Liefrink House

The Liefrink-Haus is a listed building built from 1698 on Marktplatz 21 in Usingen . It is an important part of the listed building group "Baroque New Town".

The Liefrink House was built by court architect Benedikt Burtscher together with the neighboring houses around the market square . It is a two-story half-timbered house. It has been owned by the city of Usingen since 2012. After the ongoing renovation, it will be used as a restaurant by a private tenant.

The building

Part of the Marktplatz ensemble

The building is a striking structural element of the marketplace. The market square is dominated at its head end by the central Huguenot church . To the right and left of the church are the two similar, stand-alone half-timbered houses Marktplatz 21 and 25. Both are positioned in front of the church and thus form a small forecourt with their sides and underline the prominent position of the church through their symmetry.

Johann Emmerich Küntzel planned the square, but left Usingen in 1698. The buildings themselves were implemented by Benedikt Burtscher.

Truss

The facade consists of ornamental timber framing . The main facade facing the market square is strictly symmetrical and is centered by the central entrance and the central roof bay window. The half-timbered frame shows half figures of the Hessian man on the corner posts and on the entrance door . There is also a complete "Hessenmann" on the side facing Schulhofstrasse.

The main facade of the house has additional decorative shapes under the windows in the form of superimposed St. Andrew's crosses and diamonds.

The cellar walls and the base walls were built from local slate rubble .

division

A basement existed just under the front half of the building. On the ground floor there was a division into four rooms with three small chambers connected by a central corridor. The stairwell was also arranged in the middle.

The “ parlor ” was to the left of the entrance and was adjoined by a chamber. The kitchen was dominated by an open stove with a large hood above it. The resulting soot can determine the location of the original kitchen. It was in the back room facing the church.

An annex was added on the back. This was torn down as part of the renovation in 2013 and replaced by a new building that will accommodate the kitchen of the planned restaurant.

Renovation 2013

After the purchase by the city, the house will be extensively renovated. The costs of 900,000 euros will be covered by a state grant of 60,000 euros, from funds from the city's redevelopment pot of around 340,000 euros and 500,000 euros from the city budget.

owner

The builder of the house was the butcher Heinrich Kröcker. In 1720 he sold the house to Michael Guckenbühler, from whom it passed to his son-in-law, the cook Nicolaus Schnorr. In 1762 the reformed teacher Wilhelm Beckmann bought the house. In 1785 Mathias Gahr is named as the owner. In 1831 Elisabeth Heldt acquired the house, which later became the property of her son, the blue dyer Georg August Heinrich Heldt. Later a Ferdinand Fuchs is on record as the owner. In 1887 a Fritz Reinhard was named as the owner and at the end of the 19th century Emil Reinhard was the owner. With Elfriede Liefrink, née Reinhard, the house becomes the property of the Liefrink family, who will hold the house until 2012.

swell

"The Hessenmann carries the roof"; in: Taunuszeitung from May 7, 2013, online
"Last look at the historical"; in: Taunuszeitung from May 10, 2013, online
"Demolition with a sure instinct"; in: Taunuszeitung from April 3, 2013, online
"Cultivation must give way"; in: Taunuszeitung from April 2, 2013, online
"An international cook at the stove"; in: Taunuszeitung from March 19, 2013, online
"Liefrink is history"; in: Taunuszeitung from April 6, 2013, p. 18