House Buuck

"1609, den 17ten (...) haben wir elude als Caspar Buuck und Dorotea Hotke dis haus uns und unsern kindren zu nutz und der stadt Rüthen zu frommen gebawet "

Haus Buuck, also known in the town of Rüthen as Haus Lattrich because of one of the previous owner families, is evidence of what is classically known as a strikingly stately and imposing half-timbered house.

Its three storeys, length (16.17 m), width (12.22 m), height (16.00 m) and the very high crippled hipped roof of this town house from the beginning of the 17th century, which was formerly used for storage on several levels, are impressive in terms of size and volume, and

it was entered in the list of monuments of the town of Rüthen on March 7, 1984.

According to the inscription (see above), this listed building was erected in 1609, the year in which the town of Rüthen paid its membership fee to the Hanseatic League for the last time. In 1739, this

half-timbered

house survived the great town fire undamaged - as one of very few houses in Rüthen

- for many scientific, socio-historical, urban planning and local historical reasons, but also for the intact architectural traces left behind, the building type depending on its former first use and its location, document that Haus Buuck is without question something very special compared to the large number of half-timbered houses in Rüthen and beyond.

Caspar Buuck and his wife Dorotea Hotke were a merchant couple, professionally involved in trade, change, business and capital, who had their half-timbered house built for future use as a department store at the traffic junction of the town of Rüthen: At the intersection of Niedere Straße, Hachtorstraße and Mittlere Straße. And there is another aspect that makes this location stand out above all others in the town in the urban planning context: Hachtorstraße runs straight towards the medieval Hachtor, which is also still preserved and a listed building. If you enter the town from the north through this gate, you reach the above-mentioned crossroads after a few steps on your way south to the historic old town hall (also on Hachtorstrasse) and walk directly towards Haus Buuck. For this reason, its high gable wall, which overhangs several storeys, forms the very eye-catching façade. This conspicuousness is underlined by the elaborate late Renaissance carvings on all the beam surfaces and on the Deelentor frame: the artistic and then as now expensive decoration is not only playfully floral, but also singularly emphasized with scrollwork, small herms, animals chasing each other above the Deelentor arch and a B as a signature (probably of the master builder or woodcarver). The surfaces of the beam heads between the infill timbers of the projecting floor beams characterize this house in its capacity as a department store in a way that is unique beyond the region. The merchant couple had the beam heads carved with terrifying grimacing faces, known as defiant heads or envious heads, which are symbolically valued in an apotropaic sense to ward off evil in any form from this house. At the same time, the carvings also reveal the personal taste of its former builders

, and the layout of the rooms has been preserved largely unchanged, with a formerly private entrance in the eastern eaves facing Hachtorstraße and a double-leaf, very valuable old wooden door, with its fittings, wooden and stone floors, as well as a monumental oak elevator wheel and a chute for the goods to be pulled up and down into the attics.

The preservation and reuse of Haus Buuck, which is a highly significant testimony to the history of the Hanseatic town of Rüthen and, as a department store involved in trade and commerce at an early stage, is also a document for the economy of Westfalen as a whole, is a long overdue desideratum.

It cannot be praised highly enough that the very committed "Verein Forum für Stadtentwicklung e.V." (Forum for Urban Development Association) was founded in the town to preserve Haus Buuck, among other things, and now has 200 members and growing, and that the town of Rüthen commissioned the architectural firm Lohmann & v. Rosenberg, Brilon, to develop a utilization concept. This utilization concept has now been available for some time, which the LWL-AfDW considers to be excellent from a technical point of view, as on the one hand the planning idea very convincingly ensures the future preservation through the use of the house and on the other hand integrates it into the economic and tourist context of the history of the town of Rüthen today as well as yesterday

. What is spectacular is that Caspar Buuck received the property free of charge from the town in 1609 as a "business promotion" and the topping-out ceremony was also organized by the town at the time.

The inscription on the house contains a statement that

perfectly reflects

the Hanseatic way of thinking:

"... for our own benefit and for the reputation of the community ..."..

. BUILT FOR THE BENEFIT OF OURSELVES AND OUR CHILDREN AND THE CITY OF Rüthen

"The half-timbered façade is strikingly and artistically designed with envious heads, and

the town of Rüthen advertises with the slogan "Young town within old walls". The HAUS BUUCK Stadtgeschichtsherberge project aims to bring youth into the town and a future for the town.

"The Rüthener Forum für Stadtentwicklung e.V. is a civic initiative that aims to counteract the danger of buildings in the town center becoming increasingly vacant. With suitable means and actions, the center of the city of Rüthen is to be revitalized, brought into use and thus its preservation secured.

the HAUS BUUCK is to be the first and outstanding project to kick off this. The restoration and subsequent use of the listed building is intended to be inspiring and exemplary

, and HAUS BUUCK, as a well-preserved department store from the Hanseatic period with few subsequent changes from later periods, is to be restored carefully and professionally, i.e. also economically. The historic building is to be supplemented for its new use with a small number of fixtures and fittings in which form strictly follows function. During construction and as a finished building, HAUS BUUCK will demonstrate how a listed building can be restored at an appropriate and justifiable cost and prepared for a new use in a contemporary and economical manner,

with the historic staircases, the Deelen room and the department store floors remaining freely accessible and retaining their original substance. Guided tours of the city will begin and end in the building. Modern presentation technology will make the history, present and future of the town accessible to guests and locals, young and old, according to their respective interests, and

the HAUS BUUCK information center will work on the history, present and especially the future of the town of Rüthen. For this purpose, an urban development office will be located on the first floor. In future, two volunteers will work here as part of the Jugendbauhütte Soest monument year. These volunteers will also live in HAUS BUUCK. Simple overnight accommodation for student groups, school courses, etc. will enable young people to work in the house in workshops on topics relating to the development of an inner city using Rüthen as an example. The practical work can be carried out in the countryside, in the town or in the craftsmen's village between the rope factory and the Hexenturm. In conjunction with the Rüthener Forum für Stadtentwicklung e.V., the Friedrich-Spee-Gymnasium, the relevant associations in the town and the town of Rüthen, a modern and powerful place of work is being created here to revitalize the historic town 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 past Körtlinghausen Castle, they should reach the town via the old impressive town wall and find a simple hostel for overnight accommodation in the HAUS BUUCK monument. The enthusiasm for and engagement with the historic town center is intended to help citizens and foreigners develop a new sense of value for the town center.

Just as economic development and forward thinking determined the actions in 1609, in 2009 (400 years later) the architectural monument HAUS BUUCK is to revive the city for a second time.