Eltzer Hof was a music venue located in

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

, Germany. The building was constructed in 1742 in a

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

style architecture on behalf of the

Eltz The House of Eltz was a noted German noble family of the ''Uradel''. The Rhenish dynasty has had close ties to the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia since 1736. History Though older sources mentioned one Eberhard zu Eltz, a Frankish citizen of Trier ...

dynasty. During the

Bombing of Mainz in World War II The German city of Mainz was bombed in multiple air raids by the Allies during World War II by the Royal Air Force (RAF), as well as the United States Army Air Forces. These led to numerous victims and heavy damage throughout the cityscape. Ove ...

the building burnt down starting 11 August 1942. The three-storey eighteen-axle baroque building with a hipped mansard roof, at Bauhofstraße 3/5 corner Mittlere Bleiche, is listed in the list of cultural monuments in Mainz-Altstadt and together with the adjacent buildings forms a monument zone.

History

The Eltzer Hof mansion was built 1742 in the Bleichenviertel (bleaching quarter) and shows a simplicity that is rather rare for that time. The parts of the building are divided by rusticated pilaster strips, covered with a mansard hipped roof and decorated only by two baroque portals. Almost 24 years later, the Golden Ross Barracks were built in the immediate vicinity between 1766 and 1767. In 1774 the Counts of Eltz took over the Dalberg-Hammelburger Hof mansion and merged it with the neighbouring Eltzer Hof, since then the Eltzer yards have also been mentioned. In August 1792 Minister

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as trea ...

visited the Prussian statesman

Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum Stein Heinrich Friedrich Karl Reichsfreiherr vom und zum Stein (25 October 1757 – 29 June 1831), commonly known as Baron vom Stein, was a Prussian statesman who introduced the Prussian reforms, which paved the way for the unification of Germany. ...

, residing there.Marlene Hübel, ''»Über all dem der Dom.« Literarische Stadtansichten von Mainz'' In

Franz Dumont Franz Dumont (22 January 1945 – 3 November 2012) was a German historian. Life Born in Waldbröl, Dumont lived in Mainz from 1954 onwards and took his Abitur at the Rabanus-Maurus-Gymnasium in Mainz in 1964. During his school years, he had al ...

Ferdinand Scherf Ferdinand Scherf (born in 1943 in Mayen), is a German professor and historian. From 1970 to 2007 he was a teacher at the Rabanus-Maurus-Gymnasium in Mainz and editor of local historical works. Life After studying history and German language and ...

, Friedrich Schütz (ed.): ''Mainz – Die Geschichte der Stadt.'' 2nd edition. Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1999, . S. 1185. Between 1965 and 1970, the yards were rebuilt comprising a concert hall for the Mainzer Liedertafel and used as an event venue for the

Mainz carnival The Mainz Carnival (''Mainzer Fastnacht'', ''"Määnzer Fassenacht" or "Meenzer Fassenacht"'') is a months-long citywide carnival celebration in Mainz, Germany that traditionally begins on 11 November but culminates in the days before Ash Wednesda ...

, among other things. During renovation work on the hall in 2004, asbestos contamination was discovered, since then the former concert hall was not in operation. In 2008, the Ministry of Finance of Rhineland-Palatinate announced an architectural competition for a "multifunctional event venue". The plans of the Kassel-based firm Atelier 30 Architekten, which won the award in 2009, were not implemented due to the high costs of almost 22 million euros. In March 2015 it became known that the state intends to sell the property in the Mainz government district to an investor who is to create apartments as well as office and retail space there. A study also suggests a cultural use. In May 2018 it became known that a project developer from Montabaur was awarded the contract for €5 million. The palais is to be partially demolished, only the facades are to be preserved. For this purpose, a gap was opened in the façade itself to technically facilitate the demolition.

References

Music venues in Germany Buildings and structures in Mainz Baroque architecture in Rhineland-Palatinate Buildings and structures completed in 1743 Eltz {{music-venue-stub