Ruffinihaus

Last updated February 19, 2019

The Ruffinihaus ("Ruffini House") is a group of three houses (also known as Ruffinihäuser) on the Rindermarkt ("cattle market") 10 in the Old Town of Munich, Germany. It was built by Gabriel von Seidl from 1903 to 1905 and is named after the Ruffiniturm ("Ruffini tower", demolished in 1808), which in turn was named after Johann Baptista Ruffini. The Ruffiniturm formed the original Sendlinger Tor ("Sendlinger gate") and thus was part of Munich's first city wall. The three-sided house that borders the Sendlinger Street and Pettenbeck Street stands on what was the fluvial terrace of the first medieval fortification's moat, as can still be seen today when viewed from the southeast. This is a prominent site by virtue of both being a historical location and marking the transition point between the oldest core of the city and its first expansion in the 13th century. The Bavarian Office of Monument Preservation describes the building as "romantic-native mood architecture of the highest level for the interpretation of a historicist image of an old town as seen under a picturesque ideal, which was meant to be 'upgraded'."

The Rindermarkt is one of the oldest streets in Munich, which connects to the Marienplatz in the north through the former Inner Sendlinger Tor. Its continuation today forms the Sendlinger Straße, which leads to the (outer) Sendlinger Tor.

Munich is the capital and most populous city of the second most populous German federal state of Bavaria, and, with a population of around 1.5 million, it is the third-largest city of Germany after Berlin and Hamburg, as well as the 12th-largest city in the European Union. The city's metropolitan region is home to 6 million people. Straddling the banks of the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps, it is the seat of the Bavarian administrative region of Upper Bavaria, while being the most densely populated municipality in Germany. Munich is the second-largest city in the Bavarian dialect area, after the Austrian capital of Vienna.

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North Seas to the north, and the Alps to the south. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, and Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west.

History

In the late Middle Ages, the site of the current Ruffinihaus was divided into small sections. From 1708 to 1721 the land was acquired by two families, Püttrich and Ruffini. Around 1800 a single, unified, four-story building was built in the Baroque style. It housed a variety of small shops. As part of a new road extension, the city bought the property in 1898 and held an architectural design competition. Gabriel von Seidl prevailed against the design of a large department store, and suggested developing the block under the name Drei Häuser ("Three houses") while keeping the impression of smaller structures and the individual shops of the previous building.

The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from 1250 to 1500 AD. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period.

Baroque architecture is the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late 16th-century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church. It was characterized ..by new explorations of form, light and shadow, and dramatic intensity. Common features of Baroque architecture included gigantism of proportions; a large open central space where everyone could see the altar; twisting columns, theatrical effects, including light coming from a cupola above; dramatic interior effects created with bronze and gilding; clusters of sculpted angels and other figures high overhead; and an extensive use of trompe-l'oeil, also called "quadratura," with painted architectural details and figures on the walls and ceiling, to increase the dramatic and theatrical effect.

An architectural design competition is a type of design competition in which an organization that intends on constructing a new building invites architects to submit design proposals. The winning design is usually chosen by an independent panel of design professionals and stakeholders. This procedure is often used to generate new ideas for building design, to stimulate public debate, generate publicity for the project, and allow emerging designers the opportunity to gain exposure. Architecture competitions are often used to award commissions for public buildings: in some countries rules for tendering public building contracts stipulate some form of mandatory open architectural competition.

Structural details

The three individual houses with different characters are grouped around a central, triangular courtyard. Noteworthy is the roofscape whose multiform design significantly contributes to the structuring of the building and gives rise to the impression of three independent buildings.

An architectural style is characterized by the features that make a building or other structure notable or historically identifiable. A style may include such elements as form, method of construction, building materials, and regional character. Most architecture can be classified within a chronology of styles which changes over time reflecting changing fashions, beliefs and religions, or the emergence of new ideas, technology, or materials which make new styles possible.

