Kupferhof Untersterhof
The lower courtyard is one of the few remaining copper courtyards in the city of Stolberg . It dates back to the 17th century and is one of the architectural monuments of the industrialization of this city.
History of the Kupferhof
17th century
Bishop Wilhelm von Worms was the guardian of the children of the widow Odilia von Harff of his brother von Efferen. On October 4, 1611, he sold some properties to the Stolberg copper master Franz Östringer (sometimes also called Ostländer ) and his wife Anna von dem Felde . These meadows were on the Ober-Schnorrfeld site. Traditional documents show that the buyer had a drain from his pond on the property laid through a neighboring area of Odilia von Harff for drainage and that he undertook to pay the rent for this.
On September 26, 1612, the copper masters Franz Östringer and Servas von der Weiden agreed as a witness to the abbot of the imperial abbey Kornelimünster to build two copper mills on this property . Each should have two water wheels with three hammers per water wheel to work with on copper and brass . Both buildings were under one roof. By drawing lots it was decided which copper master should receive the upper and which the lower building. So it was decided that Servas von der Weiden should get the upper court and Franz Östringer the lower one.
In addition to the factory, Servas von der Weiden also built his house, which is still preserved today, on the south side of the lower courtyard.
Franz Östringer died in front of Servas von der Weiden, which can be seen from the fact that on July 21, 1621 his son Tillmann signed a contract for the common water consumption of the lower court.
Within the next 15 years, the owner of the copper yard changed, because there are documents from 1637 that show Jeremias Hoesch Sen. († 1643) as the owner of the Östringer share.
On August 1, 1666, Servas von der Weiden junior, who became the son-in-law of Jeremias Hoesch through marriage, leased the copper yard to Theodor Peltzer . He bought it in the following years. He was married to Barbara Lynen. Both the Peltzer and Lynen families later became important copper master families. The share of the founder of the Kupferhof, Servas von der Weiden, therefore passed into the hands of the Peltzer family, while the Östringer share was owned by the Hoesch family .
A contract dated August 16, 1680, when Jeremias Hoesch d. J. leased the Molenbend (today's street name: Am Mohlenbend).
18th century
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Julius Hoesch ran his part of the Lower Court successfully, while the Peltzer family was unprofitable because even Theodor Peltzer's son, Johann Peltzer, was forced to lease his share of the Lower Court to Hermann Krauthoff and his wife Elisabeth Lynen on December 10, 1714 . When he died, Johann was so destitute that his father-in-law Leonhard von Asten had to pay the burial costs. On December 1, 1718, the Peltzer family's share in the Kupferhof was auctioned and acquired by Guillaume Schleicher . This took over the entire liabilities of Peltzer as well as the costs for the funeral drink in the amount of 24 Reichstaler and 34 Albus .
Guillaume Schleicher († 1730) was the mayor of Stolberg and the Stolberg brass industry flourished during his time. This can be clearly seen in the increase in the number of brass furnaces in Stolberg, the number of which rose from 30 in 1708 to 130 - 140 in 1794. During this time Guillaume Schleicher expanded the copper yard Unterster Hof. So he built the entrance gate to the courtyard and decorated it with the family coat of arms. At his death he left a son, Leonhard (* 1730). He expanded the grounds of the Kupferhof by 5¾ acres , a meadow area that he acquired from Matthias Hoesch on January 16, 1739. Leonhard Schleicher married Margarethe Mechtildis Peltzer on October 31, 1724 and left behind eight children on his death. Leonhard's mother Anna Katharina presumably continued to run the business at the Kupferhof, as the inheritance was only divided up after the death of the 81-year-old woman on November 20, 1760.
Documents prove that the inheritance to the value of 56,168 Reichstalers was determined by lot. The determination of the first lot, which u. a. encompassed the lower court, reads: “Primo is in the first Loohs set the copper court called lower court. Haubt and next to dwelling, stables, coal shed, furnace house, copper and Wörk Kammeren, the copper and Callmey mills incorporated into it, both belonging to this copper yard, one above the Haubt house within its walls, the other outside the gates, between Located in the Weyeren, forth Baumgarten, Weyern, Mohndohlhäusgen, Dreckwasch, the so-called Weingarts Berg and ultimately the Bendt die Mohlen, 5 ¾ acres, everything under the Ambt Eschweiler except that the Weingarts Berg and the Mohlen Stolberger jurisdiction are located. “ The first Lot, the value of which was estimated at around 8,000 thalers, while the value of the Lower Court was around 3,000 thalers, fell on Matthias Schleicher. This operated very successfully, so that at the end of his life he was able to share 29,482 Reichstaler between his five children.
