Lichtenstein House, frequently called just Lichtenstein or Little Roman, was a historical building in the Altstadt of Frankfurt am Main and has an interesting architectural history, which combines the Gothic and the Baroque style. It was located in a residential block of the Römerberg (), south of a building called Römer (). The address was Römerberg 11.
While it was a popular trade fair in the Middle Ages, it became known as a treasured lookout and a venue of the European court societies in celebration of the coronations of Roman-German kings and emperors which took place at the Römerberg in the Early Modern Age. In the first half of the 20th century, Lichtenstein was one of the hubs of the art scene in Frankfurt.
In March 1944, the Lichtenstein House was nearly completely consumed by fire after the bombing of Frankfurt by the Allies of World War II. However, the mostly intact enclosing walls were not demolished until 1946 by a storm. Shortly afterwards, the building was rebuilt in a modern aesthetic, so that it now has to be considered among the lost historic monuments of Frankfurt's Altstadt.
History From the Time of Origin to the Baroque Renovation (1326–1725)
The Lichtenstein House was first mentioned in two official certificates in 1326.Johann Friedrich Boehmer, Friedrich Lau: Urkundenbuch der Reichsstadt Frankfurt. J. Baer & Co, Frankfurt am Main 1901–1905, Band II, Urkunde Nr. 291, 12. Februar 1326: […] de domo dicta Lithinstein [...]Johann Friedrich Boehmer, Friedrich Lau: Urkundenbuch der Reichsstadt Frankfurt. J. Baer & Co, Frankfurt am Main 1901–1905, Band II, Urkunde Nr. 293, 12. März 1326: […] der ligin fiere uf dem hus zu Liehtenstein uf Hennekins deyl gein der winschroder hus […] (Anmerkung: mit der winschroder hus kann im Kontext der Quelle nur das Haus der alten Lit. J 160 gemeint sein – als das noch im 20. Jahrhundert als Schrothaus bekannte Haus mit der Anschrift Römerberg 13, das in der Tat an das Lichtenstein stieß und sich mit ihm die Brandmauer teilte). Moreover, according to the respective fascicle of the Institute for Municipal History, at that time the house was labelled as the parent house of a patrician family called Schurge zu Lichtenstein.Kaiser und Könige im Römer. Das Frankfurter Rathaus und seine Umgebung. Verlag Josef Knecht, Frankfurt 1980, S. 87–90. However, a statement from this period describing what the house looked like does not seem to exist. As a matter of fact, specific information from the time the building was built is entirely missing. Still, the early architectural history can approximately be reconstructed due to analogies, as the house, which can be verified to have been a Gothic stone house at its core, is part of roughly twenty buildings in Frankfurt which belong to the same type and resemble each other tremendously.
The core of the Altstadt (including the Römerberg) was already so populous around 1150 that the first city expansion became necessary. The stone buildings of the nearby Roman complex were first mentioned in the early 14th century. It is probable that the construction of the core of Lichtenstein House was also done during that time. One look at the size of the lot in comparison to the surrounding lots of the Schrothaus (address: Römerberg 15) and Jungfrau (address: Römerberg 15) Houses furthermore suggests that the building was established on two lots of previous constructions that were combined for this new construction. Such an approach is in fact documented regarding another Gothic stone building – the Stone House (German: Steinerne Haus) at the market.
Nevertheless, on the one hand Walter Sage argues that the position of the eaves as well as the small roof towers (compare painting by Caspar Merian), which was not come across on buildings until the late Gothic period in Frankfurt, indicate that the new construction was built in the late 15th century.Das Bürgerhaus in Frankfurt a. M. bis zum Ende des Dreißigjährigen Krieges. Wasmuth, Tübingen 1959, S. 30 & 31. On the other hand, the art historian and connoisseur of the Altstadt of Frankfurt, Fried Lübbecke, proposed that the house was built in the 14th century. Both views can however easily be combined because a Lichtenstein House which was built in the early 14th century and had some parts of the roof altered while the remaining construction was kept is documented.Alt-Frankfurt. Ein Vermächtnis. Verlag Sauer und Auvermann, Glashütten 1971, S. 45, 65–67. Having said that, it remains uncertain whether the Schurge patrician family, who added the name of the house to their family name, as did some later owners of the house, or whether the slightly more famous Glauburg patrician family, who owned the Lichtenstein House as of 1460, constructed the building due to the records being incomplete.
The etymology of the name of the house should be located in a family name that was transferred onto the building as this is the case for a majority of houses in the Altstadt.Dr. Heinrich Voelcker: Die Altstadt in Frankfurt am Main innerhalb der Hohenstaufenmauer. Verlag Moritz Diesterweg, Frankfurt am Main 1937, S. 28–37. The last name Lichtenstein appears numerous times in surviving certificates from the 14th century, even though there are variant spellings due to a lack of orthography back in the days. There is no evidence for a direct correlation between the Lichtenstein family and the eponymous house. Thus, it can only be speculated that the family owned the previous building structures, which were then purchased by the Schurge family for reconstruction in the early 14th century.
