Goltsteinstrasse 15/16

Goltsteinstrasse 15/16 (2018)

Goltsteinstraße 15/16, facade (1899)

Louis Kniffler, bronze plate in front of house no. 15/16

The house at Goltsteinstrasse 15/16 in Düsseldorf is a listed building.

history

The building was designed in 1899 by the architects Kayser & von Großheim by the architect Max Wöhler . The owner was Hermann Nicolaus von Wätjen (1851–1911), manor owner , city councilor and secret councilor in Düsseldorf, who had married Clara Vautier (1862–1944), daughter of the painter Benjamin Vautier, in 1880 . Only the facade of this formerly representative house has been preserved.

In 1885 the entrepreneur Louis Kniffler (1827–1888) moved his company headquarters to the previous building at Goltsteinstrasse 15. He had lived in the neighboring building at Goltsteinstrasse 17 since 1866 and was its owner. The company Louis Kniffler & Co. was founded on July 1, 1859 under Dutch protectorate as a Japanese trading company and acted under the name C. Illies & Co. as a branch of the Yokohama-based parent company, which was headed by Gustav Reddelien from 1866 and from 1870 was continued by Carl Illies. As Prussian Vice Consul in Nagasaki (1861) and as Prussian Consul for Japan (1863), Kniffler was a pioneer of German-Japanese trade, in particular through his commitment to the Prussian East Asia Expedition (1858–1862) and the trade concluded on January 24, 1861 - and shipping treaty between Prussia and Japan , which the German Empire joined in 1871. A bronze plate set into the floor in front of the house in 2012 commemorates the historically important resident.

description

facade

Jörg Heimeshoff describes the facade in particular. The monumental facade is five axes wide. The entrance of the four-storey house with natural stone facade is in the right axis (today under no. 15). The entrance is flanked by pilasters supported by an entablature. The entrance also shows a volute border and is emphasized by a roof. The basement and the mezzanine floor are structured horizontally. There is a side entrance in the left axis. The first floor shows a balcony in the second axis from the left. This rests on volute consoles and has a balustrade. The Ionic half-columns that surround all windows on this floor show a fluting at this opening . The roof over the balcony door is round-arched with an ornamented gable field, all other roofs are triangular. The mezzanine floor with twin windows is adorned by a frieze of festoons and masks. A console frieze, which supports the main cornice, is set above a tooth cut.

Entrance portal, right (2018)
Balcony with window, left (2018)
Entrance, left (2018)

Interior design

The Düsseldorf AIV also describes the interior design. The large spatial effect is particularly emphasized.

“The utility rooms are arranged in the basement. The living rooms in the front of the mezzanine floor are 6.20 m deep. The dining room with its side extensions can accommodate a large number of people and, despite its large dimensions, the room does not have an uncomfortable effect even if only a few people usually use it. The doors from the hall to the dining room on the one hand and the salon on the other are aligned with the flower window of the latter and with the center of the winter garden, so that a large spatial effect is achieved with a total depth of about 30 m. The family's bedrooms and toilets as well as two bathrooms are located on the first floor. "