Alsfeld’s town hall in miniature
Reconstruction and history
Many people have already asked me about my motivation to recreate the Alsfeld town hall. They have also asked how it is possible to recreate a building that I personally have not yet seen. I’ll start by answering this question in general and then go into more detail about my motivation for rebuilding Alsfeld Town Hall.
Every time I face challenges like this, I set myself a motto: ‘Can’t do it, doesn’t exist’. I am convinced that there is a guaranteed solution to every challenge, even if I don’t always see it straight away. That’s why I tackle it straight away every time, even when it gets tricky, and master the tasks.
For almost seven years, I have had a great passion for building original doll’s houses. My main job is as a surveying technician. As a part-time artist, I have already gained some experience in how to design buildings with different materials or how to read as-built plans, for example.
Now I’ll go into more detail about my motivation for building the Alsfeld town hall: My original plan was to build a town hall that I already knew, for example from holidays.
This required a lot of research on town halls with existing plans on the Internet. I repeatedly discovered the town hall in Alsfeld, which fascinated me right from the start and never let me go. So I thought to myself, maybe it would be even more challenging to recreate a building that I didn’t know yet. I found many as-built plans of the Alsfeld town hall by Mr Paul Lehmgrübner from the period 1855 to 1916 on the website of the ‘TU Berlin Architekturmuseum’. His extensive sketches and as-built plans were an extremely helpful basis for me to recreate the Alsfeld town hall in miniature.
Paul Lehmgrübner
Paul Lehmgrübner was a German architect, Prussian building official and monument conservator. In addition to his studies, he dedicated himself to the preservation of old buildings and made extensive building surveys in sketches and as-built plans. He studied at the Charlottenburg Technical University. He received a traveling scholarship for a quarter of a year, during which he also sketched the town hall of Alsfeld, among other things.
Paul Lehmgrübner’s as-built plans were a very good basis for me.
The as-built plans by Paul Lehmgrübner (1855 – 1916) used for the exterior façade.
I will now take you with me on my journey through the reconstruction of Alsfeld Town Hall:
The laying of the foundation stone
The foundation stone was laid on 24 June 2023. I started with the ground floor and after about a month the shell of the council building was already in place. This was followed by the cladding of the exterior façade and the extension of the ground floor by mid-August 2023.
Photos from the end of June to mid-August
It was very important to me that the exterior façade looked like it did at the end of the 19th or beginning of the 20th century. Unfortunately, Paul Lehmgrübner’s existing plans didn’t show this because it wasn’t coloured in.
The book ‘500 years of Alsfeld Town Hall 1512 – 2012’
Through further internet research, I found a book about the Alsfeld town hall with the title: ‘500 Jahre Rathaus Alsfeld 1512 – 2012’. I then ordered it and was very lucky because it had only been printed in a very limited number of copies. The book not only contained exterior photos, but also photos from 1912 showing the interior of the town hall at the time.
I immediately decided to recreate the interior of the town hall as well, because it seemed very appealing to me to recreate the old style of the town hall at the beginning of the 20th century. This was a great challenge for me because unfortunately there were no photos of all the walls inside. In order to realise my project, I needed further help from the Internet.
Research for more photos of the interior from 1912
Via the profile of alsfeld_erleben I received many photos showing the interior of the town hall today. In addition, the Alsfeld town archives sent many very helpful documents, including a brochure ‘The Alsfeld Town Hall – extraordinary and unique by Jochen Weppler’, including many more photos showing the current interior, but also the former appearance.
Through further internet research, I came across more photos from 1912 (the oldest postcard motifs) through Bildindex Foto Marburg, Lagis Hessen, Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats – und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden, Staatsarchiv Darmstadt, Staatsarchiv Marburg and the Hauptstaatsarchiv Wiesbaden. The Darmstadt State Archives sent me photos from 1912 of the 1st and 2nd upper floors and the Marburg State Archives sent me further sketchbooks by August Dauber (1869 – 1957).
The Darmstadt State Archives sent me photos from 1912 of the 1st and 2nd floors and the Marburg State Archives sent me further sketchbooks by August Dauber (1869 – 1957).
