Commandantenhus, Heritage-listed building on the Alter Markt in Stralsund, Germany
The Commandantenhus stands at the Old Market Square and is a three-story baroque building with a distinctive gabled form and sloped roof. Its facade shows early classical design elements that reflect the period when it was built.
The medieval commandant's house on the same spot was too small for the Swedish commanders Trautvetter and Count von Schwerin, who complained and in 1745 had the king order Stralsund to build a new one. The town bought the neighbouring tailor Spatz's plot in 1746, demolished both old gabled houses, and work began in summer 1748 under merchant Johann Christoph Pagenkopf, mason Johann Christoph Büttner and carpenter Andreas Tippel. In 1850 the military treasury bought it for 13,600 Reichstaler.
The coat of arms on the central gable is a 2003 copy by Greifswald sculptor Heinrich Zenichowski, eight metres wide and four metres high. Its design follows the 1720 letter of nobility granted by the Swedish king to members of Stralsund's council. It shows the Swedish lion, the Pomeranian griffin and the elements of Stralsund's own arms; the crown and blue refer to Sweden, and the cross pattée of the city arms sits atop the helmet crest. The original Swedish-Pomerania arms, on the gable until the 1990s, disappeared after removal.
The Commandantenhus stands on the east side of the Alter Markt at number 14, within the UNESCO-listed old town of Stralsund. It was renovated in 2000 and 2001, and the coat of arms was reattached on 23 September 2003. The building is owned by the city and is listed as monument number 15.
The coat of arms on the gable was removed in the 1990s and disappeared; a replica, eight metres wide and four metres high, was made by Greifswald sculptor Heinrich Zenichowski and mounted on 23 September 2003. Its design follows the 1720 letter of nobility granted by the Swedish king to members of the Stralsund council.
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