The previous owners - back to 1732

In May I finally made it to the town's archive to see whether I could find anything on our house or the previous owners.

Well, one visit to the archive is definitely not enough... But even in a first short visit I found out quite a lot, I was especially excited to see a list of the previous owners back to 1732.

That means of course, that we are still missing information on the first 150 years after the house was presumably built around 1590 but it is a start!

Here are the owners:

1732: Georg Cuno Hannemüller, Balbierer und Brauer

1769: Christoph Nürnberg

1785: Fr. Relicta(Witwe)Dierbergen

1799/1800: Rel. Dierbergen, modo Dan. Hotopff

1808: Hr. Hotop

Christian Steinbach, Fleischer, 48 J.; Marie Osteroth, 43 J.; Sohn: Christian * 1807

1933: Peters, August, Ackerbürger, Bagmann, Emma, geb. Peters, Witwe

Especially the first one is interesting as it says that he was a brewer and a barber. As the cellar in our house used to be a brewing cellar we can be quite sure that in the 18th century, beer was brewed directly in our house. Moreover rumour goes, that Georg Cuno Hannemüller's wife has gone mad after his death and that they had to get her out of the house by force. Quite spooky...

And this is how he might have looked like, doing his work as a barber. Well, not exactly him as this in an illustration of 1568, but anyway:


More history as soon as I make it to the archive again! I really want to try and find out more on the people listed above.

Yes, we are a monument! - re-posted from August 4th 2007

It is official now: Our house is a protected architectural monument! Thanks everyone for keeping your fingers crossed!

Two preservationists - the one responsible for our town and one of the superior authority - inspected our house thoroughly (and I, of course, had been cleaning and tidying like a madwoman the night before...). And in the end they decided that the house is "worth" being officially protected and listed, not only for being a part of the old town but also for itself and its inside.
Two main aspects were crucial: On one hand there are several well preserved old parts in the house (doors and doorframes, the attic, the cellar) and on the other hand our house represents a typical example of how this kind of houses were usually renovated in the late 19th/early 20th century.

This is an extract of the mail we got, of course they'll send us an official notification later on, but this is enough for the moment:

That's what it says:
In addition to the urbanistic significance of the building (built around 1600 and renovated around 1910 in half-timbered fashion), the following findings lead to the classification of the building as an architectural monument:

• Numerous interior doors of the 17th and 18th century.
• Mighty cellar with groined vault underneath the northern axis of the building.
• Complete truss of the construction period.
• Assumption that the mighty northern house end represents parts of the first city wall before the town's burst of development.

Especially that last bit of information is sooooo exciting. I really have to take some time off to dig in the local archives.
Anyway, we are really happy and the fact that the house is now officially an architectural monument motivates us even more to go on with all of our projects!

Here are some pics of the details mentioned above:
The cellar:


Possible city wall:


Some of the doors and door frames: