Schwetzingen - Schlösser-Magazin

Development North of the Market-Place
For building to proceed around the new
market-place, the single-storey half-timbered
building belonging to Ludwig Schwartz
first had to be demolished. The house and
garden were sold to the Elector’s estate
for 800 guilders and pulled down in
September 1748. Now the Jesuits’ Garden,
combined with the Schwartz plot, was
enclosed by a wall along the north of the
market-place down to the road now known
as SchlossstrasseSchlossstraße. Within
this Jesuits’ Garden, Elector Carl Theodor
had a garden house built to plans by
Oberbaudirektor Alessandro Galli da Bibiena
for the use of his tutor, confessor and adviser,
the Jesuit priest Franz Joseph Seedorf. Pater
Seedorf held a powerful position at the court
as the “eminence grise” who counselled
the Elector in matters of state and fostered
important contacts. This was one reason why
the building, which was begun in September
1748 and finished in 1749, was paid for by
the palace construction fund. 50 It was the first
house on the north side of the palace square,
set back within a garden and separated by a
wall. The Elector wished to have his fatherly
friend close to the residence, but at the same
time shielded him from his neighbours. This
detachment is expressed in the elegant design
of the palais façade and the ornate floral
portal attributed to court sculptor Paul Egell.
After Pater Seedorf died in 1758, the garden
house began to serve as a guest house, until
it was acquired in 1782 by Count Franz
Albert Leopold Fortunat of Oberndorff. 51
From 1778, when Carl Theodor moved away
to Munich, he was the Elector’s governor in
the Palatinate. At the end of November 1817
the town councillor, butcher and innkeeper
Johann Bless purchased the property from the
Oberndorff family for about 6025 guilders,
running it from that time under the sign of
the golden stag. 52 The relief depicting the
stag resting above the entrance portal with
50 GLA Karlsruhe 221/Schwetzingen no. 47. The carpentry alone
cost 595 guilders.
51 GLA Karlsruhe 221/Schwetzingen no. 234.
52 Stadtarchiv Schwetzingen B50.
VI. Schwetzingen – Historical Context
the inscription “Zum goldenen Hirsch” and
his initials JB still testifies to the pride the
innkeeper took in his acquisition. He had
been quick to recognize that the spacious
garden would lend itself to development.
In 1818 the conversion to hostelry and his
agricultural activities already called for a barn
and housing for his animals. This is the site
of the house built by Isaak Lorch in 1896,
now the “coffee-house” at Schlossplatz 3. Not
satisfied with this, in 1821 he had a two-storey
residence worth 3,200 guilders built on a
premium site at the corner of Schlossplatz
and Schlossstrasse, now the “Brauhaus zum
Ritter” at Schlossplatz 1. Heavily in debt, Bless
still managed to build the ballroom 53 between
the “Ritter” and the “Hirsch” in 1825, before
being forced to sell off his remaining land
to the Schwetzingen Casino Company. The
inn’s heyday as one of the finest buildings
on the square began when it was sold to the
Köfel family. 54 It was the second generation
of Köfels who extended the house in 1882,
adding two storeys with three window bays.
Like early preservationists, they laid the basis
for the square’s appearance today, respecting
the architectural forms of the 18th century.
53 He had to sell his new house to the Jewish merchant Lazarus
Raphael Traumann in 1823 and the ballroom likewise in 1826.
From 1832 Traumann ran the inn “Zum Ritter” in the house.
54 Stadtarchiv Schwetzingen B315, B316, B353, B408. The
development of the land around the Stag inn can be followed
in the land registry and fire insurance records.
VI.
Fig. 4: Blank’s reconstruction,
c. 1930. Pater Seedorf’s garden
house as originally built.
In 1826 it was extended to
include a single-storey shed,
and in 1882 a two-storey annex
(Stadtarchiv Schwetzingen,
Nachlass Blank Nr. 9).
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