History

The Barkhausen house was built in 1785 by Arnold Christian Scheibler (1745-1824). His father, Wilhelm Wimar Scheibler, was encouraged to come to Monschau by the great economic success of his brother Johann Heinrich Scheibler (builder of the Red House). He married the widow of his cousin Erst Scheibler from Elberfeld in the Bergisches Land. The custom of the typical green shutters brought from there can also be seen in this house.

The building site was in a former slate quarry in the so-called Wingertsley, where attempts had been made to grow wine at the time, but this was unsuccessful because of the harsh climate.

Arnold Christian Scheibler was a Protestant member of the “fine garment”. These cloth makers no longer processed the rough Eifel wool, but imported merino wool from Spain. In addition, they developed very complex processes to refine the cloth by shearing and dyeing it several times. So they were competitive with cloths from France or England. The fabrics were in great demand in Russia, Italy and even in the Ottoman Empire.

Christian Arnold Scheibler was one of the big cloth manufacturers in Monschau at the time. His turnover was almost as large as that of his uncle Johann Heinrich Scheibler, the builder of the Red House.

With the occupation by the French in 1794, the heyday of Monschau came to an abrupt end and the financial reserves of the great drapers melted with each passing year.

In 1810 Christian Arnold Scheibler sold the house to Carl Matthias Offermann, who was also one of the large Protestant families of clothiers.

In 1845 the house was sold to Johann Heinrich Elbers, whose office building with its sweeping onion roof is within sight of the Rur.

In 1869 Guido Scheibler, a brother of J.H. Louis Scheibler, the owner of the spinning mill and cloth factory: “Louis Scheibler & Son” bought the house.

The fact that the building is known as Haus Barkhausen is due to Ernst Wilhelm Barkhausen, who was born in 1801 in Röcke, near the municipality of Barkhausen, in the Schaumburg region. He came to Monschau around 1830 as a construction manager in road construction. His job was to measure the new road to Schleiden and to manage the construction. In Monschau he met his future wife Rosalie Zoepffel, the daughter of District Administrator Zoepffel whom he married in 1835. In 1839 they had their son Alfred. Both parents died early, and 5-year-old Alfred was taken in by the district administrator’s family. Alfred received a good school education in Monschau, learned to manufacture cloth in Burtscheid near Aachen and later found employment at a cloth factory in Kettwig (Essen). In 1866 Alfred came back to Monschau. He worked in the company of his future father-in-law, in the cloth factory Louis Scheibler & Son in Rosenthal. In 1869 his uncle Albert Zoepfel, a brother of his mother, took him to his large cloth factory in Quellenstein near Pernau in what is now Estonia. There Alfred married Emilie Scheibler, daughter of J.H. Louis Scheibler.

In 1882 J.H. Louis Scheibler ran the cloth factory and spinning mill in Rosenthal (below the house) to his son Emil Scheibler and his son-in-law Alfred Barkhausen. Alfred Barkhausen and his family moved back to this house in Monschau. Alfred Barkhausen died in Monschau on March 5th, 1908. His son Ernst Barkhausen (1880-1955) closed this last traditional cloth factory in Monschau because it was no longer profitable. Ernst Barkhausen joined his brother-in-law Emil Crous in 1911, who had moved from Monschau to Viersen in the Rhineland a few years earlier and had founded a velvet and silk weaving mill. Ernst Barkhausen settled in Viersen and married Elisabeth Croon from Aachen in 1913. They had three children, Gerhart in 1914, Herta in 1916 and Alfred in 1920. The Monschau house remained in their possession and was used for all holidays. The two sons died in the war and Herta married Rudolf Zimmermann in 1942. After the Second World War, parts of the house were used by the descendants as holiday homes. The house is still owned by the family and has recently been rented out to holiday guests as a holiday home (www.barkhausen-monschau.com)

Many things have been preserved in the house over the centuries. The paintings of the ancestors mentioned are still hanging in the holiday apartments. A lot of furniture, the oak floorboards, stucco on the ceiling and the large wooden spiral staircase are still reminiscent of the great past of this house.

Arnold Christian Scheibler
1745 – 1824

He is the son of the younger brother of Johann Heinrich Scheibler (builder of the “Red House”, the landmark of Monschau).

When he was 12 years old, he went with his father to Berlin, who was called by the Prussian King Frederick the Great as head of the royal cloth manufactory.
Arnold Christian Scheibler later returned to Monschau, married in 1775 the widow of his cousin Ernst Scheibler and founded his own cloth factory with a fulling mill on the Rur below this house, his home, which was completed in 1785.

Friedrich Jakob Scheibler
1774 – 1834

He is a grandson of Johann Heinrich Scheibler (builder of the “Red House”, the landmark of Monschau).

He was the first to use spinning machines with steam operation in Monschau and he was mayor of Monschau from 1812-1815.

After the death of his father Wilhelm Scheibler (1737 – 1797) he continued, together with his mother Theresia Elisabeth Scheibler, née Böcking (1744-1812), the cloth factory operated by his grandfather Johann Heinrich Scheibler.
In 1812 he married Johanna Maria Amalie Scheibler, daughter of Arnold Christian Scheibler.

Johann Heinrich Scheibler
1705 – 1765

He comes from a scholar family and is a great-grandson of Professor Christoph Scheibler (picture behind the stove)

He learned at his own request at a cloth manufacturer in Imgenbroich and at the age of 18, he took over the head of a cloth factory.
He led the Monschauer fabric production to an unexpected flowering through the processing of finest merino wool from Spain and improvement of dyeing techniques.
In addition, instead of the previously monochrome cloth, he weaved elaborate colored patterns, which were soon traded throughout Europe.

He is the builder of the Red House, the landmark of Monschau

Christoph Scheibler
1589-1653

Christoph Scheibler’s father was the Lutheran preacher and Master Johannes Scheibler (1553-1597). Christoph’s parents died in 1597 from the plague. Wealthy relatives in Gemünden welcomed the orphan.

Scheibler’s Liber sententiarum established his early scholarly fame. Philosophical core sentences are explained there.

Since 1610 he was professor of logic and metaphysics in Gießen and in 1625 he was appointed as superintendent and director of the Archigymnasium in Dortmund.

 

 

Alfred Barkhausen
1839- 1908

Father: Ernst Wilhelm Barkhausen, 1801 – 1849, master road builder, built the road from Monschau to Schleiden, married Rosalie Zöpfel, daughter of Monschau District Administrator Zöpfel, in 1835.
May 12, 1839 birth of Alfred Barkhausen.
After the death of both parents, Alfred was taken care of by his grandmother Zöpfel in Monschau in 1844. Her husband, the district administrator, died after two years.
The grandmother raised the little grandson and looked after his education; he became a cloth manufacturer.
In 1866 he came to J.H. Louis Scheibler, his future father-in-law, in the cloth factory in Monschauer Rosenthal (below this house).
In 1869 Albert Zöpfel, brother of Alfred’s mother and son of District Administrator Zöpfel, brought him to Quellenstein in Estonia in his cloth factory. There he married Emilie Scheibler in 1875.
In 1882, J.H. Louis Scheibler handed over the cloth factory and spinning mill in Rosenthal to his son Emil Scheibler and his son-in-law Alfred Barkhausen.
Alfred Barkhausen and his family moved back to this house in Monschau.
Alfred Barkhausen died on March 5, 1908. His son Ernst Barkhausen (1880-1955), who had worked there for some time, dissolved the company and in 1911 joined Emil Crous, who had moved to Viersen from Monschau a few years earlier and founded a velvet and silk weaving mill.