AUTHOR Angelika Sager
PUBLISHED 21. FEB 2025
The Logenhaus of the Logenhaus zum Märkischen Hammer
The “Logenhaus” has a connection to John the Baptist, who wanted to enlighten people with the true real light, which is synonymous with knowledge. The name “Zum Märkischen Hammer” is derived from the hammer mills that used to work in our area.
On May 6, 1888, the Lüdenscheid lodge was founded by 19 members of other lodges. 7 came from Schwelm, 8 from Hagen and 1 founding member each from Berlin, Düsseldorf, Elberfeld and Jena. The Lüdenscheid lodge “Zum Märkischen Hammer” was founded during the reign of the 99-day emperor and freemason Frederick III under his protectorate. Initially, people met in the “Jägerhof” at Luisenstrasse 35, near today’s Altstadtbühne, where an apartment was rented on the first floor.
In 1901, the use of the “Jägerhof” ended and it was then taken over by the Jewish community and turned into a synagogue. On August 30, 1900, a well-located, approximately 1300 m2 plot of land on the edge of the city center with a villa built just 15 years previously and a small slated half-timbered house on Concordiastrasse – the current location Freiherr-vom-Stein-Strasse 20 – was purchased for 60,000 marks. Today, this corresponds to a value of around 480,000 euros. The seller was the former engraver, manufacturer and merchant Wilhelm Deumer, a producer of chain mail, among other things, whose company was taken over by Wilhelm Conze in 1905. By this time, the house had already lost its original character, as a simplified third floor had been added and the steep mansard roof had been replaced by a flat hipped roof. The house originally served as a residential building and was probably planned and built in April 1886 by the architectural firm Fischer & Winter, Humboldtstrasse 5.
In 1901, the house was extended to include a hall, which also housed the temple. In 1905, the drainage system was installed and in 1913 the hall was extended. Vehicles and carriages, including horses, were housed in the spacious courtyard, and the coachmen could stay and wait in their own room; time was not an issue. Further conversions and extensions resulted in a meeting room, a large drawing room, a club room, a cloakroom and adjoining rooms on the ground floor. On the first floor, in front of the temple, there was a preparation room with built-in cupboards for Masonic clothing and work utensils, additional drawing rooms, the library, the master’s room and a conference room. On the second floor, in addition to the castellan’s apartment, there were several bedrooms for the lodge brothers from outside to stay overnight. In 1912, the old half-timbered house was demolished, so that a beautiful front garden with an enclosure wall, gate and rose garden contributed to a flourishing lodge life. When the First World War broke out in 1914, the lower rooms were voluntarily made available as a reserve hospital and were used as such until the end of the war.
The Logenhaus was then restored to its original state until 1934/35, when all lodges were closed under National Socialism and their assets were expropriated without compensation. The Lüdenscheid lodge house was converted into a dairy. The Lüdenscheid architect Eduard Amtenbrink, who originally refused to convert the lodge house into a dairy, was persuaded by his lodge brother and mayor Karl Diemer with the words: “You take on this task, because then we have the plans and know what we have to undo when this brown nightmare is over.” No sooner said than done.
After the Second World War, the lodge brothers had to move again to a restaurant called “Bubenheim” – later known as Haus Budde. When the space there became too small, the lodge brothers were able to meet temporarily in the dentist’s office of Dr. Bittner, Humboldtstrasse 18, before meeting in the restaurant “Zum Ritter”, Rathausplatz 7, now Commerzbank.
Until May 1, 1951, the dairy cooperative operated its dairy in the former lodge house. On February 13, 1953, the Higher Regional Court decided to give the lodge its old building back. The old building was, however, in a sad state. Renovations and breakthroughs as well as the removal of the oak paneling and the installation of an apartment in the temple had taken their toll on the once beautiful house. Considerable financial resources had to be raised to restore the rooms – actually under the architectural leadership of E. Amtenbrink. For this purpose, building block shares worth 50 DM were issued, which were later mostly not redeemed and thus made financing possible. With the introduction of light – a special symbol of the Freemasons to move from darkness to light – the lodge house was returned to its intended purpose on November 13, 1954. Another renovation of the lodge house under the Lüdenscheid architect Claus Amtenbrink took place in 1967/1968, during which the porch was redesigned.
In 1998/1999, the pent roof on the hall extension was replaced by a hipped roof. A final external change was made in 2004 with the reorganization of the vertical facade with pilaster strips. The current interior design was carried out by the lodge itself between 2021 and 2023.
Sources:
www.freimaurer-luedenscheid.de
Der Reidemeister N° 173 February 2008, p. 1410-1411
1888-1988 100 years of the Logenhaus zum Märkischer Hammer Lüdenscheid