Buuck House

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“On the 17th of 1609 (...) we, Caspar Buuck and Dorotea Hotke, built this house for our own use and that of our children, and for the benefit of the town of Rüthen.”

The Buuck House, also known in the town of Rüthen as the Lattrich House after one of its former owner families, is a prime example of what is classically described as a strikingly stately and imposing half-timbered house.

Its three stories, length (16.17 m), width (12.22 m), height (16.00 m), and the very high hipped-gable roof—which was formerly used as storage space across multiple stories—of this early 17th-century townhouse are impressive in terms of size and volume.

On March 7, 1984, it was added to the list of historic monuments of the city of Rüthen. For more than 10 years, Haus Buuck has been falling into disrepair due to disuse.

According to the inscription (see above), this historic building was constructed in 1609, the year in which the town of Rüthen paid its membership dues to the Hanseatic League for the last time. In 1739, this half-timbered house survived the great town fire unscathed—as one of very few houses in Rüthen to do so.

Many scientific, socio-historical, urban planning, and local historical factors, as well as the architectural traces that have been preserved intact, the building type—based on its original use and location—demonstrate that Haus Buuck is, without a doubt, something truly special compared to the vast number of half-timbered houses in Rüthen and beyond.

Caspar Buuck and his wife Dorotea Hotke were a merchant couple professionally involved in trade, commerce, business, and finance who had their half-timbered house built for future use as a department store at the transportation hub of the town of Rüthen: at the intersection of Niedere Straße, Hachtorstraße, and Mittlere Straße. And yet another aspect sets this location apart from all others in the city in an urban planning context: Hachtorstraße leads straight to the medieval Hachtor, which is also still preserved and listed as a historic monument. If you enter the town from the north through this gate, on your way south toward the historic old town hall (also on Hachtorstraße), you’ll reach the intersection described above after just a few steps and walk directly toward Haus Buuck. For this reason, its tall gable wall—which overhangs multiple times at each story—forms the highly striking storefront façade. This striking appearance is underscored by the elaborate late-Renaissance carvings on all beam surfaces and on the Deelentor frame: The artistic decoration—which was costly then as it is now—is not only playfully floral but is also uniquely highlighted by scrollwork, small herms, animals chasing one another above the Deelentor arch, and a “B” as a signature (presumably that of the master builder or woodcarver). What makes this house unique even beyond the region—in its capacity as a merchant’s house—are the surfaces of the beam ends between the infill timbers of the cantilevered floor beams. The merchant couple had the beam ends carved with terrifying grimaces—known as “Trotzköpfe” (defiant heads) or “Neidköpfe” (envy heads)—which, symbolically interpreted in an apotropaic sense, are intended to ward off evil in any form from this house. At the same time, the carvings also reveal the personal taste of its original builders.

The floor plan features a formerly private entrance on the eastern eaves side facing Hachtorstraße, complete with a very valuable old double-leaf wooden door and its fittings, wooden and stone floors, as well as a monumental oak hoist wheel and a hoist shaft for raising and lowering merchandise to the attic floors—has been preserved largely unchanged, just as the historic building’s exterior appearance has remained largely unchanged.

The preservation and adaptive reuse of Haus Buuck—which stands as a highly significant testament to the history of the Hanseatic city of Rüthen and, as a department store deeply rooted in trade and commerce from an early period, also serves as a document of the economy of all of Westfalen—is a long-overdue necessity.

It cannot be praised highly enough that the highly dedicated local organization “Verein Forum für Stadtentwicklung e.V.” —founded, among other things, to preserve Haus Buuck—which now has 200 members and is growing, and that the city of Rüthen, for its part, commissioned the architectural firm Lohmann & v. Rosenberg in Brilon to develop a utilization concept. This utilization concept has been available for some time now and has been rated as outstanding by the LWL-AfDW, since, on the one hand, the planning concept very convincingly ensures the future preservation of the building through its use and, on the other hand, integrates it into the economic and tourist context of the historic town of Rüthen, both today and in the past

. The building was constructed by Caspar Buuck of Geseke as a department store. What is remarkable is that Caspar Buuck received the property from the city free of charge in 1609 as an “economic incentive,” and the topping-out ceremony was also hosted by the city at that time.

The inscription on the house contains a statement that

superbly reflects

the Hanseatic mindset:

“… for one’s own benefit and for the reputation of the community

…”:

“… BUILT FOR THE BENEFIT OF US AND OUR CHILDREN AND FOR THE GOOD OF THE TOWN OF Rüthen.”

The half-timbered facade is strikingly and artfully designed with “Neidköpfe” (envy heads).

The town of Rüthen promotes itself with the slogan “A young town within ancient walls.” The HAUS BUUCK City History Hostel project aims to bring young people to the city and secure a future for it.

The Rüthen Forum for Urban Development, Inc. is a civic initiative designed to counteract the threat of increasing vacancy in the city center’s building stock. Through appropriate measures and initiatives, the center of Rüthen is to be revitalized, put to use, and thus preserved.

HAUS BUUCK is intended to serve as the first and flagship project to kick off this effort. The restoration in accordance with historic preservation standards and its subsequent use are intended to be inspiring and set an example.

HAUS BUUCK, a well-preserved historic department store from the Hanseatic era with few subsequent alterations from later periods, is to be restored carefully and professionally—and thus cost-effectively. With minimal additions, where form strictly follows function, the historic building is to be adapted for its new use. Both during construction and as a completed building, HAUS BUUCK is intended to demonstrate how a historic building can be restored at a reasonable and justifiable cost and adapted for a new use in a contemporary and cost-effective manner.

At HAUS BUUCK, the historic stairwells, the “Deelenraum,” and the department store floors are to remain freely accessible and preserved in their original condition. City tours will begin and end at the building. Modern presentation technology will make the city’s history, present, and future accessible to guests and locals, young and old, according to their respective interests.

At the HAUS BUUCK Information Center, work will focus on the history, present, and especially the future of the city of Rüthen. To this end, an urban development office will be located on the ground floor. In the future, two volunteers will work here as part of the Youth Bauhütte Soest’s “Year of the Monument.” These volunteers will also live at HAUS BUUCK. Simple lodging options for student groups, school field trips, etc., will enable young people to participate in workshops at the center on topics related to downtown development, using Rüthen as a case study. Practical work related to this can be carried out in the countryside, in the city, or even in the crafts village between the rope factory and the Hexenturm, serving as an excellent complement to the workshops. In collaboration with the Rüthen Forum for Urban Development e.V., the Friedrich-Spee-Gymnasium, relevant local organizations, and the City of Rüthen, a modern and dynamic workspace is being created here to revitalize the historic city center.

Hikers and cyclists should also have the opportunity to experience Rüthen in a different way. For example, coming from the old town of Kallenhardt and passing by Körtlinghausen Castle, they should reach the town via the old, impressive city wall and find simple lodging for the night at the historic HAUS BUUCK. This enthusiasm for and engagement with the historic city center is intended to help both residents and visitors develop a new appreciation for the city center. This will effectively contribute to the revitalization of the city center.

Just as economic development and forward-thinking guided actions in 1609, so too in 2009 (400 years later) the historic HAUS BUUCK building is set to breathe new life into the town for a second time.