Notwithstanding the above, Lichtenstein was just like its constructional relatives (like Fürsteneck House, which was built on Fahrgasse street in 1362, or the already mentioned Stone House, constructed in 1464) and was above all characterised by the wise and anticipatory choice of location by the building owner. Situated near the city gate, called Fahrtor, and through which trade articles were shipped across the Main to the city of Frankfurt, Lichtenstein House was a welcoming and certainly a protection against the constantly threatening firestorms of the timber framing constructions due to its fireproof vaults.
Even the municipal administration was afraid of the danger and stored all of the important documents and privileges in the 1808 dismantled vault of the tower of the fortress near the city gate Leonhardstor. It did so until the town hall near the Römerberg, which was purchased in 1405, was expanded in 1438 by a lithic archive tower.Georg Ludwig Kriegk: Geschichte von Frankfurt am Main in ausgewählten Darstellungen. Heyder und Zimmer, Frankfurt am Main 1871, S. 195, 196.
The trade fair of Frankfurt, which was already extremely important in the 14th century, was closely linked to trade items. Tax accounting from this period shows that some homeowners earned more money by accommodating fair visitors than during the rest of the year. Lichtenstein House, however, might very well have attracted particularly wealthy fair goers because of the size of its rooms, which were very luxurious for the time. Hence, a document from the year 1474 explaining that a total of 48 spare beds were available in the entire house does not come as a surprise.
During the Reformation movement, Johann von Glauburg, who was one of the most important political personalities of the 16th century in Frankfurt, lived in Lichtenstein House. In 1526, he went back to his hometown after his studies, where he became a juryman as early as 1532. Later on he was a long reigning mayor of Frankfurt and was a skilled diplomat.
As of 1562 Frankfurt became, apart from being the city of the election of the Holy Roman Emperor, also the city of the coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor. As result, Römerberg became the location where these regularly held ceremonies took place. Hence, the worth of the building was probably multiplied again. The well positioned window seats that were made available for rent during these celebrations brought the respective owner significant revenues, similar to the aforementioned possibility to accommodate fair visitors. Although exact numbers for Lichtenstein House concerning this matter have not been preserved, analogies can be drawn once again between Lichtenstein and other buildings in similar conditions. The fact that the enormous amount of windows in most of the buildings facing the Römerberg can only be explained in terms of the high window rent that can be achieved can serve as further confirmation.
Soon after a courtyard was probably constructed. It reached west of the Lichtenstein House to the Kerbengasse and its late Gothic remains with the emblem of the Glauburg family were captured in some drafts by Carl Theodor Reiffenstein in the middle of the 19th century. Regarding its unadorned useful qualities, the courtyard probably served for the longest time more as a camp than as a dwelling place and also disposed of a highly spacious vaulted cellar, that was used without exception by all of the owners of the Lichtenstein House to stock wine.
On the famous bird's eye view map by Matthäus Merian, which shows Frankfurt in the year 1628, the rear of the house is depicted in detail for the first time. According to this map, there was a distinctive stair tower in the courtyard which was added to the back and was positioned between Lichtenstein House and the rear house of the Kerbengasse. This stair tower belonged to the late Gothic period as well as to Early Renaissance from a stylistic perspective.
From Baroque Renovations to the Second World War (1725–1944)
Lichtenstein changed its proprietor once again in 1694 and was passed on to the Leerse family, who had immigrated from Breda (Netherlands) to Frankfurt in the 17th century. It was also during this time that the alternative house name Zum kleinen Römer (lit., "to the little Roman") first appeared,Die Baudenkmäler von Frankfurt am Main – Band 3, Privatbauten. Selbstverlag/Völcker, Frankfurt am Main 1914, S. 78–81. which can certainly be traced back to the stepped gable of the northern and southern firewalls as well as to the stone architecture that appeared nowhere else on the Römerberg.
Gothic constructions were not really considered as worth seeing due to the contemporary taste of the dawning 18th century, which is why they were dismantled in huge numbers or massively reconstructed in a baroque fashion. In comparison, Johann Georg Leerse, the landlord at the time, proceeded more carefully during the renovation of the house that was planned in 1725 and executed by Louis Remy de la Fosse, an architect from Darmstadt. De la Fosse stood out because he had previously built the Residential Palace Darmstadt and he would later get recognition in Frankfurt for his work on the Römerberg as well. In this regard the Holzhausen aristocratic family from Frankfurt entrusted him only two years later in 1727 with the construction of the Little Holzhausen palace (“Holzhausenschlösschen”), which was named after the family and is situated to this day in the park Holzhausen (“Holzhausenpark”). The palace was interestingly enough built on top of the foundation walls of a medieval water castle which belonged to the potential builder-owners of Lichtenstein House, the Schurge zu Lichtenstein family, in the late 14th century.Gerhard Bott: Frankfurt am Main. Deutscher Kunstverlag, München 1953, S. 40.
Probably similar to the alterations from two centuries ago, the renovation only profoundly changed the roof of the Lichtenstein House in its substance by imposing a wall dormer. The appearance of the front of the house was harmonised and architectural elements like windows and portals were converted to Baroque style. The rooms of the first floor, which look out onto the Römerberg, were furnished with high quality stucco on the ceiling, although the execution suggests that the stucco on the ceilings comes from the middle of the 18th century.