House Honsdorf

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
House Honsdorf, north-west side

Haus Honsdorf is a former aristocratic residence on the outskirts of Honsdorf in the North Rhine-Westphalian district of Heinsberg . From what was once a large complex, only the remainder of a corner tower remains, which was placed under monument protection on August 22, 1984 . The younger tenant house from the end of the 19th century has been a listed building since September 2, 1994 .

history

Haus Honsdorf was the ancestral seat of a noble family of the same name, of which members were first mentioned in documents in 1244. The complex was one of numerous fortified properties along the Wurm , because for a long time this river marked the border between the competing duchies of Jülich and Limburg and the territories of the dioceses of Cologne and Liège .

Design for a new building in the middle of the 17th century

At the end of the 14th century, the property came into the possession of the von Driesch family, who sold the facility to Wilhelm von Nesselrode in 1452 . In 1494 Wirich von Gertzen became the owner. However, the following year he sold the property to Johann von Leerodt . His family had the large farmyard of Haus Honsdorf built at the beginning of the 16th century, so that the property then presented itself as a stately complex with three bridges and seven towers. Around 1600 the facility was partially rebuilt under Winand von Leerodt. After the childless death of his son Wilhelm in 1653, the inheritance was divided in 1654. One part went to the von Huyn family called Geleen, the other part, including the Honsdorf house, went to the von Velen family , because Alexander I von Velen had married Wilhelm's sister Agnes von Leerodt in 1597.

House Honsdorf around 1800

The couple's son, the Westphalian Wallenstein Alexander II von Velen , forged plans in the middle of the 17th century to extensively change Haus Honsdorf, but none of the five surviving designs were implemented. Instead, Alexander II sold the property to Johann Wilhelm von Mirbach zu Harff in 1668 . His family remained in the possession of Haus Honsdorf for a long time. In 1711 she had the manor house rebuilt after a fire . The majority of the old farm buildings were laid down in 1815 and subsequently replaced by modern buildings. In 1897 the mansion was demolished. A new tenant house was built roughly in its place, as the property had been leased to the Jaeger family since 1817. At the beginning of the 20th century, Wilhelm von Mirbach-Harff was the owner.

During the Second World War , Haus Honsdorf was badly damaged by American troops, so that in 1945 one of the towers that had been preserved until then had to be blown up because it had suffered even more severe war damage than the rest of the complex. The north tower of the house was rebuilt after the war. In 1992 the long-term tenant family Jaeger bought the property and had it repaired in 1997. At the same time, one of the former farm buildings was converted into a residential building.

building

Site plan of the Honsdorf house from the beginning of the 19th century before the majority demolition
The tenant house

Hardly anything has been preserved from the Leerodt complex from the 16th century. Structures from that time can only be found in the north tower. Loopholes with house edging in the area of ​​the ground floor still testify to this day of its former strength.

Until the partial demolition in 1815, the estate consisted of a detached house and a three-winged farm yard with a rectangular floor plan. The buildings were surrounded on all sides by a wide moat , of which only the part on the northwest side remains today. Brick was used as building material .

At the beginning of the 20th century there were towers at the corners of the farm buildings, of which the west tower had three storeys and a square floor plan, while the east corner tower was rounded on the outside and also had three storeys. The western tower also had a block frieze in the upper part of the masonry . This was repeated on the outside of the two-storey north wing, the eastern half of which was still preserved and was used as a stable and residential building. The courtyard facade of the north wing was originally a wooden gallery . At the west end of the wing was the area of ​​the former gatehouse, to which a brick bridge led over the moat. The western gable of the north wing was curved and stepped .

The mansion stood on the east side of the complex and was a simple, two-story building from 1711. It stood completely in the water and was connected to the farm yard by a bridge. after its demolition in 1897, a new tenant house was built in its place. This is a two-story brick building with a gable roof , which is divided into five axes by windows.

literature

Web links

Commons : Haus Honsdorf  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Description of the remains of the tower from the monument authority on limburg-bernd.de , accessed on December 15, 2019.
  2. ↑ a b c Description of the Honsdorf house from the monument authority on limburg-bernd.de , accessed on December 15, 2019.
  3. ↑ Edmund Renard: The art monuments of the districts Erkelenz and Geilenkirchen. 1904, p. 213.
  4. ↑ a b c Edmund Renard: The art monuments of the districts Erkelenz and Geilenkirchen. 1904, p. 214.
  5. ^ A b Karl Emerich Krämer : From castle to castle on the Lower Rhine. Volume 2, 2nd edition. Mercator, Duisburg 1985, ISBN 3-87463-076-5 , p. 24.
  6. ^ Marriage contract between Alexander von Velen and Agnes von Leerodt in the Internet portal "Westfälische Geschichte" , accessed on December 15, 2019.
  7. ↑ Richard Klapheck: The palace buildings of Raesfeld and Honstorff and the 17th century mansions of the Maastal brick architecture. 1922, pp. 37-45.
  8. ↑ a b c Information on Haus Honsdorf on Wilhelm Jansen's website ( Memento from April 12, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ↑ Georg Schmitz: A tranquil little place with noble roots. In: Aachener Zeitung . Online edition of August 24, 2008 ( online ).
  10. ↑ a b c Edmund Renard: The art monuments of the districts Erkelenz and Geilenkirchen. 1904, p. 215.

Coordinates: 51 ° 0 ′ 8.9 ″  N , 6 ° 11 ′ 6 ″  E