House Werthplatz 2

View of the Werthplatz 2 building

The house Werth 2nd place is a town house in the Belgian town of Eupen . The building, also known as Haus Tonnar , was built at the beginning of the 17th century and has been protected as a cultural monument since March 25, 1983 .

The building now serves as a media center for the German-speaking community with extensions .

location

The house was built on the spacious Werthplatz, Werth is a common name for inland islands. The Gospertbach used to be dammed there, which branched out there and encompassed an island.

history

House Tonnar with ballroom around 1910

The house was built in the early 17th century. In the middle of this century it was owned by the Römer family. It was exchanged to Abraham Bong in 1710 and to his brother-in-law Gilles Klebanck in 1714. His widow sold the property called Kneukel in 1766 to J. Th. Cardol. This is the same year to Dr. PJ Clesgens continues. Twenty years later, Clesgen's widow sells it to JW Scheibler. In 1826 it was owned by the draper L. Peters and in 1839 by the draper A. Sommer. The bread and fruit dealer Arnold Tonnar has lived there since 1852. The son August Tonnar then set up his own brewery. This included a small tavern, which he expanded to include a restaurant in 1854. From 1867 Tonnar organized theater, music and lectures there. Three years later he began to perform his own works. The Tonnars local and the Neuhaus-Tonnar restaurant became famous. Tonnar's son-in-law Ferdinand Neuhaus was the owner from 1908 to 1927. Then, after further changes of ownership , the Tonnar house came to the city.

The building was expanded by several additions until 1992 and then opened as a media center. The media library was added to the library and the first television studio of the German-speaking community in 1996 . To the east is the almost empty Eupen Plaza shopping center, which opened in 2000 as the August Tonnar Center (ATC).

On July 19, 2013, the decree of 1983 was changed so that the house with the surrounding buildings and rear buildings, the opposite structures and the house facades of the entire Werthplatz were included in a monument "protection area".

description

The three-storey corner house has four window axes per facade, these are grouped two to two. The ground floor is made of bluestone , on the side of the square these are joined together, on the street side in quarry stone . In the 18th century, the windows were given new frames with arches and two-part walls. The wedge stones are profiled. The visible sides of the upper floors are made of brick and bluestone from the mid-18th century, the corner cuboids are laid out in a tooth-cut sequence. Half-timbering could be hidden under the cement plaster in the north and east . The windows are newer. Around 1910 the building appeared as a light-colored plastered building with shutters.

The high hipped roof of the 17th century is today in slate with Aufschieblingen covered. The chimney in the ridge of the hip is also made of bluestone square blocks. Two or one gable windows are placed in the roof .

Memorial plaque for August Tonnar

The car entrance on the street side is designed with a round arch and has been heavily changed. Modern extensions to the media center have been added to the building, and the facility is barrier-free .

A massive memorial plaque made of bluestone on the facade of the square commemorates the poet and brewer: Our local poet August Tonnar lived and worked in this house - born August 28th, 1827 Gest. 24. V. 1909 - The grateful city of Eupen in April 1928.

literature

Town houses. In: Michael Amplatz u. a .: The architectural and art monuments of Eupen and Kettenis (= Eupen history. Volume 10). Markus, Eupen 1976, pp. 121-122.
Administration of the German-speaking Community (Hrsg.): Eupen (= monuments directory. Volume 5a). Administration of the German-speaking Community, Eupen 1989 ( online ).