Hermann locksmith house

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Untermainkai 4 from the southeast, August 2010

The Hermann-Schlosser-Haus with the address Untermainkai 4 , also called Villa Schlosser , rather seldom named after the client Villa Schilling , is a classicist residential building on the banks of the Main in the Altstadt district of Frankfurt am Main . It was built in 1823 under city ​​architect Johann Friedrich Christian Hess and is counted among his early works.

history

In the Middle Ages , the high wall of the Frankfurt city fortification was built on the site of the later Untermainkai . Before that there was the wine market from about the height of the Carmelite monastery up to the Leonhardskirche . There, ships cleared their duties there and finally unloaded their cargo even from places as far away as Strasbourg . After the demolition of almost all city walls and towers in the early 19th century, the Untermainkai was also designated as building land.

Very little is known in Frankfurt am Main about the details of construction before 1944 , as all the construction files were burned during the Second World War . This applies in particular to the classicist epoch, which has only recently become more popular and, in contrast to older architecture, there are hardly any older works that could still draw on the full wealth of the Frankfurt City Archives . In addition, there is the problem that city ​​architect Johann Friedrich Christian Hess left hardly any records anyway. To private residences today's research can therefore only still preserved land registers and cadastral plans use and any family discounts.

According to this little tradition, a doctor named Georg Hermann Schilling acquired the property that would later become Untermainkai 4 - according to the system of house numbers at that time, lit. J III - and had the residential building built here in 1823 according to plans by Hess with a courtyard to the north. The latter touched the Alte Mainzer Gasse and was rebuilt several times in the course of the 19th century (1834, 1838 and 1886), but is no longer preserved , probably as a result of the war .

In 1955, Degussa , founded in Frankfurt am Main in 1873, acquired the building from the city on the initiative of its chairman and later chairman of the supervisory board, Hermann Schlosser . The acquisition of the building was only one of numerous measures in the 1949-59 ongoing rebuilding of the heavily war-damaged complex, which was now expanded to cover the entire area between Weißfrauenstrasse , Seckbächer Gasse , Untermainkai and Neue Mainzer Strasse . In addition to the western end of Alte Mainzer Gasse, Zollhofstrasse was also drawn in, which had previously functioned as public roads north and east of the building.

In 1957 a stylish restoration was carried out on behalf of the new owner under the direction of the architect Balon , and in 1964/65 the garden adjoining to the west was also restored to its Biedermeier state according to plans by Otto Derreth . When Hermann Schlosser, who has been with Degussa almost continuously since 1915 and also its CEO from 1939 to 1959, retired from active business life in 1965 - he was an honorary member until his death in 1979 - the building on Untermainkai was named after him in his honor .

Since then, the house has served as a setting for special celebrations and guests, where the company has already welcomed Nobel Prize winners , ministers and two federal presidents . Until January 2003, the cellar was home to the Degussa coin cabinet , which is almost unique of its kind and is now on permanent loan in the city's historical museum .

After the destruction of the Second World War, the Hermann-Schlosser-Haus is now one of the few preserved and hardly changed classical private buildings in the city. It is also of particular value insofar as it can be clearly attributed to the city architect Johann Friedrich Christian Hess, who shaped the Frankfurt cityscape like no other in the 19th century.

literature

References and comments

  1. ↑ a b Hils 1988, p. 179.
  2. ↑ Hils 1988, pp. 9-11.
  3. ↑ Vogt 1989, p. 52.
  4. ↑ a b Vogt 1989, p. 288 u. 289
  5. ↑ a b Klötzer 1996, p. 299.
  6. ↑ a b Origin and home of Degussa until 2001. In: geschichte.evonik.de. Retrieved August 28, 2010 .

Web links

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

Coordinates: 50 ° 6 ′ 28.8 "  N , 8 ° 40 ′ 37.3"  E