Logenhaus To the five towers at the Salzquell
The house of the Masonic lodge “To the five towers at the Salzquell” is located at Kardinal-Albrecht-Strasse 6 in Halle (Saale) .
The lodge was founded in 1884 as a Masonic Association and in 1885 received its constitution patent as a lodge for friendship from the Great Lodge of Prussia called Royal York . Its best-known members included the biologist Otto Schmeil , the sculptor Paul Reiling, the chocolate manufacturer Bernhard Most, the piano dealer Balthasar Döll, the master builder and manufacturer Friedrich Kuhnt and the architect Ernst Heinrich Giese .
Building history
The lodge was planning to build its own lodge house as early as 1886. Ultimately, the choice fell on a 2,496 m² construction site in what was then Albrechtstrasse, which was generously donated to the lodge by the master builder and lodge member Friedrich Kuhnt. The floor plan of the building was also designed by him, and the palatial facade and interior design by the well-known architect and lodge member Friedrich Thierichens. Both were also responsible for site management. The topping-out ceremony could already be celebrated on February 7, 1887. The facade was executed in the style of Roman palace architecture, in gray-yellow Saxon sandstone, in the fields of brick facing in a dull red color. Thanks to the donations of numerous lodge brothers, the lodge palace with its magnificent interior was quickly completed and inaugurated on November 13, 1887. An extension for a "Masters' Hall" for the III. Degree took place around 1912, a second also in the extension of the longitudinal axis in 1925 for the fourth degree, the "Inner Orient" .
The sale
Under the increasing pressure of the new National Socialist rulers , the lodge saw no prospect of future existence and therefore decided to dissolve itself on March 10, 1934, which was finally granted on March 8, 1935 after extensive official clarifications. With this, the lodge had anticipated a forced dissolution and expropriation. After letting and ultimately selling the lodge house failed for a long time, it could not be sold to the city of Halle until October 26, 1937 for only 53,000 RM, which corresponded to about a third of the unit value of 160,800 RM at the time.
Further use
Initially, the former lodge house is said to have been used by the NS student organization as the " Hans Schemm House", and soon afterwards as the " Johann Sebastian Bach House" for cultural purposes until the end of the Second World War .
In 1945 the building briefly became the seat of the Halle school administration and the Halle State University for Theater and Music . In 1946 the lodge building was used as the “August Bebel House for the Study of the Culture of the Soviet Union”. During these years extensive structural alterations were made, such as the removal of the lavish stucco ornaments on the walls of the ballroom and the demolition of the walls surrounding the stage. In 1949, on behalf of the Society for German-Soviet Friendship (DSF), further renovations were carried out, such as the installation of a suspended ceiling in the ballroom to conceal the magnificent stucco elements. The upper windows were probably also bricked up. On June 19, 1949, the building was opened as the DSF cultural center.
By waiver by the city of Halle on October 1, 1951, the entire former lodge property was transferred to the DSF company. In 1952 the Kulturhaus won the republic in the competition of the DSF houses in the GDR and was also a leader afterwards due to its cultural offerings. In 1955 the property was given the name "House of DSF AS Pushkin ", in public briefly called "Pushkin House".
On July 1, 1962, the rear part of the property was transferred back to the legal ownership of the city of Halle in order to be used by the “Theater of the Young Guard”. For this purpose, further extensive and incisive building measures, especially the former ritual rooms, were carried out. Over the years, the former facade of the lodge house has been changed several times. In 1988 the extensive renovation of the front building began. First, the suspended ceiling of the ballroom was removed and the probably unique neo-baroque ceiling was extensively restored. Due to the turning point and the abandonment of the house by DSF, the further renovation work was canceled.
Use in modern times
The complicated clarification and processing of the transfer of the house back to the lodge dragged on for a long time after the fall of the Wall, so that the front part of the property could only be returned by the city of Halle on September 1, 2000 to the lodge, which was reactivated on May 8, 1992. The box was financially compensated for the rear part of the building used by the Thalia Theater.
The front part, already in need of renovation in 1989, had deteriorated more and more in the many years of non-use. Due to the high level of renovation work and the space that was too large for the rebuilt box, it inevitably had to look for a suitable buyer. After long and unsuccessful sales efforts, the box site was finally given to the Society of Friends of the Thalia Theater (today: Monument Protection Association "Puschkinhaus eV") for a small symbolic purchase price on September 12, 2002 , as there was great interest in expanding their venue. Thus, on the one hand, the entire complex could be used again for common use, on the other hand, it could be made available to the general public in the Masonic sense - namely for the cultural care and education of children and young people. On June 15, 2005 the film art theater "Pushkino" was opened in the same building. The Thalia Theater has not used the building since the beginning of 2012. Club Drushba , a dance and concert club for independent music , is located in the basement .
A memorial plaque was unveiled on the building on October 18, 2008 to commemorate its earlier use as a lodge house.
literature
- Herwig, Theodor: History of the establishment and development of the St. John's Freemason Lodge "To the five towers at the salt source" in the Orient Halle a. S., from March 1, 1884 to November 13, 1887, Leipzig 1887
- Herwig, Theodor: History of the Joh.-Masonic Lodge "To the five towers at the salt spring" in the Or. Halle a. S., II. Theil , Halle 1895 self-published by the Lodge
- Herwig, Theodor: The feast of the consecration of our new temple on November 13, 1887 - History of the Lodge To the five towers at the Salzquell Or. Halle a. S. , as a manuscript and as a festive gift for the St. John's Festival in 1894, self-published by the lodge
- Richwien, Gerhard: Lodge building in Halle / S. - History, architecture and symbolism , Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-8300-0451-6
- Seidler, Guntram: The history of the Halle Freemason Lodge "To the five towers at the Salzquell" in the Grand Lodge of the Old Free and Accepted Masons of Germany on the occasion of their 120th anniversary Halle (Saale) , Halle 2005, self-published by the Lodge
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 29 ′ 30.26 " N , 11 ° 58 ′ 3.97" E