Schifferhaus
The Schifferhaus in Bremen is a well-known monument and got its name from an owner who felt particularly connected to shipping and opened a grocery store on the ground floor around 1920 . It is located in the Bremen-Mitte district Schnoor in the Altstadt district.
The house has been a listed building since 1973. It is usually open to the public on Monument Open Day . At the end of the 20th century, the house was operated as a private museum for a long time . It is one of the few houses in Bremen that has survived centuries and wars and has been largely preserved in its original state, both inside and out. It was and is a point of attraction for numerous, also prominent visitors (e.g. Hans-Dietrich Genscher ). There has also been a public fountain in front of the house for about 100 years.
Building history
The building was erected in 1630 on the southern bank of the Klosterbalge , a medieval tributary of the Weser , and expanded in 1750. The houses Hinter der Balge 10 (around 1600), Marterburg 27 and 28 (1629) and Lange Wieren 13 ( Gasthof zum Kaiser Friedrich , around 1630) as well as the Schnoor houses 31 to 35 (around 1650) are from that time in the oldest part of Bremen ) receive.
To this day, the original half-timbered structure serves as the supporting frame of the house. It can therefore be assumed with certainty that some beams are around 400 years old. In contrast to some other buildings in the Schnoor, the spaces between the half-timbering are lined with stones. The type of construction allows conclusions to be drawn about the economic position of the house owners: half-timbered houses with clay and thatched roofs formed the majority for centuries. Those who could afford it built with stones and used shingles for the roof.
It can be assumed that the first roof was thatched. The change in the roof can be seen from the historical documentation. Around 1925, a dormer with three windows facing the street was built on the second floor. This is where the bedroom was located in the 20th century. The current roof was re-covered around 1970.
Originally the building had a floor area of around 28 m² and consisted of just one room on the ground floor. In 1750, the area was expanded by about 10 m² by adding a rear extension. Which parts of the house were retained or reused during this renovation work can no longer be traced in all details. The first floor was extended to the street by cantilevered beams so that the total area on this level is larger than on the ground floor. In the past, this was common in many half-timbered houses in Germany.
Remains of the old roof structure from the beginning are still preserved in the loft. In the kitchen, you can see some wall tiles that are estimated to be around 200 years old. Around 1900 the last open space of the 58 m² property was built over, so that since then a total living and usable area of around 125 m² has been available.
After the first connection to the sewer system, which took place in 1906, the toilet was in the hall on the first floor and a washing facility on the ground floor. A pipe was laid in the place of the former bellows to guarantee the right to drain the rainwater from the rear roof of this house as well as the neighboring buildings via an urban canal. This right is entered in the land register to this day.
Remnants of the underground corridor on the ground floor were temporarily used as storage space, whereby the filling opening (e.g. for coal or potatoes) on the street was closed as a result of the new paving of the Stavendamm around 1950 and can therefore no longer be used.
When it was built in the 20th century, the distribution of the rooms was as follows:
- Business premises on the ground floor
- Living area with kitchen, hall and living room on the first floor
- Bedroom and toilet on the second floor
- Attic as another room
Due to the monument protection, further expansion options are limited. The room height on the second floor no longer meets today's requirements. The restoration, which has not yet been completed, aims to largely restore the original use. In the summer of 2009, the former laundry room, which was located in the rear part of the ground floor and was used at times as a storage or exhibition room, was rebuilt as a kitchen.
After the renovation, the room distribution was as follows at the beginning of the 21st century:
- Business rooms, toilet and kitchen on the ground floor
- Living area with bedroom, terrace, hall and living room on the first floor
- Shower and toilet as well as storage rooms on the second floor
- Attic as another room (studio for artists)
Although the house was inhabited for centuries, there was no bathroom, no shower, no central heating, no telephone connection and therefore no internet access until the end of 2005. On all three floors there are connections for stoves, which were used depending on the needs of the residents. The various energy sources such as petroleum (late 19th century), gas, coal and firewood were used one after the other. Up to and including December 2006, the house was mainly heated from the living room with a single coal or wood stove; then a natural gas-operated central heating system with the water-filled radiators that are common today was installed. For reasons of environmental protection and in view of the narrow buildings in the Schnoorviertel, the operation of individual ovens would currently no longer be permitted. Because of the number of rooms to be heated, at least five fireplaces (including the kitchen) would have to be operated. This conventional type of heating is not up to date.