The photos from 1912 from the Darmstadt City Archive, sketches by August Daubner may not be published.
August Daubner
August Daubner was a German BDA architect (BDA = Association of German Architects) between 1869 and 1957. He also made sketches of the interior of Alsfeld Town Hall, which were invaluable for the reconstruction.
The further replica of Alsfeld Town Hall in miniature from mid-August until the end of November 2023
In mid-August 2023, after a very time-consuming six-week internet search, I was finally able to continue with the replica thanks to the many valuable documents and photos. Unfortunately, I was never quite able to find out whether the two towers at the rear really existed or were only in the planning stage. Nevertheless, I decided to use Paul Lehmgrübner’s existing plans to recreate them in miniature. I used around 5500 roof tiles, which I made myself, and finally attached them to the roof of the town hall. I then coloured the exterior façade and began the interior work. I started with the first floor, where the floorboards were installed. Through further research and stories, I found out that the first floor of the town hall had been remodelled several times and that the walls are no longer as they were in 1912. Due to my profession as a surveying technician, I am familiar with the methods required to find this out. I therefore used the as-built plans by Paul Lehmgrübner, which showed the floor plan of the first floor, and the current fire brigade protection plan of the town hall as a basis and superimposed them. This enabled me to recognise that the old walls were still there and had been moved. To be on the safe side, I consulted the old photos from 1912 and was thus able to calculate the old location of the walls with an accuracy of up to 30 cm. I then painted the walls on the floorboards and placed the finished walls on top. The further development of the first floor could now finally begin.
Overlay of the plans by Paul Lehmgrübner (late 19th century) and the town of Alsfeld (today, as of 2023). The pictures are not from 1930 – 1940, but from 1912.
Completion of the exterior façade by the end of November 2023 to the end of December 2023
Work on the exterior façade continued from the end of November. The windows were installed and the window frames fitted. Everything on the façade was coloured. On 21 December 2023, the time had finally come: the exterior of the building was completed.
Photos during the construction phase Exterior facade
The exterior façade
Expansion of the first floor from the end of December 2023 to mid-March 2024
During this time, the furniture was made and around 300 books were produced from paper and wood and much more that was available in the rooms in 1912. Unfortunately, there are no old photos of every wall from this period. So I had to use the approximation method here too. So I compared the style of the present day with that of the past and rebuilt it according to my ideas of what it might have looked like. The first floor was completed on 17.03.2024. The illustrations show the construction phase from the end of December 2023 to mid-March 2024.
Here you can see the preliminary construction section from the end of December 2023 to mid-March 2024
From the extension of the first floor from mid-March 2024 to mid-December 2024
Now it was time to fit out the first floor. To do this, the electrics for the lighting had to be installed. This was followed by the extension of the staircase. This was followed by the replica of the former courtroom and finally the council chamber. I was very keen to continue to recreate the walls and furnishings as they look today and as they did back in 1912. Photos from old postcards helped me to reconstruct this as truthfully as possible. Unfortunately, these were only available in black and white. So I had to fall back on today’s photos. The murals had been very time-consuming and so the completion was delayed by about six months. Apart from the replica human figures, I made everything myself, such as the chandeliers and other things in the town hall.
On 16 December 2024, the time had finally come: Alsfeld’s town hall was completed.
Photos of the 2nd floor during construction and the painting of the walls
The trailer: Alsfeld town hall in miniature reconstruction and history
The new film about the construction of the Alsfeld town hall in miniature will be released on 13.06.2025 at 12:00 noon.
Great response to the miniature replica of Alsfeld town hall
The replica of the Alsfeld town hall was originally planned as a private project, which gave me great pleasure and of which I am still proud. I was all the more delighted by the unexpectedly great response to it through countless press reports from the Alsfeld region and my region of Wülfrath near Düsseldorf in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Here you can find all my press releases
The letter from the mayor of Alsfeld
The appreciative letter from the Mayor of Alsfeld, Mr Paule, was also a very nice gesture, which I had not expected.
Here is the letter from the mayor of Alsfeld
