House Bitz

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Haus Bitz, view from the northeast in May 2009

Haus Bitz is a former aristocratic residence in the Bachem district of Frechen , west of the gates of Cologne . It developed from a manor that was converted into a country estate with a representative manor house in the 18th century .

The historical structure was restored at the end of the 1980s and supplemented in 1990 with a modern new building by Oswald Mathias Ungers and a palace park designed by Bernhard Korte . The complex is listed under the number A3 as a monument in the list of monuments of the city of Frechen and is therefore under monument protection .

history

The beginnings of the Bitz company have not yet been clarified. All that is known is that its history was closely connected to that of Bachem Castle and that it belonged to the Jülich Unterherrschaft Unterbachem. The oldest surviving documents relating to Haus Bitz date back to the 15th century. At that time the complex was the seat of the Knights of Hochsteden. However, research suggests that the property is older. Wilhelm von Hochsteden and his wife Wilhelma Schramm sold Haus Bitz to a Herr von Hemberg.

A tithe register from 1504 names the brothers Wilhelm and Johann von Hemmerich, called von Bachem, as the owners of the estate . A son or grandson of this Wilhelm of the same name was married to Margaretha von Palant . The property passed through their daughter Gertrud to her husband Jacob von Palant. Her grandson Jacob sold the house together with his two brothers-in-law and the guardian of his two underage sisters on October 17, 1674 to Sophia Neighausen, widow of Johann Hermann von Heinsberg . In 1675 she sold the facility for 5800 Rhenish thalers to Philip von Heyringen, who remained the owner until 1712. In that year he transferred Haus Bitz to his niece Catharina Elisabeth von Heyringen, who was married to Joachim Wozislaus von Wobeser.

The couple sold Haus Bitz in 1733 or 1734 to the Cologne merchant Jakob Nierstrass, who refused to allow billeting on his property in 1735, referring to the property's free aristocratic status. Freedom meant that the property was exempt from taxes and other burdens such as billeting. The lord of the subordinate Bachem rulers, Baron Christian August von Geldern, who resided at Bachem Castle , then denied that the House of Bitz was free. The dispute ended in 1737 with a settlement: the facilities within the moat retained the privilege, the remaining land with a size of 125  acres was subject to the usual taxes and duties. Jakob Nierstraß's daughter, Maria Anna, married Simon Peltzer , under whom the property increased significantly through acquisitions. His four daughters sold their shares in the house to their only brother Jakob Peltzer, who set up a snuff factory there.

Haus Bitz on a representation from around 1820 to 1830

In 1785 Haus Bitz and all rights and property were sold to Baron Clemens Lothar von Fürstenberg . His family remained the owners of the complex until 1940, when the municipality of Frechen acquired the property from the estate administration Egon von Fürstenberg-Stammheim that year. She planned to house the female labor service there, but it never did.

During the Second World War , the farm buildings were completely destroyed. All that remained of them were the remains of the wall. After the end of the war, Haus Bitz was used for residential purposes. An artist couple lived in an older adjoining building and organized exhibitions for the Frechener Kunstverein on the property. From the middle of the 20th century, however, the house deteriorated more and more. The moat had long since silted up and there was little to remind one of the glory of the past. In 1986 the Cologne gallery owner Michael Kewenig bought the area and had the manor house extensively restored. The ditch that had fallen dry was restored and the Bachemer Bach flooded it again. The palace park was designed as a sculpture park by the landscape architect Bernhard Korte, who had already worked on the Museum Island Hombroich .

In 1990 the architect Oswald Mathias Ungers built a modern building complex with a gallery hall and a representative residential building on the foundations of the destroyed farm buildings. In this way, Haus Bitz was used as a gallery known beyond the borders of Cologne and Frechen and at the same time as the home of the gallery owners Jule and Michael Kewenig. In 2005, three entrepreneurs acquired the property and set it up as the main site of a software company, leaving the historical and architectural substance of the house intact. After a long period of vacancy, the historic house has been used by a company since the beginning of 2018. The rooms were extensively renovated for this purpose, and the adjacent park was also restored.

description

House Bitz is located on a slightly trapezoidal island, which is surrounded on all sides by a moat. The complex consists of a historic, older part in the northeastern area of ​​the island and a modern ensemble of buildings on the other sides. The new buildings from 1990 are designed in a formal language that has been reduced to clear geometric basic elements.

