1688Construction of the Neurath House

In 1688, construction workers arrived to build a new house on behalf of the town builder, governor and “Amtsschultheißen in Stadt und Amt Alsfeld”, Constantin, called “Stam”, Neurath.

Having achieved great wealth through service in the French military and through horse trading with France, Neurath bought a plot of land in Ritterstraße on which there had been a town house and the residence of the noble von Lehrbach family. He first had a magnificent barn built here in 1687, before beginning construction of this magnificent and elaborate patrician house with its richly decorated half-timbering the following year.

The building consists of two independent halves, which are divided by a gateway. The timbers of the half-timbered construction have representative carved decorative elements, e.g. twisted columns with winged angel heads or vines. Particularly striking are the half-timbered panels with diamond-shaped recesses below the windows and the half-timbered paintings on the eaves with depictions from the story of creation. The artistically designed Renaissance front door is a particular gem. Framed above a sandstone staircase and between two sandstone plinths, on which two sandstone columns sit, it is divided horizontally in the old Hessian style and decorated with richly carved ornamentation in the compartments. (MNic)