History of uses
Commercial building
In the 19th century, an inn was operated on the ground floor and accommodation was offered on the upper floors. From 1919 to the middle of the 20th century the house was a store for ship supplies, groceries and groceries. From December 2005, the new owner set up a trilingual Internet presentation that once again made the location of the house internationally known and thus contributed to tourism advertising. After extensive renovation measures and intermittent use as a specialty shop for high-quality glass products, the rooms were reopened for tours in summer 2006. From December 2006 to November 2010 the WeserStrom Cooperative , which is currently being founded, had an office and business address in this building in order to attract investors for the planned Weser power station in Bremen . In the winter of 2006/2007, exhibitions by various artists took place on the ground floor, while further renovation measures were carried out on the upper floors. From September 2007 to January 2009, an art and antiques shop on the lower two floors offered items from the Bremen and Worpswede areas. The familiar picture of the ship on the front was temporarily replaced by a company sign. In order to be able to continue the operation as an antiquarian and antique shop during the necessary renovation work, an internet shop was set up on Ebay .
In mid-2010 the house was rented to a group of artists who had previously run the Artemis Gallery, Schnoor 15. These artists have been selling sculptures, paintings, drawings and other art objects on the ground floor since August 2011. From July to December 2012, these artists ran their own gallery under the name of Künstlerhaus im Schnoor . In the context of this gallery, the works of Sabine Reichelt and Susanne Hayduck were in the foreground. In January 2013, the house was foreclosed . The artists who had used the house up until then could not come to an agreement with the new owner, so that it was closed after a few weeks.
Private museum
In the early days there was probably an open fireplace on the first floor; A replica of this fireplace was made around 1960 when the owner Theodor Dahle set up a replica of a historic restaurant on the ground floor with numerous antiques. This facility was shown together with the living rooms on the upper floors as a private museum from around 1975 and was largely preserved until the end of 2005. The original inventory of the Schifferhaus, which had been preserved up to then, was stored and documented for research purposes. A trilingual website under the name Museum im Schnoor is intended to present the history of living and use to the public, which has so far been shown in a very small space, based on the ideas of Theodor Dahle.
The house remained open to the public until January 2013. Mostly on the day of the open monument , but also on other occasions, visits and guided tours took place in German and English.
Residents and owners of the house
In 1878 the innkeeper Heinrich Lohmann bought the house for 7,950 marks.
From 1906 to 1919 the house was owned by a community of heirs, which consisted of the following three people:
- Marie Anna Lohmann, widow of the innkeeper Heinrich Lohmann
- Sophie Lohmann, sister of the innkeeper Heinrich Lohmann
- Luise Höcker, sister-in-law of Marie Anna Lohmann
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From 1919 Theodor Dahle was the owner and resident of the house. He lived in the upper rooms with his wife Johanne Dahle and ran a shop on the ground floor. During the Second World War (1939-1945) the house was spared. Thus Theodor Dahle was one of the citizens who paid money to the burden equalization fund to compensate the homeowners affected by the war damage in Germany. After his death in 1968, his wife lived alone in the house for a few years.
In 2002/03 Wolfgang Loose, co-owner of the Schnoor bakery since 1971, sold the house on the condition that the inventory had to remain unchanged. This condition was a contract under private law that was only directly binding on the buyer at the time. The continued operation as a private museum proved in the following years - also in view of the small possible exhibition space - to be financially impossible. In December 2005 the environmental scientist Frank M. Rauch acquired the house and developed an internet presence with a virtual museum.
After the house had remained uninhabited for almost 30 years, the individual floors of the house have been prepared for residential purposes since autumn 2006 after an examination for historically significant traces and evidence, without, however, changing anything essential to the original substance and character of the rooms. Several inspections and investigations were carried out by the preservation authorities and the state archeology.
Monument protection
The building is a listed building . This protection includes the maintenance of the load-bearing structure as well as the built-in components such as stairs, wall cladding and floor coverings. The inventory of a house could also be placed under protection, provided it is documented. However, this is not guaranteed for private collections such as those in the Schifferhaus. In the meantime it has been established that parts of the inventory in the Schifferhaus can also be found in other museums. This is how the age could be determined; However, it is no longer possible to trace which items were part of the inventory for a long time or were later acquired as antiques from the previous owner Dahle in the middle of the 20th century.
Legends about the house
In the Middle Ages, there was the first public bathing room on Stavendamm ( Stave is Low German for "room"), which probably also offered the opportunity for other forms of entertainment. It was reported that the Bishop of Bremen secretly visited the bathing room through an underground passage from the cathedral to the Stavendamm, using an exit that was located in today's Schifferhaus. This exit was probably filled with sand in the middle of the 20th century after parts of the underground passage had been used as a warehouse during the Second World War (1939–1945), and covered with boards.
Wall colors, for example under the old wallpaper on the upper floors, suggest that some rooms in the house were also used for brothel operations. This was not unusual in view of the location of the former restaurant and its use by shipmen.
