The old house at Leinbergerstraße 2 in Moosburg still looks the way it has always looked in recent years. The dilapidated building is secured with scaffolding and tarps, it is anything but an ornament for the city. But that will change. “I told my bank that I would be moving into the house on January 1, 2024 – and I’m sticking to it,” says Johannes Becher. The Green City Council has bought the at least 500-year-old building, also known as “Haus am Gries” or “Hudler-Haus”, and wants to renovate it. The building permit hasn’t arrived yet, but he is confident that he can start work at the end of April, says Becher.
The dilapidated building is secured with scaffolding and tarps, it is anything but an ornament for the city.
(Photo: Marco Einfeldt)
At the on-site visit on Monday afternoon, you can see why the 33-year-old is taking on this complex undertaking, which is associated with a high financial risk. He is passionate about the cause and wants to help preserve a piece of the city’s history. And as if he didn’t already have enough to do with the refurbishment, all the planning, the grant applications and whatever else is involved, Becher continues to research the people who once lived in the building. He tells enthusiastically about Sergeant Seidl, who lived in the house in the 19th century and evidently wasn’t always very particular about his professional duties.
In the city archives there are files in which complaints are made against the night watchman because he is said to have been in the inn after the start of his shift at 10 p.m. Another time he is said to have missed a major fire on several farms in neighboring Mauer, in which the Moosburgers could have rushed to help – if the night and tower watchman Seidl had noticed or taken it seriously.
Johannes Becher also researches the history of the house and its residents in the city archive.
Image: Marco Einfeldt
The renovation of the more than 500-year-old building in the city center will probably cost 1.6 million euros.
Image: Marco Einfeldt
The building fabric is bad, and the electrics are no longer up to date.
Image: Marco Einfeldt
Unfortunately, no treasures were found during the archaeological excavations on the ground floor, says Johannes Becher.
Image: Marco Einfeldt
Its a lot to do. Johannes Becher wants to move in there at the beginning of 2024.
Image: Marco Einfeldt
If you want to put it that way, Becher is the exact opposite: He takes the ambitious 1.6 million euro project he started very seriously and is implementing it step by step in a determined manner. After the city council gave its approval for a subsidy of 200,000 euros in June – another 400,000 euros are to flow from the State Office for Monument Preservation and the government of Upper Bavaria – Becher got to work.
In August, an emergency safety device was attached to the roof, sheet metal now ensures that it no longer rains down to the ground floor, as has been the case for the past 25 years. In October, there was an on-site meeting with the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments “to refine the planning application,” says Becher. The application was submitted in November.
Approval has not yet been granted because the monument protection authorities took a little longer with their statement, said Becher. But on Monday he received information from the district office that the statement was there and apparently in line with the agreements made in October.
The State Office for Monument Protection also has a say.
(Photo: Marco Einfeldt)
In January, the archaeological office Anzenberger & Leicht started its work in the house to carry out excavations in four places. Another is to follow in the garden once the wild cherry tree that is in the way has been removed. So far, the archaeologists, who, according to Becher, have worked “smoothly and quickly”, have not made any spectacular finds and “discovered neither corpses nor a hoard of gold”. As someone interested in Moosburg’s history, that’s a pity on the one hand, because special finds are always exciting. As a builder, that’s good because the work hasn’t been delayed.
The archaeologists want to take a closer look around the overgrown garden. But first a cherry tree has to go.
(Photo: Marco Einfeldt)
Because the house is sliding backwards and has cracks, 29 holes are to be drilled and the building stabilized with a micropile foundation. Otherwise, the year 2022 will be all about the outer shell, says Becher. In addition to the facade renovation, the roof truss is also to be upgraded, with original beams wherever possible. A brick-red photovoltaic system is to be installed on the entire south side of the roof, which is hardly visible. That’s something completely new on the market and costs more, says Becher: “But I definitely want to do it in order to harmonize the aesthetics of a monument and the energy transition.”
Because the building is slipping backwards, it needs to be stabilized.
(Photo: Marco Einfeldt)
The next step is now the tenders that are necessary due to the public subsidies. On Monday, an electrical company was in the house to help with the creation of the bill of quantities. Becher hopes to be able to tender the first trades in February. He would be happy “if professionally competent companies from the region would take part with offers that would allow me to keep within my budget – companies who want to take part in a project that is not run-of-the-mill are welcome to get in touch”.