On March 22, 1765, the Hoesch family leased their share of the Lower Court to Mathias Leonhard Schleicher, Mathias Schleicher's successor († December 6, 1799), so that he owned both the former Oestringer and the Weidens shares. However, this lease only feigned a lease. In reality it was a purchase, as this form of contract could circumvent the dumping law that was common at the time.
In 1775 there were devastating floods in Stolberg. To protect their works, the owners of the particularly endangered copper yards, including Mathias Leonhard Schleicher, built a new weir on the Vichtbach . Although the use and maintenance of the weir were regulated, this later led to an abundance of processes.
19th century
In 1814 Mathias Leonhard Schleicher, Johann Heinrich Schervier , the owner of the Roderburgmühle and Paul Offermann, the cloth manufacturer of the Ellermühle, litigated because of the right of disposal over the weir. Offermann lost the trial and a new reservoir was built on July 18, 1815. There were also changes to the course of the Ellermühlen Canal.
Mathias Leonhard Schleicher transferred the lower court to his two sons Mathias Ludolf and Napoleon Schleicher while he was still alive. The characters of the two sons were very different. In order to avoid disadvantages for the Kupferhof, Mathias Ludolf Schleicher took over the entire Kupferhof on October 9, 1843, while Napoleon took over the Hof Weide, which is now family-owned.
Mathias Ludolf Schleicher († July 20, 1831) was a progressive manufacturer and modernized production processes on the lower court. So he did not put the first more calamine , but metallic zinc and for the brass production, which brought great economic benefits. He died of consumption at the age of 43 .
Mathias Ludolf's business was continued by his wife Amalie Schleicher. She proved to be extremely enterprising, thrifty, and strict. After her death, she bequeathed the lower court to her son Eduard Schleicher († 1830). His mother's strict upbringing gave him excellent leadership skills. Eduard replaced the old house on the east side of the courtyard with a new sandstone building and the previously existing enclosure wall with a fence. On March 31, 1866, he bought back the Weide farm from Robert Schleicher, the son of Napoleon Schleicher.
Smoke damage and contamination by the district Münsterbusch preferred zinc smelter had lead to the destruction of large parts lying around the lowest of farm forest. Eduard led a ten-year trial against the zinc smelter, which he won. As compensation, he was awarded an annual amount of gold to be paid. The merits for the city of Stolberg earned him the title of Kommerzienrat .
After the death of his father, Emil and Walter Schleicher inherited the Unterste Hof. They modernized the facilities of the Kupferhof and replaced the water power of the machines with steam drives. The old watermills were sold.
When Walter Schleicher left for health reasons in 1887, Emil Schleicher took over management of the company alone. He rebuilt the copper courtyard and had the two art nouveau towers built. The inner courtyard was beautifully decorated. By planting resilient plants, he succeeded in renewing the trees, which had been almost completely destroyed by environmental damage, and in greening the park belonging to the Kupferhof again.
The brass industry in Stolberg was in decline in the second half of the 19th century and numerous manufacturers sold their businesses. Emil Schleicher wanted to prevent this under all circumstances. To express this, he renamed the Kupferhof Unterer Hof in "Burg Bleibtreu". Due to his services, Emil Schleicher was also appointed to the council of commerce.
20th and 21st centuries
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The consequences of the First World War and the inflation of 1922/1923 threatened the economic situation of many copper yards. That is why the heirs of Emil Schleicher formed a limited partnership . They leased their operations to the Stolberger Metallwerke in 1934 . Kurt Schleicher, son of Arthur Schleicher, and Oskar Lynen, who had also joined his company "von Asten & Lynen", became managing directors of the new company.
The fate of the Lower Court was then in the hands of Kurt Schleicher, who ran the Lower Court according to the family motto "Viribus unitis" - "With united forces". This was followed by Karl Schleicher. After Karl Schleicher then Klaus Schleicher to this day.
The old mill building, which was rebuilt in 1938, is still there today and the Ellermuehle pond, which used to drive four water wheels, is still there.
literature
- Hans-Joachim Ramm (editor): Mills, hammer mills and copper yards in the Vicht valley and their owners. In: Contributions to the history of Stolberg. Volume 23, Stolberg 1998, ISBN 3-926830-12-3
Web links
- Portrait on stolberg-abc.de
Coordinates: 50 ° 46 ′ 46 ″ N , 6 ° 13 ′ 14.2 ″ E