Wilhelmsgarten
The Wilhelmsgarten in Braunschweig was built in 1755 on historical ground as a baroque palace, subsequently rebuilt and used as a restaurant and event center since 1861. During the Second World War , the building was completely destroyed in 1944 and was not rebuilt after the end of the war. The building was named in memory of Kaiser Wilhelm I since 1873 .
History of construction and use
Lambert Wittekop, who came from a family of basin workers from Braunschweig , built a house in 1512 on the site of the later Wilhelmsgarten at what would later become Wilhelmstrasse 20 near the Katharinenkirche . Between the years 1525 and 1678, the Schrader family from Brunswick can be proven to be the owner of the house. After the city of Braunschweig was conquered in 1671, Duke Rudolf August gave the building to the Commandery of the Teutonic Order from 1678 to 1687 .
"Palais Hardenberg"
In the course of a complete redesign of the Schrader house, the ducal master builder Martin Peltier de Belfort built a baroque palace in 1755 for Philippine Charlotte von Voigts, widow of the chief bailiff Johann Just von Voigts. The Brunswick co-regent Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand bought the house in 1772 for his long-time mistress Maria Antonia von Branconi , who lived there until 1777. From 1782 to 1793 the palace was owned by the later Prussian State Chancellor Karl August von Hardenberg (1750–1822), who was responsible for the reform of the school system as Brunswick minister during this time. The owner from 1793 to 1794 was the wife of the vice-chief stable master von Thielau, who was followed up to 1805 by the secret budget councilor Reich Count Christian Friedrich von Lüttichau. From 1805 to 1837 the house belonged to court judge Friedrich Ludwig von Münchhausen , then to the notary Friedrich Wilhelm Adolph du Roi .
Inn and event center
On May 1, 1861, the brewery owner Carl Gustav Thies acquired the property in order to open an inn with a concert garden there soon after. From 1862 to March 1872, the "Music Education School " founded by the Braunschweig music teacher Caroline Wiseneder (1807–1868) was on the upper floor . Thies sold the house and garden in 1871 to the Schulz brothers from Halle (Saale) , who sold it to the Braunschweig brewery Streitberg in 1873 . In the same year, this gave the restaurant the name of the first German emperor, Wilhelm I. In 1884, the former tenant Wilhelm Kruse became the owner of the Wilhelmsgarten, who acquired the adjacent properties at An der Katharinenkirche 9 and 10 and converted it into one by R. Martinius designed event center in the Rococo style . The imposing building, opened in 1894, comprised several large event halls, a beer and dining restaurant and a wine bar. In the following years, theater groups from Berlin often performed here. On May 1, 1899, the Wilhelmsgarten was merged with “Brünings Saalbau” in a newly founded stock corporation. A western extension was completed in 1907. After the end of the First World War , the Wilhelmsgarten lost its importance. On October 4, 1921, Theo Bachenheimer and Wilhelm Voigt opened an operetta theater in the building, which only existed for a short time. At the beginning of 1929 the singer Otto Spielmann founded the “New Operetta Theater”, which had to close in the spring of 1932. From December 1932 to February 1933 the Braunschweigisches Landestheater used the theater hall for performances. In 1935 the building was bought by the state, which until 1937 used it for lectures and seminars for teacher training. Another renovation followed in 1939. It was planned to use the Wilhelmsgarten as a “house of the past” as part of the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum . During the Second World War, the building was completely destroyed in 1944 and was not rebuilt after the end of the war. The building complex of the Braunschweig tax office is now located in this area. Today the short street Wilhelmsgarten , located between Bohlweg and Wilhelmstraße, is reminiscent of what was once the city's largest community center.
Building description
In the vaulted cellar was the Hardenbergkeller wine bar, designed in a rustic, old German style . There was space for more than 1,200 guests in the large festival and theater hall. The oak-fringed garden next to the great hall held 1,800 people. There was also the Marble Hall and the Hall of Mirrors , both of which were equipped with a stage set and could each accommodate 300 guests. The Blue Hall and the New Hall were on the first floor .
literature
- Urban archeology in Braunschweig . In: Hartmut Rötting (Hrsg.): Research on the preservation of monuments in Lower Saxony . tape 3 . CW Niemeyer, Hannover 1997, ISBN 3-8271-8123-2 , Selected city excavations of the years 1984-1992 in short reports, p. 328 .
- Manfred RW Garzmann: The theater on Hagenmarkt and on Steinweg and its secret, mostly folk competitors until the early 20th century . In: 300 Years of Theater in Braunschweig 1690–1990 , Braunschweig 1990, pp. 255–268
- Jürgen Hodemacher : Braunschweig's streets - their names and their stories. Volume 1: Inner City. Elm-Verlag, Cremlingen 1995, ISBN 3-927060-11-9 , pp. 138-139.
- Norman-Mathias Pingel: Wilhelmsgarten In: Luitgard Camerer , Manfred Garzmann , Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf (Ed.): Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon . Joh. Heinr. Meyer Verlag, Braunschweig 1992, ISBN 3-926701-14-5 , p. 248 .
Coordinates: 52 ° 16 ′ 0 ″ N , 10 ° 31 ′ 34 ″ E