The town house at Unterer Stadtplatz 19 can look back on a multi-layered past, which extends from the foundation of the town in the 14th century to its most recent utilisation. While the early period of formation can only be reconstructed in a rudimental manner, the building’s functional purposes from the late 19th century are reliably documented in plan and outline by way of numerous construction reports.
Kufstein’s fortifications consisted of the reinforced town walls on three sides of the town area – while the castle hill protected the south area of the town. Integrated into it were several round turrets. According to statements in the 15th century, in front of it was a ‘compound’ and eventually a water-bearing moat. The latter was covered in 1415, when Ludwig the Bearded at that time ‘den graben um die stat weiter und
tewffer zu machen geschaffet’
Until the second half of the 19th century, the town wall formed the rear boundary of the town houses and as such can still be seen in the Franciscan Cadastre map from 1855 – before the construction of the moat. Today it is integrated into the middle of the buildings which extend right to Marktgasse. Due to the extensive redesigns of several townhouses, its course can only be recognised in a few of them. This also includes the former guesthouse, Goldener Hirsch.
Shown in the layout as a sturdy support wall, up to 1.85 m, the town wall clearly stands out from all the earlier, demonstrably thinner walls. It forms the north façade wall of the front building, to the north the plot of land 203 joins the historic rear building and a small inner courtyard. The town wall discontinues in the area of two plots adjoining the Goldener Hirsch and is replaced by recent structures dating from the second half of the 20th century.
The large formats of the construction material and the tendency of its layering may suggest dating into the 13th century, but dating into the 14th century cannot be ruled out. A link with the ‘foundation’ document from 1393 is ruled out, later timing is evident, particularly with the two fire walls adjoining the Goldener Hirsch, and the townhouses added to the town wall in the course of the 14th century, which are datable wall structures.
The somewhat typological statement from Gedeon Maretich, according to which ‘behind the [town] wall is a wide space, roughly 15 to 24 foot, providing an improved link for the inhabitants with the wall-walk“, is likely inaccurate. Rather, it can be assumed that the houses adjoined the town wall right from its starting point. In 1485 there is talk of a house ‘in the town’, which protruded right on to the street and behind the ‘circular wall’. At the latest, in the time around 1500, a release of the town hall was also refuted by Gasthof Goldener Hirsch.
The oldest demonstrable building structures on the Goldener Hirschen plot do not date back before the 15th century. They are earlier, or of a similar time in the Gothic era when the section of wall to the west of the fire wall was renewed – determined in a probe into the south west corner of the upper floors. Essentially, the Gothic building structures are divided into two phases: a) into the Gothic construction sections from the 15th century and b) into sections of wall from an in-depth renovation phase from the start of the 16th century.
The buildings dating from the 15th century were combined in this treatise in a macrophase, since any fine differentiation is scarcely possible. Extensive parts of the walls were actually eliminated by two fires in 1504 and 1703 and partly removed in upgrading phases in the 19th and 20th century, destroyed by secondary openings or lay covered under brickwork.
Escape break points in the course of the wall are likely evidence of multi-phasing. The Gothic wall structures have an entire plot, from the town square in the south to the town walls in the north. They span three floors, from the basement up to the second floor and therefore are equivalent to the height of the town wall. No evidence of a basement has been found for this period. In the wall façade facing the square, only the area of the basement had any Gothic structure, the upper floors were completely refurbished in the Baroque period.
The late Gothic extension phase of Gasthof Goldener Hirsch came after the building was destroyed by fire. Temporally, this can be placed at the start of the 16th century and may have been linked with the turmoil of war following the Bavarian-Palatinate War of Succession 1503–05 . Using stylistic assessment of Late Gothic construction elements in the Goldener Hirsch town house, it is assumed that maintenance work in the city linked with the bombardment of the town in 1504 was carried out. The documented fire in the building presumably destroyed extensive sections of the building, including the beam ceiling and extensive sections of the wall surfaces.
The building saw its most in-depth changes in the re-organising and linking of its three storeys, and also in the basement to the east half of the building and in the establishment of an atrium in the centre of the row of rooms to the east,which extended across all floors. Novel, with respect to the phase preceding the Gothic was the building’s basement. This was limited to the east half and to the south half, along with a part section of the town wall in the north. The front basement area extended from the south façade facing the square to the atrium, and comprised two unevenly sized, barrel vaulted cellars.
With the improvement to artillery, the medieval town fortifications also had to be upgraded since they were no longer able to withstand the new weaponry. After the turmoil of war in 1504 in the first instance the fortress fortifications were renewed, followed by those around the town.
