Sandradstrasse 1 (Mönchengladbach)

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Residential and commercial building Former gatekeeper house
Residential and commercial building, former gatekeeper house

The residential and commercial building Sandradstraße 1 , a former gatekeeper house, is in Mönchengladbach ( North Rhine-Westphalia ) in the Gladbach district .

The building was built in the 18th century and entered into the monuments list of the city of Mönchengladbach under no. 014 on June 19, 2012 .

location

The building stands across from Kapuzinerplatz at the northwest end of the Alter Markt, where the tower staircase branches off from Sandradstrasse to the west along the city wall.

architecture

The house at Sandradstrasse 1 has - as shown in the original map - a rectangular floor plan , which takes up the west-east course of the city ​​wall . A striking reference point is the alignment of the city wall with the central axis of the rear facade . This situation still exists today, but later additions made it unclear. The original map shows an open space on the back of the house along the line of the city wall, which directly hits the center of the facade.

This direct connection is no longer given above ground due to the later additions, but the entire length of the city wall could be proven underground in the western cellars of the house. Another correspondence between the original map and the existing one is the front side facing Sandradstrasse that protrudes from the building line. Based on these observations on the urban integration of the building, the history of the building can be understood quite well based on the visible substance.

Building chronology

The appearance of the house at Sandradstrasse 1 combines three main construction phases, which can be recognized in particular by the roof structure , the existing basement and some remarkable construction details. The following dimensions are guidelines that were determined from the construction plans.

Original building - 18th century (or earlier)

The original building documented in the existing structure comprises a building (approx.) 15.40 m long and 6.70 m wide, which takes up roughly the southern half of the house. In the facade facing Sandradstrasse, a clear kink in the building line marks the original width of the house. The rear facade is now inside the house. Viewed from the south side (tower staircase), the original house closure is to be located between the 3rd and 4th window axis (at the point of the steel chimney pipe).

The entire oak roof structure of this elongated and very narrow house has largely been preserved: It is a horizontal purlin chair made of at least five containers at a distance of approx. 3 meters. The Abbund from west to east is characterized by Abbundzeichen. Today there are still four containers in situ ; the fifth eastern bundle to Sandradstrasse was removed in the second construction phase in favor of a hunchback .

The supporting structure consists of bent chair columns which - connected to headbands via tension bars - accommodate the purlins . On the fourth container, tension bars and head straps were no longer in situ due to the later construction of the turret or roof ridge. The rafters from the construction period show the connection of a formerly continuous tap beam layer by means of the tenon slots. Along with the rafters, the wind panicles for longitudinal reinforcement of the chair and the final ridge purlin have also been overcome.

The structure of the construction period is only affected in some areas as a result of the later roof changes: the fifth closing container was removed with the hemming-off and the tensioning bolt on the fourth container was raised with the construction of the turret or roof ridge , while the tap beams were sawn out to open up the structure. All in all , the construction- era oak chair with tenon and double nailing is substantially comprehensive and largely preserved.

The outer walls below correspond to the floor plan of the roof structure, but cannot be seen due to the plastered surfaces. It is very likely that the northern outer wall of the original building is still present on the upper floor. Today it lies as a longitudinal (partly openwork) partition wall inside the house and, with a thickness of 55 centimeters, corresponds to the existing enclosing walls of the first building. Their location also relates to the 'kink' in the facade, which marks the construction seam for later expansion.

While the ground floor has largely been gutted, the original building can be clearly demonstrated in the existing basement: The determined floor plan is found in a holistic large basement with a continuous brick barrel , which was later divided into multi-part rooms. The basement corresponds in size and location to the original building, which was therefore fully developed underground. A floor plan of the cellar from 1962, which was made on the occasion of the conversion to the Wienerwald restaurant , also includes the cellars of the later extensions and with them the course of the existing underground city wall.

