Further Information on Guesthouse Vogtshof in Görlitz

Address

Gottfried-Kiesow-Platz 2, 02826 Görlitz (until November 2012 the address was „Bei der Peterskirche 6/7“)

Location

Located in the historical city center of Görlitz, roughly 15 minutes from campus, the residence hall can be found just north of the Parish Church of St. Peter and Paul (Germ: Pfarrkirche St. Peter und Paul), often referred to locally as the Church of St. Peter. The residence hall Vogtshof rises above the Nicholas District (Germ: Nikolaivorstadt) on the steep northern face of the church hill. A green courtyard – the Nikolaizwinger – boarders the building on the north and eastern sides.

Photos of Guesthouse Vogtshof

History

Already before the city's establishment, the area was the location of a territorial lord's castle used for the protection of the Neisse-passage along the Via Regia. In the year 1268, Upper Lusatia would be divided by Margrave Otto IV of Brandenburg into the territories of Bautzen and Görlitz. Supposedly in this time, as the city was becoming the administrative center for Upper Lusatia, a permanent residence house for the higher territorial officers and lords was erected. Here in Residence Hall Vogtshof, the fiscal and leading officers as well as other representatives of the county of Görlitz sat together and held meetings. On April 30, 1456, the building was destroyed by a city fire, along with the Nicholas Tower (Germ: Nikolaiturm), which started in the Nicholas Channel (Germ: Nikolaigasse).

Starting on October 20, 1567, Kaiser Maximilian II granted the city counsel's request, and gave them the rights to the uninhabited and unused Vogtshof. On this land, the city erected a storage house for grains, in which accommodations for the county and palace courts were also made. In the year 1791 at their own expense, the city newly established the standing administration and archive. Twenty years later, Vogtshof, its ajoined palace and the city Zwinger, was bought up by the Upper Lusatian estates of Görlitz County for 9900 thalers, in order to establish a location for a penitentiary and work house. Low resources during the War of Coalitions did not allow for further construction. Following the Vienna Congress, the eastern Upper Lusatia changed sides to Prussia along with Görlitz of Saxony. The county estates rebuilt the palace into a county house in 1826, in which they held meetings up to 1854, when the construction of the new standing house was finished. Ultimately, the government bought the property in 1826 along with the already started construction site for 25.000 thaler and finished the penitentiary house in 1830. The northern wing and the palest wing were later lost to a fire on the 27th / 28th of May, 1848, and on the 7th November in the same year respectively.

After 1945, Vogtshof was used for various services; in the 1950s, it started renting rooms through the Communal Residency Administration. By the end of the 1960s, Residence Hall Vogtshof was in such a poor condition due to the decades long lack of maintenance, that a complete demolition of the building was considered to make way for a new construction site. In order to maintain the building ensemble, a conversion into student dormitories was decided for. Renovation of the building lasted in total over two decades. Construction difficulties were the construction of massive structures, partially with arched slabs, quarry stone masonry with thicknesses ranging from 1.20 up to 0.7 meters (in the upper floors), individual floor's varying heights and levels, and integration of the earlier church hall in the eastern wing taking two stories. This reconstruction from a four-sided prison complex to a residency hall was carried out in accordance to a project from Prof. Bernhard Klemm, who had had previous experience with reconstruction of the prison on Münchner Straße in Dresden into a campus building for the Technical University. Starting in 1975, many student residencies and portions of the counsel archives were moved into Vogtshof.

Between 1994 and 2000, Residence Hall Vogtshof was placed under renovation and is now currently being used as a student dormitory through the Dresden Studentenwerk, especially for the students of the University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz. It offers 242 residencies, and houses the Student Club Maus in the southern wing.