Kurhaus Baden-Baden

The Kurhaus (spa house — until 1914 also known as Maison de Conversation or Konversationshaus^[1]) is the centre of Baden-Baden’s spa quarter on the left bank of the Oos, the hub of social life and an important sight of Baden-Baden. It is renowned for the architecture of Friedrich Weinbrenner, for its many events and for the famous casino. The distinctive façade with its eight Corinthian columns made it a landmark of the town.

Building use

Entering the Kurhaus through the main entrance, you find yourself in the foyer with its distinctive green staircase. To the left, in the southern wing, is the Kurhaus Restaurant. Two separate rooms — the Gourmetsaal and the Kulisse — can be booked for celebrations and events. In fine weather, guests can also take a seat on the terrace. To the right of the main entrance, behind the main façade of the central block, is the Weinbrennersaal, where the Baden-Baden Philharmonic frequently gives concerts. Beyond the Weinbrennersaal, in the northern wing, is the casino. Its opulent historic gaming rooms were designed by Parisian interior architects in the 19th century. The casino also includes the Casino Restaurant. The slot machines are housed separately in the basement of the southern wing. At the rear of the foyer is the entrance to the Equipage dance bar. On the upper floor of the Kurhaus there are numerous further event rooms. The centrepiece is the large barrel-vaulted Bénazetsaal. The variously sized halls also offer space for smaller events. Beneath the Kurhaus and the Kurgarten lies the Kurparkgarage underground car park. The garage provides direct access to the Kurhaus.

History

The site beyond the Oos, outside Baden-Baden’s town walls, where the Kurhaus stands today, was chosen in 1765 by August Georg of Baden to have a promenade house built there for the entertainment of the town’s guests. This wooden building was completed in 1766. An avenue of chestnut trees, later built up with the Kurhaus colonnades, connected the building to the southern Beuern town gate. The promenade house met with little success, the town was unwilling to invest further funds, and so in 1802 the building passed into state ownership.

The number of guests in the spa town rose steadily at the start of the 19th century. In 1810 a further wooden building, serving as a “Komödienhaus” (comedy house), was erected next to the promenade house. Grand Duke Ludwig eventually decided to halt the expansion of the spa facilities at the Marktplatz and turned his full attention to today’s spa grounds beyond the Oos, far from the hot springs. From 1821 he had his master builder Friedrich Weinbrenner design a new Konversationshaus, which was built from 1822 to 1824 by the master builders Berckmüller and Holb. Weinbrenner’s Konversationshaus took the Kurhaus in Wiesbaden as its model but also departed from it in essential respects. It consisted of three sections. The central part, with its distinctive columned façade, housed the large ballroom known today as the Weinbrennersaal, with three gaming and reception rooms at the rear. The northern and southern wings are each separated from the central block by a gallery. The southern wing, into which the original promenade house had been absorbed, housed the restaurant facilities, and the northern wing the theatre. The Konversationshaus was intended for dancing, gaming and grand events. Under the lessee Antoine Chabert it quickly developed into an international attraction. Gambling was monopolised within the Konversationshaus.

The ban on gambling in France in 1837 led to an influx of visitors to the German casinos. Jacques Bénazet, until then the lessee of the Parisian casinos, took over the Baden-Baden casino in 1838. Shortly afterwards he had the eastern wing and the central block redesigned by Pierre-Lucas-Charles Ciceri. He favoured the neo-Baroque interior design that was fashionable in Paris at the time. These alterations no longer survive today. Through entrepreneurial skill and lavish advertising campaigns, Bénazet managed to make Baden-Baden even more widely known internationally. The town thus rose to become the summer capital of Europe and the casino its most important source of revenue.

After Jacques Bénazet’s death in 1848, his son Edouard continued his work. From 1853 to 1854 he had the right-hand wing extended in order to house the casino in new, grand premises. On the site of Weinbrenner’s theatre, further gaming and reception rooms were built to designs by Charles Séchan. In return, the theatre was given its own building at Goetheplatz. The Baden-Baden district office approved the interior alterations. No changes, however, were to be made to the façade — something on which building director Heinrich Hübsch placed particular importance.

After the Franco-Prussian War, the international guests stayed away. In the newly founded German Empire, gambling was banned in 1872. The Konversationshaus lost its main attraction and its importance overall. By around 1900 the Konversationshaus was in need of refurbishment. The southern wing with the restaurant, whose core still went back to the 18th-century promenade house, was of particular concern. A fierce dispute lasting years broke out over how to proceed. The town and the state, which owned the Konversationshaus, in particular could not agree on a common course. Plans were even discussed that envisaged the complete demolition of the Konversationshaus and a subsequent new building, as had happened in Wiesbaden in 1904. In the end, however, agreement was reached on carrying out the plans of August Stürzenacker, which also met the demands of heritage conservation. The southern wing was completely dismantled and rebuilt. In front of it, a covered terrace for the restaurant was created. For reasons of symmetry, Stürzenacker added a comparable structure to the northern wing. As early as the mid-19th century the entrance had been moved out of the central axis to the left, and Stürzenacker now substantially redesigned the foyer. On the upper floor he added, among other things, a large barrel-vaulted concert hall, today’s Bénazetsaal.

Since then the Kurhaus has attracted international attention through numerous major events. The 1934 World Chess Championship match between Alexander Alekhine and Efim Bogoljubow was opened in the large hall of the Kurhaus. On 3 April 2009 the Kurhaus was the venue for the NATO summit held to mark the 60th anniversary of the Western defence alliance.

In 2011 the Baden-Württemberg spa and bath administration invested 8.2 million euros in the renovation and redesign of the Bénazetsaal.^[2]

See also

• other venues:
  • Festspielhaus Baden-Baden
  • Theater, at Goetheplatz

Sources

• Ulrich Coenen Von Aquae bis Baden-Baden - die Baugeschichte der Stadt und ihr Beitrag zur Entwicklung der Kurarchitektur Aachen, Mainz 2008, ISBN 3-8107-0023-1 Kap. 3.2
• Ulrich Coenen Die Kurhäuser in Baden-Baden und Wiesbaden - Ein neuer klassizistischer Bautyp innerhalb der Bäder- und Kurarchitektur und seine Einbindung in die Landschaft. In: Die Ortenau - Jahrbuch des Historischen Vereins für Mittelbaden, Bd. 101 (2021), S. 231 - 260.
• Manfred Söhner Baden-Baden. Kunst und Kultur entlang der Oos Aquensis Verlag Baden-Baden 2007, ISBN 978-3-937978-10-9
• Dagmar Kicherer Kleine Geschichte der Stadt Baden-Baden G.Braun Buchverlag Leinfelden-Echterdingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-7650-8376-1

References

1. ↑ Dagmar Kicherer Kleine Geschichte der Stadt Baden-Baden G.Braun Buchverlag Leinfelden-Echterdingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-7650-8376-1, p. 135
2. ↑ Press release Die “gute Stube” der Bäderstadt strahlt im neuen Glanz of the Kurhaus, 18 August 2011