The city wall can be clearly identified by the building material of the brick as well as in the sloping masonry. Its course in relation to the large cellar of the original building allows the following statement: The first building documented in the existing building extended on the inside of the city fortifications, directly attached to the north-east facing city wall. This building - a narrow, elongated house with a gable roof - already existed before the cartographic recording in 1812/13, as the original map already shows the overbuilding of the city wall and specifically the second stage of the expansion. The original map shows a clear kinking of the city wall in the west, so that its further course could well lie in line with the northern wall of the original building. A specific age of the core structure could be obtained dendrochronologically from the year of felling of the timbers in the roof structure. The construction observations confirm that it was built in the 18th century at the latest.

Expansion of the building - end of the 18th century

The original map shows the second stage of construction: While maintaining the length dimension on the eaves side , the house was extended to the north, the floor plan area almost doubled and the city wall border was built over. The house was now about 15.40 m long (as before) and about 12 m wide. On the facade facing Sandradstrasse, the construction seam can be seen in the slight kinking of the building line.

The changes in the roof structure originate from this phase of the building expansion: A simple truss was added to the existing (west-east facing) roof of the original building on the north side . It is designed as a very flat gable roof with a ridge facing north-south. The construction is made by joining the wood with nails. Towards Sandradstrasse, the supporting structures with their different ridge orientations were combined by a hip.

In the context of these construction measures, the turret or roof turret was also built . It optically occupies the central axis of the entire complex, but finds its substructure in the older roof structure (the wider, first half of the house). In terms of its appearance, the now almost 12-meter-wide front had a uniform appearance thanks to the hip and roof turrets. The phase of building expansion is also reflected in the basement through the creation of a small vaulted cellar. From this expansion phase, remarkable construction details and pieces of equipment have been preserved: First of all, the main staircase should be mentioned, which today accesses the house from the ground floor to the upper floor. In relation to the floor plan of this second construction phase, its location is in the center of the house on the north wall of the extension. It is the jewel of the house: the post and railing are artfully decorated with plait-shaped leaf ornaments, festoon-like flower garlands and medallions with half-portraits in bas-relief.

The rooms on the upper floor, with some of the stucco ceilings and door leaves, testify to the representative furnishings of this phase. The position of the stove in the corners of the room can still be seen from the ceiling plan . In the rear room there are even wall panels, also with pigtail-shaped leaf ornaments and festoons, as well as wall cupboards from this construction period. The missing ceiling stucco consists of typical baroque calf hair plaster with numerous gray-white lime coatings. The formation of the ceilings by clay-filled pegs could be determined in the rear room. Stylistically, the items of equipment can be classified in the classicism period , even relatively specifically in the plait style phase . Thus the second main construction phase can be dated to the end of the 18th century.

Expansion of the building - end of the 19th century / before 1881

The third historical expansion of the building stock took place on the back of the house: an extension on a square floor plan was added to the former west facade. The extension of approx. 7.50 m × 7.50 m side length takes up the building line of the southern eaves side as well as the ridge line of the roof. With this expansion, the building complex, which was created in several phases, received its current plastered facade with the surrounding profiled cornice and the existing window design with profile framing. The former facade is now a transverse wall inside the building. The extension is accessed separately via a staircase with profiled rod balusters .

A dating of the third extension of the building towards the end of the 19th century suggests not only the design, but also the depiction of the extension on the Prussian Neuaufnahme (1891–1912). Since the house at Sandradstrasse 1 has been used as the "Café Neuss" since 1881, the last building expansion should have taken place in the context of this conversion.

As a corner house, the former gatekeeper's house marks a historically important location, which already shows development on the city maps of the early 19th century: The floor plan according to the original map 1812/13 shows the city fortifications (which were still in existence at that time). and landmarks that allow the current location of the house at Sandradstrasse 1 to be identified with a building already shown there , which was directly connected to the former Viersener Tor.

The gatekeeper house, which many still associate with the Wienerwald restaurant chain, is one of the original houses that Gladbach's old town still has.

