House Witten

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House Witten, side view
Haus Witten seen from Ruhrstrasse
The inner courtyard of Haus Witten
Glass and steel in contrast to the old substance
Historical view
Historical view looking north
Site plan of the Witten house around 1910

The house Witten , and mounds to Witten , is a former knight's seat in the south of the city Witten , that of Rötger of Witten and his brother Franco was built in 1470 and today the music school , function rooms houses inside and outside, and a cafe / restaurant. It is about 90  m above sea level. NN .

history

The first documentary mention comes from the year 1479. The manor was on a slope to the Ruhr , partially protected by a ditch and a moat that was fed by the Huistenbecke .

During the Jülich-Klevian succession dispute in 1651, Haus Witten was set on fire by the troops of Duke Karl of Lorraine .

Gerhard Wennemar von der Recke , court lord of Witten, had the house rebuilt in 1701 and enriched with Baroque style elements.

In 1790 the plant was leased by the merchant Johann Friedrich Lohmann from Schwelm , who set up a cast steel factory and a grain distillery on the site, and acquired it around 1815. Renovations from 1878 changed the appearance of the house significantly.

House Witten during World War II

Due to its poor condition, Haus Witten was sold to the city of Witten in 1937 and used by the Hitler Youth .

Towards the end of the Second World War , the house was seriously damaged by air raids on December 12, 1944 and March 19, 1945. Above all, the tower on the street side, parts of the residential wing and the outer walls of the three wings have been preserved. Haus Witten remained a ruin for many decades.

After the bombing, parts of the building such as the gable were removed to secure the ruins. In 1964 there was further loss of substance due to renewed security work. Consideration was given to preserving the remains of the Witten house as “well-tended ruins”. From 1975 to 1988 the ruin was restored in nine construction phases. In the process, other building structures that were in danger of collapsing were also removed.

restoration

Since 1988, with the support of the state government, new perspectives have developed. The Witten house was to offer new rooms for adult education centers and music schools as well as for other cultural projects. A historical reconstruction should be avoided. The new components to be built should deliberately set themselves apart from the old substance in terms of material and shape. The head of the Westphalian Office for Monument Preservation, Eberhard Grunsky, legitimized this concept with the condition of the ruins after the Second World War:

“Haus Berge is not protected as a historical monument in its shape before the Second World War, but the fragmentary inventory that exists today. The monument preservation task will therefore not consist of restoring an earlier appearance by adding to the ruins. The primary monument preservation task is seen in the design and construction of the new building parts necessary for the use as independent units so that interventions in the historical substance are limited to the inevitable minimum. "

- Eberhard Grunsky : House Berge zu Witten. Writing for the laying of the foundation stone on November 22, 1992 . Witten 1992, p. 3 .

In the years 1992 to 1996, under the direction of the architects Hans Busso von Busse and Eberhard Carl Klapp, the facility was rebuilt with steel, concrete and glass elements, preserving the former floor plan and the remains of the wall, and in 1998 with the North Rhine-Westphalia Architecture Prize of the Bund Deutscher Architects BDA awarded. Striking structural elements are the differently shaped steel windows and doors in contrast to the unplastered old building fabric, the regular concrete cassettes of the ceilings and various other steel elements such as columns, supports, stairs and facade parts.

Todays use

Today, Haus Witten houses, among other things, the city music school, the Witten integration office and a restaurant. There are also various event rooms, including a cinema and concert hall. It is also possible to get married in the Witten house. In the cellar of the house there is also a small permanent exhibition with historical finds related to the Witten house and the city of Witten itself. The inner courtyard and the concert hall serve as a venue for ExtraSchicht , the cultural summer and the Witten days for new chamber music . Since 2011 it has been a stop on the Route of Industrial Culture, theme route 11 Early Industrialization .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Richard Borgmann: Resurrected from ruins. The Witten House . In: Series of publications by the German National Committee for Monument Protection . tape 70 .

literature

  • Heinrich Schoppmeyer: Witten. History of the village, town and suburbs . tape 1 . VOHM , Witten 2012, ISBN 978-3-00-040266-1 , p. 115-117 .
  • Richard Borgmann: Risen from the ruins. The Witten House . In: Series of publications by the German National Committee for Monument Protection . tape 70 .
  • Hans von Busse, Eberhard Carl Klapp: The dialogue as an architectural claim. A concept for the restoration of the Berge zu Witten house . In: Bruno J. Sobotka (Ed.): Haus Berge zu Witten. Fifth and last seat of the judge in Witten . Märkische Druckerei und Verlagsanstalt Aug. Pott, Witten 1991, ISBN 3-920611-20-9 , p. 124 ff .
  • Katja Dieckhoff: Haus Berge in Witten. Written term paper to obtain the degree of Magister Artium . Ruhr University Bochum , Bochum 1998.
  • Eberhard Grunsky: Commitments and freedom in dealing with architectural monuments . In: Bruno J. Sobotka (Ed.): Haus Berge zu Witten. Fifth and last seat of the judge in Witten . Märkische Druckerei und Verlagsanstalt Aug. Pott, Witten 1991, ISBN 3-920611-20-9 , p. 12-22 .
  • Haus Berge zu Witten. Writing for the laying of the foundation stone on November 22, 1992 . Witten 1992.
  • Bruno J. Sobotka: House Berge zu Witten. Fifth and last seat of the judge in Witten . Märkische Druckerei und Verlagsanstalt Aug. Pott, Witten 1991, ISBN 3-920611-20-9 .

Web links

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

Coordinates: 51 ° 25 ′ 54.8 "  N , 7 ° 20 ′ 8.2"  E