House from Idstein

Built: 1743
Disassembled: 1979
Reconstructed: 1985

The small, two-storey dwelling comes from the former Lower Taunus county, that has been part of the Rheingau-Taunus county since the Hesse regional reform.

The distinctive mansard roof gives the house an air of patrician dignity and recalls the era before 1721, when Idstein was the residence of the Counts of Nassau-Idstein and as such the political and social centre of the region. The house was the home of the teacher Johannes Sebastian Koch, who was appointed church deacon of Idstein in 1735. Koch did not have far to go to teach his pupils as the school was attached to the house’s gable end facing away from the market square. Koch could step directly into the classroom through a connecting door.

Around 1850, the Bourdy family lived in the house. Johann Karl Friedrich Bourdy was a factory worker and brushmaker and his son Ludwig also became a brushmaker.

The attached school building had been torn down a long time before the house was transferred to the museum in 1979. Having lost an important static prop, the house had already tilted considerably, which increased after its reconstruction. It was therefore fully renovated in 2012 and by stabilising the gable wall, the progressive tilt was corrected.