In the basement of Gasthof Goldener Hirsch, 5.50m from the town wall and 3.50m from what is today the facing on the north side, was a 1.60m thick wall. The wall finished at ground floor level, where it breaks off horizontally. At one time, as a parapet wall it must have protected the fortified wall behind it. Since 1896 it has been a separating wall between the rooms in the basement of the rear building.
The sloping exterior side faced towards the town moat, the rear extended to ground floor level or was maybe somewhat higher, covered with soil. This area between the town wall and the moat wall functioned as a free-standing fortified wall. There are not many indications for the dating of the moat/fortified wall. It may date from the time of the medieval encircling wall, presumably however from the renewal phase in the middle of the 16th century.
Almost exactly 200 years after the conquering of the town by King Maximilian I, Kufstein was once again drawn into a war, the War of the Spanish Succession. In 1703 Electoral Prince Max Emanuel from Bavaria, an ally of Ludwig XIV. of France, equipped himself for an invasion of Tyrol. For a better opportunity to defend the town, issued an order was issued by the Military Director from Tyrol, Field Marshal-Lieutenant v. Gschwindt who had travelled from Innsbruck, to burn down the fortress and the town to the north of the suburbs. During this attempt, the fire spread, probably caused by the wind, right across the town on the 19th June, between 12.00 and 1.00. The entire city was engulfed by flames in a short time. On 20th June the Bavarians besieged the town, then stormed the fortress.
The destruction of the townhouses, specifically Gasthof Goldener Hirsch, must have been devastating. This clarifies the structural changes to the building carried out at the start of the 18th century. To date, the Baroque re-building phase has shaped the image of the building – externally as well as internally. Clear broken edges in the medieval building along with recurrent repair mortar (brown, mixed with extensive charcoal fragments, topped by a 2-3 mm white fine plaster) provide a clear image of the Baroque renewal. In the first instance this is included in the façade facing the square. While the basement wall in the centre may still be part of the Gothic construction phase , the façade wall in the floors above were completely renewed.
At the Gothic building phase, the building was three storeys high and no storeys were added during the Baroque era. Baroque interventions were kept to a minimum in the basement. Parts of this may have been removed as part of building interventions in the 19th and 20th century. The main focus of the Baroque reconstruction was presumably on the representative facilities to the lounge rooms facing the town square . The Baroque interventions in the area around the late Gothic atrium are decisive. Damage to the building caused by the fire in 1703 are most apparent at the atrium. The Gothic west wall of the atrium, with its late Gothic segmental arched windows, were destroyed in the northern section, together with the entire north atrium wall.
The fire of 1703 destroyed all the suspended ceilings in the building, with the exception of the walled vault on the ground floor. So new ones had to be moved in. These are designed as wooden rafter ceilings, in the east and west of the fire walls and in the storey with the internal walls. Above the restored Baroque building is a gable roof, with a north-south ridge line. At several sections this has left its mark on the building
, for instance in the current attic, the light well facing outwards.
In a second, late classicist construction phase, a third storey was added to the building. While the solid beam rafters in the front section of the building withstood increasing loads, it was only at the start of the 19th century were the integrated beamed roofs in the north rooms reinforced.
From the rubble of the subsequently lifted wooden floor in the corridor, several finds were made: three playing cards (two presumably from the 1st half of the 19th century, the third somewhat earlier) and a sheet from the ‘Bregenzer Wochenblatt’ from 21st July 1848. A newspaper article somewhere around the time of the renewal of the wooden floor, whereby the beamed ceiling underneath was somewhat older and presumably dated from the start of the 19th century. The room division of the new storeys on the living area are consistent with those of the second floor.
Stylistically, the architectural elements and building style of the roof truss are from the first half of the 19th century. There are no elements providing nearer dating. The sheet from the ’Bregenzer Wochenblatt’ from 31st July 1848 may be an indication that the storage period in the floor rubble on the second storey may not have been any longer back than that date. The stencilling on the wooden floors on the third storey are stylistically placed in the Biedermeier period. It is questionable whether this extension of the building and its re-purposing to become a ‘military barracks’, is linked with the acquisition by ‘Kufsteiner Kasern-Verein’. The regular military billeting duties of its association members is said to be have been transferred here.
The cadastre map from 1855 and images from the middle of the 19th century show that the town moat was not yet built. The moat did not carry any water; the bottom is greened over, and it was still this way until 1864. In 1882 the military administration then came to a significant decision for Kufstein - they relinquished the fortress aspect of the town and initiated a ban on construction of this civilian settlement.
