StandortObermarkt
Patrician houses at the "Obermarkt"
Patrizierhäuser am Obermarkt (Photo: Hans Osterhold)
The two patrician houses "In der Pforte 1 and 2" (Pforte=gate) were built in the first half of the18th century. They have hardly changed, since they were constructed. The narrow pathway between "Ascher" and "Obermarkt" was called "In der Pforte", because once the gate of the enclosed homestead of the farmer Waldeck was situated in this place. At the end of the 19th century a breach to the "Obermarkt" was made. Since then it was simply called "Waldeck´s Pforte"
The "Obermarkt", formerly called "Neustädter Markt", was rebuilt in 1988. It came out well and it was the right place to hold the weekly market. Nowadays it is also being used to per-form the city fair. The upper parking lot permits a great view onto the old patrician houses at the "Obermarkt".
The house "In der Pforte 1" was built by the "Landrentmeister" (chamberlain) and senior mayor Heinrich Konrad Wilstach. The house that originally had been in this place, belonged to the "Stadtkommissar" Georg Heise. It had been destroyed or, at least, strongly affected by the large town fire in 1664. As it was being poorly restored, it did not last long and was de-molished in 1747. The adjacent garden could be extended, after the houses standing towards the "Ketzerbach" were pulled down in 1756 and 1819.
Formerly, "In der Pforte 1" was one of the most precious houses in Korbach, as well as the opposite building number 2. The fire office classed only 12 houses to a value of 500 thaler (german coin until 1907).
As owners of the house, amongst others, are named:
The town clerk Heinrich Bilstein, "Amtsverwalter" (deputy) Anton Contzen,
"Unterbürgermeister" (deputy mayor) Joh. Hermann Stuhlmann, "Hofgerichtsrat" Heinrich Ernst Wigand, "Obergerichts- and Hofrat" August Rhode and "Veterinärrat" Dr. Hans Hart-wig. The latter purchased the house in 1920 and had the interior rearranged. The house re-mained in possession of the Hartwig family for almost eighty years. It changed ownership in 1989. The new owners installed a doctor´s office in it.
The house was built in 1718/20 by Ludwig Scriba from Berndorf. Originally, it was a two-story-building. The occupant of the house in the period before the fire catastrophe in 1664 is not identified. Certainly a stable and a barn of the neighbour were situated in this place. The following owner (in 1748) was Anna Elisabeth Scipio, the widow of the privy councillor Ernst Ludwig Scipio. In 1766 the "Stadtkommissar" and councillor Johannes Hagenbusch purchased the house from her. The "Landkommissar" Conrad Herman Wittmar, tenant of the farm in Lengefeld, acquired the ownership in 1807. His nephew, Carl Wittmar, sold it in 1863 to Phillip Theodor Waldeck, pastor of the Saint Kilian´s Community, who bequeathed it to son, the judicial councillor Julius Waldeck. After his death, the estate was transferred to a community of heirs. To this community also belonged Maria Engelhard and Meta Leiß, the two daughters of the judicial councillor Julius Waldeck.
© Sebastian Hessel/ M. Möller
Literatur:
Hans Osterhold: Meine Stadt. Korbacher Bauten erzählen Stadtgeschichte, hrsg. vom Magistrat der Kreisstadt Korbach, 3. Aufl., Korbach 2004.