A more recent legend has arisen about a valuable clock that was on the ground floor of the house around 1970. There are contradicting statements about this. An insurance agent claims it was a grandfather clock. The value of the clock was estimated by an owner of the house at 10-20,000 euros. The successor, who bought the house in 2002, claimed the watch fell and was destroyed. In the literature, only a wall clock can be recognized on pictures - i.e. no grandfather clock - so that it is likely to fall. There were photos for the purchase contract in 2002 that were included as proof of the inventory that was also sold, but on which this watch cannot be recognized.
The opinion that the house was operated as a public museum is still widespread. In truth, there have never been fixed opening or viewing times, rather it was a private museum, whose viewing was usually only possible with advance notice. In the last decades of the 20th century, it was necessary to register in the nearby Schnoor archive (initially at Schnoor 21/22, later at Am Landherrnamt 3). In November 2004 Georg Skalecki complained from the State Office for Monument Preservation that the house was only open on the Open Monument Day in 2003 . There was no financial support from government agencies - with the exception of the partially listed restoration of the exterior facade and tax breaks. In numerous publications and on postcards, imitations - partly made of plastic - can still be seen on the building front, but they all date from the second half of the 20th century (imitation of brickwork in the lower area, painting copy in the middle area).
Hermann Gutmann tells in his book that the previous owners of the house - the Dahle couple - sold provisions to the inland boatmen around the clock. If the captain docked the ship late at night and wanted to leave early in the morning, but needed provisions in between, he could knock on the house's rain pipe during the night. Then one of the two Dahles came down the stairs to serve the customer.
swell
- Bremen news. Report dated September 30, 2007 on p. 11.
- Karl Dillschneider : From the history of the House of Bremen, Stavendamm No. 15, “Schifferhaus” . Leaflet with 5 drawings by Karl Dillschneider. Hauschild publishing house, Bremen 1976.
- Karl Dillschneider: The Schnoor. New life in Bremen's oldest district . Foreword by Hans Koschnick; Hauschild Verlag , Bremen 1978.
- Karl Dillschneider and Wolfgang Loose: De Staven. The old bathing rooms on Stavendamm . Hauschild Verlag, Bremen 1981.
- Karl Dillschneider and Wolfgang Loose (text), Rüdiger Nagel (photos): The Schnoor. Look behind the facades . Schnoor Association Heini Holtenbeen e. V., Bremen 1982.
- Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Press release by the Senate Chancellery on May 30, 2001 - Decades of commitment to the Schnoor district of Bremen are recognized
- Hermann Gutmann: Stories from the Schnoor . Published by the Schnoor Association Heini Holtenbeen e. V., Bremen 1979.
- Lutz Liffers (text) and Ulrich Perrey (photos): The Schnoor in Bremen. A portrait . Edition Temmen, Bremen 2004. Edition in four languages (English, German, French, Spanish).
- Dieter Ortlam and Michael Wesemann: The bellows as the main stream of the Werra / Weser ?. New insights into the history of the river through the discovery of the Schlachte cog . In: Bremer Archäologische Blätter . New episode 2, 92/93. Pp. 46-55, Bremen 1993.
- Report on the Schifferhaus, Radio Bremen Fernsehen, August 12, 2002
- District courier center, supplement of the Bremen daily newspapers . Edition of Thursday, August 3, 2006, p. 3: "The Schifferhaus lives again"
- Visit the Schifferhaus . In: Weser Report . July 30, 2006, p. 8
- Schifferhaus im Schnoor is open again . In: Weser courier . July 31, 2006, p. 12
- Schnoor bakery was their home . In: Weser courier . February 22, 2007, p. 13
- Austrian TV program “Weltjournal”, December 20, 2006
- Frank Wilschewski: The fortification of the Bremen bishopric. A reconstruction proposal . In: Bremer Archäologische Blätter . New episode 4, 96/97. Pp. 88-113, Bremen 1998.
- Documents from the Schnoor archive , today in the Bremen story house
Individual evidence
- ^ Monument database of the LfD
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento from September 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ http://www.weser-kurier.de/bremen/stadtteile/mitte_artikel,-Das-aelteste-Viertel-der-Stadt-_arid,362238.html
- ↑ http://www.weser-kurier.de/bremen/vermischtes2_artikel,-Schifferhaus-hat-neuen-Besitzer-_arid,476962.html
- ↑ http://freundeskreisbremergeschichtenhaus.wordpress.com/tag/stavendamm-15
- ↑ http://www.nwzonline.de/Region/Stadt/Bremen/Artikel/508663/508663.html
Web links
Coordinates: 53 ° 4 ′ 23 " N , 8 ° 48 ′ 31" E