From the late 19th century missives to the town house on Unterer Stadtplatz 19 increased in the guise of several building documents in Stadtbauamt Kufstein. At that time, Georg Mayrhofer was still the building's owner. He ran an inn here, the Goldener Hirsch, though it is not known from exactly when. According to a reconstruction plan dated 1901, the guest rooms faced the square on the top floor. The kitchen was in the rear section of this floor, in the site where the redesigned kitchen was in 1963, the narrow room between the atrium and the east fire wall were used for dining.
In 1896 owner of the guesthouse and sausage factory Georg Mayrhofer put in a petition to set up side buildings adjoining the north façade of the town house, that is, in the area of the former town moat. On the basement floor of the new building three vaulted cellars, stables on the ground floor, two sausage shops and a smokery, and in the roof space, a hay enclosure were to be created. According to a rebuilding plan from 1911, five rooms were created in the ground floor for this side building: from Marktgasse heading south a stable, the slaughter room with stairs to the cellar, a smokehouse, a sausage making facility and a machinery room. The rear building was at that time two metres from the front building, since a Baroque façade bay window was protruding there. The merging of the two sections of buildings occurred as part of the adaptation of the guest locations in 1901.
The second and third storeys also stand out with constructional changes dating from the 19th and early 20th century. On the upper floors, in the first instance the comfort of the inhabitants was improved, that is, the Mayrhofer family. The main emphasis of the building adaptation in 1901 was the re-design of the façade facing the town square. This can be seen in the historic photography and construction finds in this year.
In 1911 Georg Mayrhofer again filed a planning application, to add storeys to the rear building. The owner intended to use the hall on the upper floor for a cinema and variety performances. After a short period of building inactivity, from the middle of the 20th century building activity can again be seen. These are associated with the use of the first storey as a guest business as well as those on the ground floor by the Austrian Credit Institute.
The speedy progression of for the most part detailed adaptations in the storeys with living areas in the course of the 1950s and 1960s were complicated by a clear stratigraphic segregation. Rebuilding work in the 1950s concerned, judging by the construction elements that are still existing today, the re-organisation of the restaurant area, that is the kitchen and the sanitation facilities. In 1963, simultaneously with the integration of central heating, and the renewal of sanitary
installations, cam renewed modernisation of the kitchen area which had become too small. With that came the re-design of the large hall in the rear building.
The conversion of the former exchange office of the Austrian Credit Institute A.G, which had been on the ground floor of the townhouse on Unterer Stadtplatz 19 for an unknown length of time, into a banking institute required an increase in and extension of the counter area and working rooms. The plan intended use of the entire ground and cellar floors, as well as the front and rear buildings; only the staircase into the Hirschen restaurant was spared from this. Architect Dipl.-Ing. Otto Albertini from Wörgl worked out an extensive project in 1960. If this had been carried out, it would have had wide-reaching consequences for the historical make-up of the building. The office for the protection of historic buildings had no objection to the intended plans, only raising objection to the design of the façade, and Kufstein town council also agreed to the reconstruction plan. Ultimately however the project was not carried out. Instead, Architect Dipl.-Ing. Otto Albertini put forward a new project suggestion the following year in 1961.
After Volksbank in Kufstein, which adjoined the townhouse to the south, took over the former rooms of the Austrian Credit Institute, in 1972 the next upgrading of the rooms on the ground floor took place . The rooms were to be linked to one another buy two firewalls in the middle of them. Now the demolition of the walls on the ground floor separating the rooms, planned in 1960, was carried out.
In the period between the 1970s and 1990s, in conjunction with new functional instructions, numerous changes were made to the building to the storeys and to the façades. After relinquishing the restaurant on the upper floor, the rooms facing the square – presumably together with the large hall, whose separating wall had been extended in the 1970s – became a casino.
The historic Goldener Hirsch townhouse was lovingly restored by the Bodner Group and extended with an innovative and contemporary new building. As a harmonious unit, a historic link between Unterer Stadtplatz, Marktgasse and the new Cultural Quarter Kufstein came about. In each individual building measure, the heritage of Kufstein’s history has been retained and at the same time, space for contemporary requirements created.
In the traditional old building is the Viennese coffee house as an urban retreat in the middle of Kufstein old town area. The individually designed rooms and suites combine the intimate charm of a boutique hotel, with a combination of charming tradition and contemporary design. In so doing, the utmost attention was paid to retaining and reconstructing the historic style and combining it with understated luxury.
Design & tradition come together in the Goldener Hirsch. The charming lounge concept in the old building combines with the contemporary new building with rental apartments. The centuries-old tradition of the hotel and the merits of the contemporary are once again found in the make-up of this entire project. The minimalistic and timeless structures in the new building enable you to forget about the daily grind and help replenish energy stores – or just enjoy staying in the centre of Kufstein.