The Pellerhaus standing on the Egidienplatz is one of the most discussed and debated monuments in Nuremberg. Its extremely rich history was unfortunately badly marred by the Allied bombing of the city during the Second World War. The building did not live to see a faithful reconstruction, and an entirely new, modernist Pellerhaus was built on its surviving parts. A few years ago, it was decided to undertake a partial reconstruction of the monument. So will the former facade also return to the landscape of Nuremberg?
The Renaissance seat of the Peller family
In 1600, the merchant Martin Peller acquired the property on the Egidienberg, built up with a simple sandstone house. Two years later, demolition of the existing building began and the erection of a new residence, completed in 1605. The author of the project was Jakob Wolff the Elder. Once the front building was completed, Peller had the courtyard rebuilt. Work continued until 1607 and included the demolition of the older elements and the erection of arcaded galleries. To shorten the visually elongated space, a loggia was added to the rear façade. In 1616, a small bay window was added to the front façade, closing the main phase of the building. The layout with front building, courtyard and rear building was typically Nuremberg, but the form of the main façade stood out for its grandeur against the local architecture and was reminiscent of the merchant houses of northern Germany.
Pellerhaus: architecture and decoration
The historic Pellerhaus went down in art history as one of the most outstanding examples of the German Renaissance. The façade rested on a rusticated plinth, above which rose two storeys and three attic levels. Pilasters, obelisks and rich sculptural decoration made the façade of the building look extremely elegant. The central axis was emphasised by the aforementioned oriel above the portal and the relief of St Martin of Tours. The interior decoration was just as impressive as the front elevation. The entrance hall was covered by star vaults, and the so-called Beautiful Room and Beautiful Salon were distinguished by carved panelling and painted ceilings. The paintings depicted, among other things, the mythological Faeton in a solar chariot.
The fate of the building until the Second World War
The Peller family only moved into the house in 1625 and lived there for 200 consecutive years. During these two centuries, the building did not undergo any major alterations, so that it retained its Renaissance form and decoration. In 1929, the city of Nuremberg bought the building and used it as the city archive. Five years later, the monument was thoroughly renovated and shone in new splendour. As it soon turned out, all the work was in vain. Nuremberg was the “NSDAP Rally City” in the 1930s and early 1940s. This made it an important target for the Allies during the Second World War. They dropped thousands of tonnes of bombs of all kinds on the city, which led to the almost complete destruction of its historic buildings (around 90%), turning it into a pile of rubble and creating a symbol of the downfall of Nazism. The Pellerhaus also shared this tragic fate. The Renaissance rarity was badly damaged and almost completely consumed by successive fires. Only a section of the ground floor, the stair tower, the cellars and parts of the arcaded courtyard survived. The wooden panelling of the Beautiful Room had previously been dismantled and only survived.
The post-war New Pellerhaus
In 1952, Nuremberg, recovering from ruin, launched a competition to rebuild the Egidienplatz area. The winning design by Fritz Mayer and his son Walter called for the erection of a completely new, functional complex there for the archive, library and university, respecting the preserved relics of history. The new Pellerhaus was built between 1955 and 1957, with the design preserving the surviving fragments of the old house, including the partially reconstructed rusticated ground floor wall facing the square. The modernist form of the building followed the historic rhythm of the facade, but used contemporary materials and detailing. The building in this form was entered in the register of monuments in 1998, which provoked a wave of criticism and indignation. This was because the entry closed the way for the full reconstruction of the Pellerhaus. A few years later, however, it turned out that this was not entirely the case.
Reconstruction of the monument courtyard
The initiative to reconstruct the historic courtyard was born in 2005 and was then taken over by the local Friends of the Old Town Association. The Nuremberg Council agreed to the project on the condition that there would be no public funding. Thanks to private donations, work was able to begin as early as 2008 and was completed a decade later. The whole project provoked criticism from many architects and art historians. Above all, attention was drawn to the juxtaposition of high-quality stonework with the modern reinforced concrete structure on which the entire reconstruction was based. Despite these unfavourable opinions, the Pellerhaus has regained some of its former splendour and has been put back into use. In 2018, ideas also emerged regarding the reconstruction of the rest of the historic ensemble, which opened up a debate about the limits of reconstructing monuments and their authenticity. However, while in the case of the courtyard there was no need to interfere with the 1950s construction, the reconstruction of, among other things, the former façade would completely destroy the creation of Fritz and Walter Mayer. This one is on the register of historical monuments and is protected by law, so a full reconstruction of the former Peller family house is unlikely.
Source: museen.nuernberg.de, altstadtfreunde-nuernberg.de
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Pellerhaus in 1886 and today. Source: Photographic Archive of the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte and Chris06, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The building after the destruction and today. Source: Stadtarchiv Nürnberg and Google Maps
The courtyard at the end of the 19th century and before the reconstruction completed in 2018. Source: Photographic Archive of the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte and Sol Octobris, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
