House from Vöhl

Built: between 1694 and 1700
Dismantled: 1978
Reassembled: 1995 to 1998

This house from the municipality of Vöhl in today’s Waldeck-Frankenberg county with its elaborately decorated gable belongs to the group of so-called Diemelland houses, which were common in the region. It is first mentioned in 1704 as the Haus zum Fruchtmagazin (House of the Fruit Store). It was the administrative office and storehouse for all the natural produce due to the authorities in lieu of payment. Its use as tithe barn continued until 1833. In the same year, it was bought by the horse dealer Joseph Kugelmann. This was the beginning of a sixty-year history as a residential building with changing owners and tenants. For a number of years, there was also a cobbler’s workshop on the ground floor. In 1866, the blacksmith and iron monger Friedrich Schmal II bought the building. The family’s blacksmith’s forge had been built on the neighbouring plot of land already in 1843. From 1890 onwards, the house was used exclusively as a workshop for agricultural machinery and as a storage facility for blacksmith’s materials and goods for sale. The range of goods was extensive: there were stoves, ovens and bicycles, but also agricultural and domestic devices and household goods. The ironmonger’s business operated until the building was disassembled in 1978.

The museum is planning to show the building as a storehouse for hardware in its 1953 state.