House Balchem
Haus Balchem is a middle- aged and later converted baroque town house in Cologne-Altstadt-Süd , Severinstraße 15.
The house, originally built in the 17th century, was almost completely destroyed during the Second World War . Except for its striking facade decorated with an imposing bay window, its lattice windows and a towering, curved stepped gable , it is a reconstruction .
History of origin
Baroque Cologne town houses existed between 1541 ( Heumarkt 16) and the latest version in 1676. The Balchem house was originally a forge, which was bought in 1670 by the Cologne brewmaster and councilor Heinrich Deutz and expanded by 1676. According to legend, Deutz wanted to own a house from which he could look all the way to the Rhine to watch the merchant ships. With the purchase of the forge, which was around 150 years old at the time of purchase, opposite the garden of the Catholic parish church of St. Severin , he was able to fulfill this dream. Deutz lavishly expanded the house in a baroque style, adding a richly decorated facade to the formerly simple functional building and also making numerous interior changes. On the wall anchor is the inscription “Soli deo gloria” (Only God for Glory). It was a Cologne residential building with the typical suspended mezzanine floor, the (rebuilt) three-storey, triple stepped and curved volute gable dominating Severinstraße. The bay window above the entrance door is a status symbol for the owner, for whom he had to obtain special permission. The Corinthian columns supporting the bay window frame the main entrance - a very rare testimony to the old Cologne cityscape. After the work was completed, Deutz opened the restaurant "Zum golden Bären" on the ground floor and mezzanine floor as a meeting place for councilors and guild masters. Heinrich Deutz died in 1697, his heirs continued to run the inn under the name “Deutzer Brauhaus”.
In the following years the owners of the Balchem house changed frequently, for example to the Hambloch family, Johann Josef Badorff (1783–1794) and Magnus Badorff (-1838), Christian Decker (1838–1859) and finally to the eponymous brothers Johann Balchem. Since then, the “Balchem Brewery” and the “Carthusian Brewing Brothers Balchem” (1884–1921) existed here. In 1922 the "Kölner Union Brauerei" was created through the merger of the Balchem, Schmitz and Hubertus breweries, and in 1938 it was renamed "Hubertus Brewery". Johann Balchem built a modern brewery in the back yard and continued to run the restaurant as "Haus Balchem". In 1935, the rooms on the upper floor, which had previously been used exclusively as storage rooms, were converted into apartments. On March 24, 1954, the city of Cologne acquired the house from the Balchem heirs, which had burned down to the surrounding walls on April 6, 1944. On November 24, 1954, the Cologne City Council decided to rebuild the building as a memorial. The city acquired the house to enable the complex construction work. Since there were no exact building photographs, the gable was reconstructed with drawings and the facade was rebuilt almost true to the original. Due to the complete destruction of the interior, preserved stairs, floors and doors from old Cologne town houses were brought together and installed in the Balchem house; as a result, components entered the building that were not previously available. This includes the spiral staircase to the mezzanine, which comes from the Rinkenhof , which was demolished in 1911 . The lower floors were then leased and used again as a restaurant ("Zum golden Löwen").
In June 1962 the restoration had already cost more than one million DM. A thorough renovation took place until 1964, a further conversion and renewed renovation took place in 1988. Since October 13, 1975, the city has been using Haus Balchem as the district library of the Cologne city library ; the upper floors served u. a. the adult education center as event rooms. The building has been a listed building since July 1, 1980.
House Balchem
Bay window at the Balchem house
Portal with bay window
Interior view, Cologne ceiling detail
today
As part of an extensive renovation, the city of Cologne, as the owner, decided in December 2013 to lease the building to private individuals. A living space of 915 m² was created on a plot of land of 531 m². During the faithful renovation of the facade, it was noticeable that the vaults under the property were intended for 3 houses and that Deutz constructed a building out of them. Only a few town houses have survived in Cologne, including the “ Haus Saaleck ” Am Hof (1461), “Weinkrüger” on Marsplatz (1550) and “Zum Seil” in Lichtgasse (1643). Haus Balchem is the only surviving baroque house in the Severinsviertel, where it is popularly known today as "Em Balge". Along with Severinstorburg and St. Severin, it is one of the Veedel's landmarks .
From September 2013 to March 2017, Haus Balchem and the district library were closed for renovation. The modernized library received a renewed inventory, supplemented by a MINT focus (mathematics, computer science, natural science and technology), electronic media such as e-books and audio books as well as modern technical equipment, which u. a. personal loan and return of media is permitted.
literature
- House Balchem. Leaflet of the Cologne Municipal Library, undated
- Werner Schäfke : Cologne: Two millennia, history, art and culture on the Rhine. DuMont Reiseverlag, 1998 ( Google Booksearch )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Peter Fuchs (Ed.), Chronicle of the History of the City of Cologne , Volume 2, 1991, p. 298
- ↑ Hanna Adenauer , report on the activities of the municipal monument preservation in Cologne 1953–1956 , in the yearbook of the Rheinische Denkmalpflege XXI 1957 ; ed. by Rudolf Wesenberg , Butzon and Bercker, Kevelaer 1957, pp. 127–142 (republished in: Stadtspuren. Denkmäler in Köln Vol. 9.I: Cologne: 85 Years of Monument Protection and Preservation 1912–1997. Bachem Verlag, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3 -7616-1129-3 ; pp. 233–241)
- ↑ Open Monument Day: House Balchem. In: the Cologne City Library blogs. September 12, 2011, accessed March 29, 2017 .
- ↑ Haus Balchem district library will open again on March 16. Retrieved March 29, 2017 .
Coordinates: 50 ° 55 ′ 21.1 ″ N , 6 ° 57 ′ 33.1 ″ E