The main access to the island is on its north side. An arched stone bridge leads to a lattice gate , which is flanked on its west side by a small guard house with a broken mansard roof . Such a building used to stand on the other side of the gate, but it has not been preserved.

The oldest preserved building structure probably includes a rectangular building with two storeys on the northeast corner. While its courtyard side was built from field fire bricks , the trench side consists of half-timbering that is now faced with masonry bricks. It is adjoined to the south by the two-storey baroque mansion with a slate mansard roof. His window jambs and Trachyt - stone divide the building in five axes. In the central axis on the side of the moat is today's entrance, to which a modern bridge leads over the moat.

There is a formal garden to the south of the complex . The tranchot map from the beginning of the 19th century shows extensive gardens in the north-west of the Bitz house, but these have not been preserved.

  • Sketch of the house

  • View from the south into the inner courtyard

  • Stairwell

  • The courtyard wing designed by Oswald Mathias Ungers

literature

  • Karl Göbels: Frechen - back then. From Roman times to becoming a city. 2nd Edition. Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne 1986, ISBN 3-7927-0326-2 .
  • Hans Kisky : Water castles and palaces in the Cologne district. Attempt a catalog. In: Johann Köllen, Kisky, Hans, Steimel, Robert (eds.): Seals and coats of arms, castles and palaces in the Cologne district. Festschrift for the 150th anniversary on April 16, 1966. Robert Steimel, Cologne-Zollstock 1966, pp. 65–67.
  • Henriette Meynen: moated castles, palaces and country houses in the Erftkreis. 3. Edition. Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne 1985, ISBN 3-7927-0904-X , pp. 36-37.
  • Ernst Polaczek, Paul Clemen: The art monuments of the district of Cologne (= The art monuments of the Rhine province . Volume 4, No. 1). L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1897, pp. 11-12 ( digitized version ).
  • Joseph Strange : News of Noble Families and Estates. Issue 2. RF Hergt, Koblenz 1879, pp. 65–70 ( digitized version ).
  • Hermann Maria Wollschläger: Cologne Castle Guide. Discovery trips by bike or car to palaces, castles and country estates. 2nd Edition. Wienand, Cologne 1986, ISBN 3-87909-140-4 , pp. 114-116.
  • The history of the house . In: Kölner Stadtanzeiger from September 3, 2005 ( online ).

Web links

Commons : Haus Bitz  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hermann Maria Wollschläger: Cologne Castle Guide. 1986, p. 116.
  2. ↑ Joseph Strange: News about Noble Families and Goods. Volume 2, 1879, p. 65.
  3. ↑ Joseph Strange: News about Noble Families and Goods. Volume 2, 1879, pp. 65-66.
  4. ↑ Joseph Strange: News about Noble Families and Goods. Volume 2, 1879, p. 67.
  5. ^ A b Henriette Meynen: moated castles, palaces and country houses in the Erftkreis. 1985, p. 36.
  6. ^ A b c Joseph Strange: News about noble families and estates. Volume 2, 1879, p. 68.
  7. ↑ a b c Theodor Ostermann: Chronicle of the city of Frechen . Reprint of the revised version from 1967. Frechener Geschichtsverein, Frechen 2010, o. S. ( PDF ; 181 kB).
  8. ↑ a b c The history of the house . In: Kölner Stadtanzeiger from September 3, 2005 ( online ).
  9. ↑ Wolfgang Mrziglod: Offices in the old manor house , in Kölnische Rundschau , from March 30, 2005, accessed on April 7, 2016
  10. ↑ Press release , accessed on February 1, 2018.
  11. ^ Hans Kisky: Moated castles and palaces in the district of Cologne . 1966, p. 67.
  12. ^ Hans Kisky: Moated castles and palaces in the district of Cologne . 1966, p. 66.

Coordinates: 50 ° 53 ′ 52 ″  N , 6 ° 49 ′ 5 ″  E