Weather pillar

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Weather pillar from 1876 in Bad Godesberg , oldest in Germany
Listed weather house in Quedlinburg

Weather pillars (also: weather houses ) were set up in large numbers towards the end of the 19th century, usually in public places.

function

The weather pillar is street furniture in public areas, often also in parks, which, as a rule, is structurally free-standing, equipped with meteorological instruments, thermometers , barometers and hygrometers , also supplemented by a standard clock , giving everyone the opportunity to follow the weather data themselves. Easily accessible at all times, they became part of everyday life that in the 19th century was increasingly based on technical specifications. The initiators were often scientifically oriented, spa or tourist associations.

history

In 1838, a weather house was built for the first time on the Grand Quai (today: Quai du Général Guisan ) in Geneva . The first pillar in Germany was erected in Bad Godesberg in 1876 by the local "Beautification Association" (see: here ), in Austria in 1883. Weather pillars were erected until the end of the long 19th century and went out of fashion after the First World War . A little later, weather information was increasingly distributed and perceived via radio . There was another brief renaissance in post-war modernism after World War II . Since the weather pillars had now lost their information function to more modern media, the type of construction could not prevail over the long term. As a result, the preserved, historical weather pillars became cultural monuments .

Manufacturer

Weather pillar of the Wilhelm Lambrecht company from 1895, model III Tourist, illustration in the company brochure from 1895

The design of the pillars was very different. The rapidly growing demand led to the development of standard columns that were offered in catalogs at fixed prices. The base had to be created individually on site, and the standard models were erected on top.

The leading manufacturer in Germany was Wilhelm Lambrecht from Göttingen . The price of his standard models in 1895 was between 300 and 50,000 marks . Another manufacturer of weather pillars was the Hamburger Annoncen-Uhr-Actien-Gesellschaft, founded in 1884 and dissolved in 1895, whose pillars were in 400 locations in the German Empire in 1890. The original description of one of its pillars was as follows:

“A three-meter-high artificial casting on a base bears the emblems of the times of day in the roof, while the compass rose with a flag crowns it. A clear (29 centimeter diameter dial) clock, an equally large barometer opposite the clock with adjustable pointer and date, thermometer, sun and moon rise and fall, day and night length, weather forecast (as soon as available in times), outgoing and arriving trains and a wealth of comparative and statistical information. Population, surface area, coins etc. form the equipment, while the clock drives a revolving device, which lets 20 recommendation sheets step into the field of vision, each of which disappears automatically to make way for the next. "

The leading producer in Austria-Hungary was Wilhelm Kappeller , Vienna , with a branch in Budapest .

Individual pillars

Unlike most weather pillars, the Aachen weather pillar is not used to record meteorological measured values, but to display the weather forecast for the coming day

  • Weather column in Ilmenau

  • Weather pillar in Coburg, Schlossplatz

  • Weather pillar in Neuchâtel, Quai Ostervald

  • Weather column in Lockwitz

  • Weather house in Bad Reichenhall, spa gardens

  • Weather pillar in Zurich

  • Weather pillar in Saarbrücken

  • Listed weather pillar in Hinterbrühl

  • Weather column in Ebersbach / Sa.

  • Historic weather pillar in Offenbach, Kaiserstraße

  • Weather pillar of the Wilhelm Lambrecht company from 1910 in Königstein im Taunus. It is the model III "Tourist", which in 1910 had a price of 500 marks. The instruments are not original, the column was renovated in 2012.

  • Aachen weather pillar on the skyscraper at the main train station

literature

  • Peter Payer: "Instructive purpose and beautiful ornament". On the history of the weather house in Vienna. In: The garden art . Volume 27, No. 2, 2015, pp. 291-300.

Web links

Commons : Weather pillars  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: weather pillar  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wiktionary: Weather station  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wiktionary: Weather house  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Remarks

  1. ↑ This weather house also had a wind vane and a number of clocks that not only showed the time in Vienna, but also the time in a number of other cities, such as Pest , Paris , London , Constantinople and St. Petersburg (Peter Payer: Belehrender Zweck ... 2015, pp. 291, 293).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Payer: Teaching Purpose ... 2015, p. 291.
  2. ↑ https://www.nzz.ch/wissenschaft/meteorologie-in-genf-stand-die-erste-wettersaeule-ld.1496759 accessed September 28, 2019
  3. ↑ Mathias Nofze: shrines of the industrial age. In: General-Anzeiger. July 1, 2009.
  4. ↑ Peter Payer: Teaching Purpose ... 2015, p. 291.
  5. ↑ Peter Payer: Teaching Purpose ... 2015, p. 297.
  6. ↑ Peter Payer: Educational Purpose ... 2015, p. 298.
  7. ↑ Peter Payer: Teaching Purpose ... 2015, p. 294.
  8. ↑ Peter Payer: Educational Purpose ... 2015, note 15.
  9. ↑ Weather pillars in Europe
  10. ↑ Peter Payer: Teaching Purpose ... 2015, p. 293f.