old kitchen extension with no cellar in the northeast corner torn down, the framework on the gable of the southeast extension exposed and a second such gable erected on a solid base in the northeast. The Freihof received a new main entrance on this new east facade. The kitchen was first installed again in the north-eastern part, but then moved to the south-eastern part in 1928 (former small adjoining room, former chapel) when modern toilet facilities were installed in the north-eastern part.

Photo from 1983

After Georg Zutavern's death in 1929, the Freihof complex came into the possession of a community of heirs , with son Erwin being the sole owner of the main building. In 1941, the community of heirs sold the associated residential building at Freihofstrasse 5. In an air raid on November 25, 1944, the bowling alley and drinking hall were destroyed, the roof of the small residential building was covered and half-timbered parts in the east of the Freihof were dented, killing a woman. Erwin Zutavern also died in 1944. The remaining community of heirs consisting of Elisabeth Pfeffer and Gertrud Lamerdin (both née Zutavern) sold the small house in 1954. In 1955 the Freihof became the sole property of Gertrud Lamerdin and her husband, the baker Kurt Lamerdin, who in the same year carried out a major renovation based on plans by Werner Degreif and with the assistance of the artist Clara Kress . In 1959 the owners ceded a small, undeveloped piece of land south of the Freihof to the city, which created a paved parking lot there. In 1962 the Lamerdin couple also came into possession of the former distillery building, which they had torn down and replaced with an apartment building.

The Freihof has been owned by the city since 1968 and was rebuilt again in 1971/72, with the main entrance being relocated to the south side. The toilets were moved to a mezzanine floor so that the entire ground floor could be used for the kitchen. A large part of Clara Kress's picture decoration was removed, only a glass wall designed by her remained. An apartment previously in the house was given up and the space gained was used to create an office and to enlarge the guest rooms. The Freihof was used gastronomically until mid-2017; the restaurant is empty, the building is offered for sale.

description

View from the north with the double-gabled half-timbered extension to the east and the two lavatory cores on the northern gable side of the stone building

The Freihof is a massive two-story stone building with stepped gables to the north and south. The main entrance is to the south, on the north gable side there are two toilet bay windows . A two-storey half - timbered wing on a solid base with two half - timbered gables perpendicular to the main building is built on to the east . The building, which is essentially long rectangular, was given an almost square floor plan through the addition. In the southern part of the extension, the presumed late medieval chapel has risen , of which, after numerous renovations, only a few remains of the wall should be found in the eastern outer wall. The northern part of the extension was only added in its current form in 1925.

At the main entrance in the south of the main building there are copies of historical heraldic stones. The large coat of arms with five balls and a crest is that of Schwarz-Reinhard von Sickingen , who owned the Freihof in the early 15th century. The coat of arms with the ring was not copied exactly according to the historical model and is that of Schwarz-Reinhard's wife Kunigunde von Niefern (mistakenly interpreted as the coat of arms of Bettendorff by Winter and Oechelhäuser ). The coat of arms with half the flight of an eagle is that of the Lords of Ehrenberg and may be associated with the former chapel. Before 1925, until a window broke in the eastern outer wall of the south-eastern extension, it was above a basement neck .

The architectural decoration created by Clara Kress during the renovation in 1955 included, among other things, stained glass windows and a stained glass wall using old timber, as well as a five-part cycle of pictures with the journey of the Sickingen down the Rhine to Worms . During the renovation in 1972, only the stained glass wall remained.

literature

  • Wilhelm and Heinrich Winter (arr.): History of the City of Wiesloch , Wiesloch 1904 (Reprint 1988), pp. 33/34.
  • Adolf von Oechelhäuser : The art monuments of the districts of Sinsheim, Eppingen and Wiesloch (Heidelberg district) , Tübingen 1909, p. 246 and plate XXI.
  • Artur Hochwarth: The Freihof in Wiesloch , in: Kraichgau. Contributions to landscape and local research , volume 8, 1983, pp. 131–146.
  • H. Mohr: Wieslochs Burgen , in: Kurpfälzer Winzerfestanzeiger 1994 , pp. 22–32.
  • Ludwig H. Hildebrandt: The city of Wiesloch in the Middle Ages , in: Wiesloch - Contributions to History, Volume 1, Ubstadt-Weiher 2000, pp. 31-64.
  • Helmut Walther: Altwiesloch from the 13th to the beginning of the 19th century , in: Wiesloch - Contributions to History, Volume 1, Ubstadt-Weiher 2000, pp. 65–94.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hildebrandt 2000, p. 37, with reference to Oechelhäuser 1909, p. 246, Hochwarth 1983, p. 131 and Mohr 1994, p. 22–32.
  2. ↑ Hochwarth 1983, pp. 131/132
  3. ↑ Manfred Hermann: Kat. Stadtpfarrkirche St. Laurentius Wiesloch , Lindenberg 2005, p. 25.
  4. ↑ Hildebrandt 2000, pp. 36/37.
  5. ↑ Hildebrandt 2000, p. 48
  6. ↑ Hochwarth 1983, pp. 133/134.
  7. ↑ Hochwarth 1983, pp. 135/136.
  8. ↑ Hochwarth 1983, pp. 137/138.
  9. ↑ a b c Walther 2000, pp. 73-83.
  10. ↑ Hochwarth 1983, p. 138.
  11. ↑ Hochwarth 1983, p. 139.
  12. ↑ Hochwarth 1983, p. 140.
  13. ↑ a b c Hochwarth 1983, p. 141.
  14. ↑ a b Oechelhäuser 1909, p. 246.
  15. ↑ In 1904 Winter mistakenly suspected that it could be the coat of arms of the von Helmsheim family.

Web links

Commons : Freihof  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Chronicle at freihof-wiesloch.de (accessed on October 28, 2012)

Coordinates: 49 ° 17 ′ 41.3 "  N , 8 ° 42 ′ 1.5"  E