The main building faces north; its narrow side marks the end of Rose Street coming from the Marienplatz . On the west side, the facade follows the convex shape of the street layout of Sendlingerstraße; the east wing facing the Rindermarkt has a straight baseline. The top two floors of the main building have four bay windows with polygonal floor plans facing north and east; these are the only elements of the facade standing out. The top floor of the west facade steps back and opens onto a terrace behind a small balustrade. Above the limestone facade of the shop floor, a full-length copper-roofed canopy juts out. A groove under the canopy leaves room for shop signs. The eaves of the main block stand out prominently and borrow from Alpine architecture. The facade of the upper floors is richly decorated with stucco and bas-reliefs, which were designed by Julius Seidler and Philipp Widmer. These depict allegories of virtues and occupations, as well as symbols for professions and ranks surrounded by cartouches and connected by festoons. The style of the motifs draws on rural construction forms from the foothills of the Alps and mixes them with aspects of old Munich town houses. A fresco by Karl Wahler, depicting the historical Ruffiniturm, is integrated on the east facade. In this building the entrance hall has groin vaults; the only other interior design elements still preserved from the original building are the spiral staircase, its wrought-iron railing, and some former apartment doors.

Marienplatz is a central square in the city centre of Munich, Germany. It has been the city's main square since 1158.

A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room.

In elementary geometry, a polygon is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain or polygonal circuit. The solid plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two together, may be called a polygon.

The house in the southwest corner is built in the late Baroque style. The storefront facade is divided by round-arched canopies which look like arcades. On the south side, a bay window with a loggia stands at its border with the neighboring building. The facades of the first and second floors are divided by pilasters with capitals and rich consoles, flanking a pair of windows on either side. The pilasters continue to the third floor above a circumferential belt cornice. The corner building originally had two Dutch gables which were not rebuilt after the Second World War.

An arcade is a succession of contiguous arches, with each arch supported by columns, piers. Exterior arcades are designed to provide a sheltered walkway for pedestrians. The walkway may be lined with retail stores. An arcade may feature arches on both sides of the walkway. Alternatively, a blind arcade superimposes arcading against a solid wall. Blind arcades are a feature of Romanesque architecture that influenced Gothic architecture. In the Gothic architectural tradition, the arcade can be located in the interior, in the lowest part of the wall of the nave, supporting the triforium and the clerestory in a cathedral, or on the exterior, in which they are usually part of the walkways that surround the courtyard and cloisters.

A loggia is an architectural feature which is a covered exterior gallery or corridor usually on an upper level, or sometimes ground level. The outer wall is open to the elements, usually supported by a series of columns or arches. Loggias can be located either on the front or side of a building and are not meant for entrance but as an out-of-door sitting room.

The pilaster is an architectural element in classical architecture used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wall surface, usually treated as though it were a column, with a capital at the top, plinth (base) at the bottom, and the various other elements. In contrast to a pilaster, an engaged column or buttress can support the structure of a wall and roof above.

The building in the southeast corner is the smallest part of the building complex. The corner itself is clearly emphasized. The ground floor is rounded, the first floor is accented by massive protruding stone balconies, and the second by a cornice. The third floor is set back where it borders the neighboring buildings; thus the corner gives a vivid and powerful impression. The steep mansard roof also contributes to this striking appearance.

Cornice horizontal decorative molding that crowns a building or furniture

A cornice is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns a building or furniture element – the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the top edge of a pedestal or along the top of an interior wall. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown.

A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The steep roof with windows creates an additional floor of habitable space, and reduces the overall height of the roof for a given number of habitable stories. The upper slope of the roof may not be visible from street level when viewed from close proximity to the building.

Recent history and use

The Ruffinihaus was damaged in 1944 during World War II. It was initially secured only provisionally and rebuilt in 1954-55 by Erwin Schleich with a few changes. In 1973 Schleich initiated further renovation of the building. In 2008-09, further work was carried out. The former apartments on the upper floors now house city administration offices, including the Tourism Office of the city of Munich. The ground floor is occupied by traditional Munich shops.

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References

Heinrich Habel, Johannes Hallinger, Timm Weski (Ed.): Denkmäler in Bayern – Landeshauptstadt München: Mitte ("Monuments in Bavaria - the City of Munich. Center"), Karl M. Lipp Publishers, Munich 2009. ISBN 978-3-87490-586-2, Entry: Rindermarkt 10, pages 941-943

External links

Ruffinihaus on the official website of the city of Munich
Tour of Ruffinihaus (picture gallery) on sueddeutsche.de

Coordinates: 48°08′11″N11°34′25″E / 48.13639°N 11.57361°E / 48.13639; 11.57361

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