Schwerthof

Schwerthof (2009)

The Schwerthof is under monument protection standing monument in Cologne District Old Town North . The office and commercial building at "Zeppelinstrasse 2" at the corner of " Neumarkt 2 " was built in 1921 and 1922 based on a design by the Cologne architect Jacob Koerfer .

history

The predecessor building at Neumarkt 2 was the "Blankenheimer Hof" , a palace built in 1758 for Philipp Christian Graf von Sternberg and Manderscheid , which last served as an officers' mess. At the latest since the construction of Zeppelinstrasse (1910/1911), the "Blankenheimer Hof" represented an obstacle within the new traffic planning developed by Carl Rehorst , which widened the Schildergasse that led to the Neumarkt, due to its facade protruding 3.64 meters towards the Neumarkt provided. Plans to relocate the facade in the course of a new building project at the previous location or to rebuild it at another location were ultimately dropped.

After the Isay department store was built on the adjacent property to the north at Zeppelinstrasse 4–8 at the corner of Am Alten Posthof between 1911 and 1913 , the building site of the Blankenheimer Hof , which was closed in autumn 1913, initially remained undeveloped. The beginning of the First World War also interrupted the efforts of the owner, the City of Cologne, to find a buyer and potential builder for the more than 2,000 m² property. Here, the architect Koerfer had the opportunity to build office buildings himself with equity and loans as the client. At the beginning of 1921 Koerfer acquired the area with a front of 75 meters on the new Zeppelinstrasse and 27 meters on Neumarkt in order to build an office and commercial building - the Schwerthof - on it. Construction began in spring 1921, and the opening took place on October 3, 1922. The name of the new building was based on medieval names. In 1493, a Cologne citizen named Abel vom Schwerthof is recorded in the shrine books who lived here. The name Schwerthof was then carried over to an armory for nobles from the 16th century. Architect Theodor Veil designed the building together with Koerfer. But Koerfer carried out various modifications, which resulted in the end of the collaboration. The architecture of the building was adapted to the adjacent development: to Neumarkt, to the new building of the police headquarters at Krebsgasse 1 at the corner of Schildergasse (the small window format) and to Zeppelinstraße to the new department store Cords ("strict, smooth and flat arrangement of wall and windows in an even row ”). After its opening in October 1922, 15 companies had already settled here. Architecturally, the center column spacing in the Schwerthof corresponded to the axis spacing of the column grid.

On its 1,750 m², the ground floor accommodated a café in addition to smaller venues , the pastry shop of which was 450 m². Since there was no leaseholder, the Cologne restaurateur Ludwig Blatzheim took over the café himself and managed up to 180 employees.

The Schwerthof was only relatively slightly damaged during the Second World War . In 1947, Cologne's first downtown cinema of the post-war period, the “UFA-Schwerthof”, was opened in place of the café. The “Bucherstube am Dom now at Neumarkt”, which had entrances to Neumarkt and Zeppelinstrasse, existed for several decades.

The entry of the Schwerthof in the monuments list of the city of Cologne took place on June 27, 1988 (monument no. 4661).

architecture

Koerfer, who also acted as the client, selected a structure from the various draft versions that had 14 axes on Zeppelinstrasse and five on Neumarkt. The front in the Zeppelinstraße was three over giebelte risalits interrupted perspective. The planned for Shop floor was according to the grid of the skeleton structure arcade-like constructed over two office floors before the third floor by a window sill cornice is divided. The attached fourth floor finally jumps 50 cm inwards. The Schwerthof is closed at the top by a high hipped roof .

Both the sculptural work on the exterior and the stucco work on the interior walls and ceilings were made by the Cologne sculptor Willy Meller . The four office floors with a usable area of 1,650 m² each had a traffic area share (corridors and supply rooms) of 19%. Due to the design, it was possible to divide the room according to the tenant's wishes from the start.

Building corner (2007)
Entrance Zeppelinstrasse (2009)
Figure to the left of the entrance (2009)
South view (2010)

literature

Bruno Fischli (Ed.): From seeing in the dark. Cinema stories of a city. Prometh-Verlag, Cologne 1990, ISBN 3-922009-62-X .
Wolfram Hagspiel : Cologne: Marienburg. Buildings and architects of a villa suburb. (= Stadtspuren. Monuments in Cologne. Volume 8.) 2 volumes, JP Bachem Verlag , Cologne 1996, ISBN 3-7616-1147-1 , volume 2, p. 868 f. (Jacob Koerfer).
Klemens Klemmer: Jacob Koerfer (1875–1930). An architect between tradition and modernity. ( Contributions to art history. Volume 23) scaneg Verlag, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-89235-013-2 .

Web links

Commons : Haus Schwerthof - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Text of the protection of the city curator in Cologne for the Schwerthof. , accessed April 11, 2013.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ Klemens Klemmer: Jacob Koerfer (1875–1930). An architect between tradition and modernity.
↑ Bruno Fischli (ed.): From seeing in the dark. Cinema stories of a city. P. 93.

50.93674 6.949049Coordinates: 50 ° 56 ′ 12.3 " N , 6 ° 56 ′ 56.6" E

[Klemmer-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ Klemens Klemmer: Jacob Koerfer (1875–1930). An architect between tradition and modernity.

[2] Bruno Fischli (ed.): From seeing in the dark. Cinema stories of a city. P. 93.