Old Town Hall (Hanover)

Prior to the construction of the town hall, the Council of the City of Hanover met in various places around the city. It is documented that between 1303 and 1410, the council met in the city's theatre, in the market yard, and at the court arbour.{{cite book | last=Nöldeke | first=Arnold | publisher=Institut für Denkmalpflege Hannover | title=Denkmäler des "Alten" Stadtgebietes Hannover | publication-place=Osnabrück | date=1979 | isbn=3-87898-151-1 | oclc=256335132 | language=de}}

The first parts of the building were erected in 1410. After that, the building underwent several conversions and extensions. The original ground floor became today's basement due to late medieval contamination.{{explain |date=December 2023 |reason=This does not explain the change. The German text also says raising (Aufschüttungen). Did this also happen to the Market Church across the market? And why does the reason need to be explained at all?}} According to the Hanover Chronicle, two new prisons were set up in the town hall in 1607.{{cite book | last=Mlynek | first=Klaus | last2=Böttcher | first2=Dirk | title=Stadtlexikon Hannover von den Anfängen bis in die Gegenwart | publication-place=Hannover | date=2009 | isbn=978-3-89993-662-9 | oclc=458691668 | language=de}}{{rp|p=206}} In 1844, a renovation of the wings took place and the apothecary wing, a half-timbered building from the 16th century, was demolished and replaced by a municipal court designed in the Italian Renaissance style by August Heinrich Andreae. Referred to as the Doge's Palace,{{cite news |title=Aufgeteilt in vier Flügel: Diese Geschichten verbirgt das Alte Rathaus |first=Robin |last=Beck |date=2023-01-09 |work=Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung |language=de |url=https://www.haz.de/lokales/hannover/denkmale-in-hannover-das-alte-rathaus-am-marktplatz-im-stadtteil-mitte-JTCBMWC2F44ZLJN5EHVUWEAU3E.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230109085140/https://www.haz.de/lokales/hannover/denkmale-in-hannover-das-alte-rathaus-am-marktplatz-im-stadtteil-mitte-JTCBMWC2F44ZLJN5EHVUWEAU3E.html |archive-date=2023-01-09 |access-date=2023-12-11 }} it now houses the registry office.

When the old town hall was slated to be demolished at the end of the 19th century, a citizens' initiative was formed and the building was ultimately spared. The architect Conrad Wilhelm Hase oversaw a renovation of the building from 1877 to 1891, restoring it to the condition it was in when it was built, as it was considered a "pure" architectural style in the Hanoverian school of architecture. The windows of the ground floor and the first floor had been rectangular at the time, but building photographs by Ludwig Droste in 1864 and von Hase in preparation for the renovation show that both floors on the north-west facade and the ground floor on the north-east facade originally had segmental arched windows. In the 1880s, the town hall complex received a new street front due to construction of the Karmarschstraße. At this time, Hase had a new wing added, in the neo-Gothic style. He was strongly guided by the medieval parts of the town hall.

The air raids on Hanover led to the partial destruction of the building complex in 1943, especially its oldest parts. Restorations took place in 1953 and in 1964 the show gable on the west side was reconstructed. As part of an extensive renovation in 1999, the courtyard was also redesigned and fitted with a glass roof.

File:Koebelinger Strasse, Hannover 1827 Robert Batty J. Redaway.jpg|Old Town Hall seen on right of {{langx |de|Köbelingerstraße |italic=no |label=none}} obscuring Market Church in back-right, drawn before 1827

File:Hannover Marktkirche mit Rathaus (um 1895).jpg|Old Town Hall {{circa|1890–1905}} with {{langx |de|Grupenstraße |italic=no |label=none}} (now {{langx |de|Karmarschstraße |italic=no |label=none}}) built after Pharmacist wing ({{langx |de|Apothekerflügel |italic=no |label=none}}) was demolished in 1844

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2005-0150, Hannover, zerstörter Festsaal des Rathauses.jpg|Interior bomb damage during World War II

After the construction of the building, the city council met in a ballroom on the first floor. Below this was a room on the ground floor in which imported goods were stored. This ground floor was later turned into a cellar and served as a council's cellar ({{lang|de|Ratskeller}}). In 1863, the city administration left the Old Town Hall and moved into the Wangenheim Palace. It was not until 1913 that the New Town Hall, which was completed that year, became the seat of the city administration.

Around 1900, market women had their stands in the window bays of the former ground floor. Today, there are also restaurants and shops in the extended group of buildings of the Old Town Hall. On 19 June 2001, a small child was killed by an accidentally toppling statue in a restaurant.

• {{cite book |title=Conrad Wilhelm Hase, Baumeister des Historismus: Ausstellungsführer anlässlich der 150. Widerkehr seines Geburtstages |first1=Günther |last1=Kokkelink |author2=Historisches Museum am Hohen Ufer |author2-link=Historisches Museum Hannover |year=1968 |pages=24–26 |language=de |oclc=3540334 }}
• {{cite book |chapter=Altes Rathaus |first=Helmut |last=Knocke |author1-link=Helmut Knocke |page=21 |title=Stadtlexikon Hannover: Von den Anfängen bis in die Gegenwart |trans-title=Hannover City Lexicon. From the beginnings into the present |editor1-first=Klaus |editor1-last=Mlynek |editor1-link=Klaus Mlynek |editor2-first=Waldemar R. |editor2-last=Röhrbein |editor2-link=Waldemar R. Röhrbein |others=With Dirk Böttcher and Hugo Thielen |year=2009 |language=de |location=Hannover |publisher=Schlütersche |isbn=978-3-89993-662-9 |oclc=458691668 }}
• {{cite book |title=Die Kunstdenkmäler der Provinz Hannover |editor1-first=Arnold |editor1-last=Nöldeke |editor2=Institut für Denkmalpflege |year=1979 |publisher=Wenner |location=Osnabrück |orig-date=1932 |volume=1 |issue=2 |others=Provinzialverwaltung, Theodor Schulzes Buchhandlung |language=de |url=https://archive.org/stream/diekunstdenkmlerb1h1hann#page/344/mode/2up |via=University of Toronto |isbn=3-87898-151-1 |oclc=667644720 |pages=345–369 |access-date=2022-08-28 }}
• {{cite book |chapter=Stadt Hannover |first=Marianne |last=Zehnpfennig |title=Baudenkmale in Niedersachsen |editor1-first=Gerd |editor1-last=Weiß |editor2-first=Hans-Herbert |editor2-last=Möller |series=Denkmaltopographie Bundesrepublik Deutschland |volume=10 |issue=1 |isbn=3-528-06203-7 |oclc=978106142 |page=54 |language=de }}

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Category:Buildings and structures in Hanover

Category:City and town halls in Germany

Category:Rebuilt buildings and structures in Germany