House of the Golden Swan

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House of the Golden Swan (short Golden Swan ) 2011
House of the Golden Swan around 1900, to the right of it archive tower from House Frauenrode
Far left: North facade of the Golden Swan with the Frauenrode house with the archive tower

The Haus zum Goldenen Schwan , also just the Golden Swan , is a building in the Frankfurt City Hall complex . It borders on the eponymous Haus zum Römer to the northwest and has always been structurally and historically linked to it. First mentioned in 1322, the building was bought by the city in 1405. Architecturally, despite the structural changes over several centuries, it is still a typical representative of the Gothic patrician building.

History up to town acquisition

The Golden Swan was first mentioned in a document dated September 30, 1322, but still under its old name Haus zum Goldenen Frosch or Goldener Frosch . Accordingly, the Wigel Frosch , who gave the house its name, gave his wife Gisela his houses for the Römer and the Golden Frog in the event that he would die before her without leaving any children from his marriage to her. Literally it says in the Liebfrauen deed 391, dated the same year, that he bequeathed to his wife "sin geseze, da he inne wonet, daz da heats the Romer and the guilder Frois, and allis daz geseze and wonunge, daz belongs to it ". Frog the son-by substantial proportion of the foundation was Liebfrauenkirche excellent Wigel of Wanebach .

In 1324 Wigel Frosch died on the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela , and accordingly his wife came into possession of the two houses. The fortunes of her and her mother Katharina von Wanebach , which were probably enormous for the time, can be estimated from the fact that they made a significant contribution to the foundation of the Liebfrauen-Stift in 1325.

Only a little later, on February 4, 1326, Gisela Frosch died, with which the houses went to Katharina von Wanebach. While she was still alive, she sold the Haus zum Römer, which resulted in its architectural separation from the Golden Frog. When she died on August 9, 1335, the Golden Frog went to her brother Gerlach vom Hohenhaus .

The Golden Frog was not mentioned again until more than 60 years later, albeit under its name, which will be retained in the future, as the Golden Swan. Where the new name of the building was derived from could never be determined. According to a document dated accordingly, on November 30, 1380, Hartmud zum Römer's son and grandson sold the neighboring building of the same name and the Golden Swan for 2,570 guilders to Konrad Kölner and his wife Metze. According to the certificate, both buildings were structurally reunited at this point in time.

When the city bought the Golden Swan together with the Römer on March 11, 1405, its historical mention as a stand-alone building also ended. The city only had to pay 800 guilders for both buildings. The price was thus below the amount that Konrad Kölner had to pay for it in 1380. The main reason for this was probably the high level of debt of Konz zum Römer , the eldest and therefore decisive son of Konrad Kölner, who died in 1390.

While the Roman gives his name to the entire town hall to the present day, the name Golden Swan is rarely found in historical descriptions in the following centuries. One reason for this was, on the one hand, the perfect structural connection between the two buildings that followed after the city ownership, which quickly made them appear like a single building; on the other hand, the Haus zum Römer facing the Römerberg has always been the entrance building with the larger representative function.

For the further history of the House of the Golden Swan after the city bought it, see: Römer (Frankfurt)

literature

  • Hermann Traut: The Römer and the new town hall buildings in Frankfurt am Main , Frankfurt am Main 1922, Römerverlag
  • Georg Hartmann, Fried Lübbecke (Ed.): Alt-Frankfurt. A legacy. Sauer and Auvermann publishing house, Glashütten 1971
  • Hartwig Beseler, Niels Gutschow: War fates of German architecture - losses, damage, reconstruction. Karl Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1988, ISBN 3-529-02685-9
  • Architects & Engineers Association: Frankfurt am Main and its buildings , Frankfurt am Main 1886, self-published by the association
  • Carl Wolff, Julius Hülsen, Rudolf Jung: The architectural monuments of Frankfurt am Main , Frankfurt am Main 1896–1914, self-published / Völcker
  • State Office for Monument Preservation Hesse (ed.): Altes Rathaus Südbau, Golden Swan House In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hesse

Coordinates: 50 ° 6 ′ 38.3 "  N , 8 ° 40 ′ 52.9"  E