(kus) When visitors to Frankfurt's new Old Town stroll through the alleyways and along the historic Krönungsweg from next year, their path will also take them past the "Golden Scales". Opposite the cathedral, in the south-east of the new quarter, the Renaissance house with its magnificent façade, originally built around 1619 by the Dutch religious refugee Abraham van Hamel and his wife Anna van Lith and reconstructed in the course of the DomRömer project, is already attracting a lot of attention. Mayor Feldmann informed the public about the current status of the work at a press conference on 13 December.
"I am delighted about the progress of the construction work on the entire site and especially here at the Golden Weighing House. The richly decorated façade, with Main sandstone on the ground floor and the visible half-timbering above, gives us a glimpse into our city's living past," said the Lord Mayor. On the ground floor of the Golden Weighing House, restaurateur Birgit Zarges will in future run a confectionery with Café. On the upper floors, the Historical Museum invites visitors to see the living quarters of the house, furnished and equipped as they would have looked in the early 17th century, when the Golden Weighing House was built. The Goldene Waage had been owned by the City of Frankfurt since 1899. From 1928 onwards, the Historical Museum restored the building as an example of a historic town house. The basis for this was the inventory list drawn up after the death of Anna van Lith in 1635.
According to architect Prof. Jochem Jourdan, the starting position for the reconstruction of the building was favourable. Thanks to the fame of the Golden Scales, numerous watercolours, drawings and sketches existed, which were made at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, as well as photographs of the east wing and the main building. They provided information about the room sequences, building decoration and the constructive structure of the building. Some spolia, parts of the original building, have also been preserved and are now returning to their original place. Among them are portraits of the builder and his family, and three wrought-iron grilles that were built into the arches of the ground floor.
However, the detailed reconstruction of the Golden Scales was a great challenge, which was only possible with qualified craftsmen and a good planning performance, Jourdan explained. The half-timbered construction on the upper floors alone, with the rich decorative forms in the parapet fields, was a masterpiece of craftsmanship. For example, tendril work was carved into the corner posts of both half-timbered storeys and then painted. The work on the Main sandstone on the ground floor, which is typical of Frankfurt, was also elaborate and had to be carried out with great precision.
In the interior of the building, visitors will also find this special material: a stair tower made of Main sandstone leads to the upper floors all the way up to the "Belvederchen", a leafy roof garden with a large gazebo and a small fountain. As Mayor Peter Feldmann explained, this is a typical design feature of the former old town. "Anyone who wanted to escape the hustle and bustle of the alleyways for once found a welcome retreat on the airy roof terraces, with the best views over the district and of the cathedral."
