House chimney

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The house chimney (former street address Friedrich-Engels-Allee 289 ) was a residential building on the Wuppertal Friedrich-Engels-Allee , east of the confluence with Martin-Luther-Straße in Unterbarmen . It was considered a monument and was included in the official list of the state conservator .

description

The two-storey house was built in 1837 in half-timbered construction and had wooden panels on the east gable . The five-axis front facing the street, the south side of the building, was slated. The first floor on the front side had a central entrance to which a three-step flight of stairs led. The lattice windows on the upper floor had shutters. The foreship roof had a gable in the classicist style on the front , which was flanked on each side with a dormer window.

The last visitors reported about the impressive interior of the house, which was described as a monument. Mighty oak beams were supported by sandstone pillars and supported the generously divided floors and offered a total living space of 400 m². The stairwell was made of marble and oak , as were the interior doors.

The residential building had a similar architectural style as the Gonnermann house (street address Friedrich-Engels-Allee 281 ) or like the Engels house .

history

The building, erected in 1837, was part of the first historical development on Friedrich-Engels-Allee and was abandoned in 1975. Friedrich-Engels-Allee was to be widened to 35 meters from east to west in the course of the reconstruction after the Second World War and the multi-lane expansion of the valley axis from east to west and an escape line to be created further north . In the decision to demolish it, arguments were put forward that the house was a traffic obstacle and protruded far out of the new escape line, thus narrowing the road towards the west to a bottleneck.

The resignation came amid protests from the local press and the population. The press stated on April 22, 1975 that the demolition had been carried out discreetly in a special way. The front side facing the avenue was scaffolded as if for renovation, while behind the facade the demolition was in progress. The demolition contractor was instructed to turn away the curious. The measure astonished the public all the more because the former owner of the Schornstein house had the facade of the house renovated six months earlier before she decided to sell the house for personal reasons in the spring, and a few weeks later she was shocked that it was has now come to the demolition.

The demolition of the house also came as a surprise for the city's cultural office, so the double-leaf entrance door was saved at the last minute. This office had previously hoped the house still in a later stage after Wichlinghausen translocate to. The state curator accused that the city had failed to inform the district president about the measure before the demolition began.

The fate of the Schornstein house was later to be followed by the Gonnermann house after a council resolution of October 31, 1978. Previously, the house could be placed under protection, so that the historic street of the part of the avenue from Gonnermann's house to the Pauluskirche in the west was preserved.

In addition to numerous outraged letters to the editor in the press, the Association of German Architects , the Bergisches Geschichtsverein and the CDU district group protested and called for the demolition to stop immediately. Nineteen days before the local elections , on April 15 , the City Director issued a demolition freeze and declared that an attempt should now be made to find someone interested within four weeks. The dismantling had progressed so far that only the facade could have been saved. An interested party would have received it free of charge, only the transfer would have to be borne. The transfer was estimated at 750,000 DM, but bearing this in the responsibility of the city would be unjustifiable, as the city director further said. The four-week period passed without a serious interested party having contacted us, as a result of which the demolition continued.

In a meeting on October 22, 1975, the Commission for the Preservation of Monuments and Homeland Security had spoken out in favor of the preservation of the historical building substance in the avenue, which came too late to save the house. Today there is a parking lot on the site for the nearby office of Stadtsparkasse Wuppertal .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Metschies: Endangered - saved - lost, fates of Wuppertal buildings (= contributions to the preservation of monuments and townscapes of the Wuppertal. Vol. 3). With photos by Rolf Löckmann . Born, Wuppertal 1982, ISBN 3-87093-031-4 , p. 207.
  2. ↑ The name of the house chimney was (probably) after the ophthalmologist practicing in the house. See images in: Michael Metschies: Endangered - rescued - lost, fates of Wuppertal buildings (= contributions to the preservation of monuments and the cityscape of the Wuppertal. Vol. 3). With photos by Rolf Löckmann. Born, Wuppertal 1982, ISBN 3-87093-031-4 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e Michael Metschies: Endangered - saved - lost, fates of Wuppertal buildings (= contributions to the preservation of monuments and the cityscape of the Wuppertal. Vol. 3). With photos by Rolf Löckmann. Born, Wuppertal 1982, ISBN 3-87093-031-4 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 15 '52.1 "  N , 7 ° 10' 54.1"  E