The building was erected in the 18th century as a residential building right next to the city ​​gate . Later, the appearance of the street front was greatly changed by the collapse of the large shop windows . The inner staircase with the baroque handrail and probably also the slated roof tower on the top of the roof date from the time of construction . The massive house wall to the modern neighboring building is probably a piece of the old city wall, which was retained here. As the gatekeeper's apartment, the house was right next to the city gate on the road to Viersen. Originally the building still had a wing protruding into today's Sandradstrasse, which may have been part of the city gate that was inserted before 1813. This part of the building had to give way to the horse-drawn tram at the end of the 19th century .

In the course of its existence, the house has had various names after its owners. The first verifiable owner is Matthias Brinck (1782-1820), who was appointed mayor when Gladbach fell to Prussia in 1814 . He also owned the Brinckenweiher, the former abbey pond at the foot of the Munsterberg, which is now called Geroweiher, significantly reduced in size and slightly shifted. The house was called Brinckshaus until the 1850s. The family of District Secretary Neumann can be verified for the years 1863 and 1879. Then Max Neuss bought it. He converted it into a bakery and pastry shop . For this he probably had the shop window break into the wall. He also ran a café . In 1954, Robert Adrians acquired the house, including the café, and renamed it. It was followed by the Wienerwald restaurant chain and finally an Italian restaurant today .

Building historical evaluation

The three-phase development of the Sandstrasse 1 building allows a more concrete definition of the local historical significance:

  1. The core structure in the existing building, which is visible in the roof and basement and should therefore also be present in the non-visible enclosing walls, is directly related to the city fortifications. Its location on the urban side directly at the Viersener Tor testifies to a large extent that it was used as a gatehouse. The extensive large cellar could, for example, have served as a warehouse for customs goods or as a salt warehouse, as demonstrated by other Rhenish city gates. A dendrochronological dating would be desirable from a building historical point of view, since the age of the building could well go back further than previously assumed.
  2. With the expansion of the building by doubling the floor plan and building over the city wall boundary, a representative residential expansion took place. Substantially, this phase is extensively present and visibly inherited in the furnishings, so that a date to the end of the 18th century is certain. Not only the high-level structural details inside, but also the crowning of the building with a turret reflect its use as the mayor's house during the French era.
  3. The third extension of the building, which dates to the end of the 19th century, is also of local historical significance: historical photographs show that the house has been used as the "Café Neuss" since 1881 . The photos show the house with the facade design that still exists today, including the large shop windows facing Sandradstrasse. The floor plan from 1959 shows the bakery in the rear extension of this phase. Thus, the last historical extension of the building was made to convert it into a café, the appearance of which has largely shaped the Sandradstrasse building to this day.

The property is important for human history and for cities and settlements because, as a former gatehouse at the Viersen city gate, which is no longer in existence, it represents an important relic of the largely demolished Mönchengladbach city walls. After the extensive, mostly war-related urban changes in the city center of Mönchengladbach, the former gatehouse allows the former location of the city gate in the cityscape to be understood, at least for those interested in history.

For the maintenance and use of the building, scientific, in particular:

  1. Architectural history (In terms of architectural history, the building shows three important construction phases, the oldest of which dates back to at least the 18th century. All construction phases can be traced back to the existing structure (e.g. the roof structure, the main staircase, the cellar with barrel vaults and the preserved city wall as well as the plastered facade ) can still be read clearly, so that the building is also extremely important for house research)
  2. Local history (The local historical significance is manifested on the one hand in the fact that the building served as the residence of Mayor Brings during the French era. On the other hand, the building is located in a historically distinctive location directly on the city wall, which is already built on the oldest city plans While the relatively small original building was still completely within the city wall, this was built over with the extension of the late 18th century.) and
  3. Urban planning (in terms of urban planning, the building documents the scale of the historical development of the 18th / 19th century in the immediate vicinity of the former city wall. The post-war architecture immediately following today has significantly larger dimensions.) reasons.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Monuments list of the city of Mönchengladbach ( Memento of the original from October 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / pb.moenchengladbach.de

Coordinates: 51 ° 11 ′ 43.5 "  N , 6 ° 25 ′ 51.8"  E