Hemptenmacher House in Darłowo

The Hemptenmacher House stands in Darłowo, at the corner of Powstańców Warszawskich 51 and Rynkowa streets, right by Kościuszki Square. It is a brick, plastered house with a gable decorated with bas-reliefs, entered in the heritage register. It takes its name from the family of shipowners who lived here in the 19th century.

The facade and the plaque with a cog

The two-storey building has at the front an arched, bulging gable with a semicircular window. The elevation is decorated with rustication, friezes, a cornice, bas-reliefs and two medallions with figures in the antique manner. In the side wall, at a height of about three metres, a plaque from the mid-19th century is set, showing a sailing ship without rigging, that is, a cog. For this reason the house is also called the House under the Cog. Next to the plaque two dates are carved: 1604 (construction) and 1793 (renovation). It was formerly thought that the ship marked the water level during the flood of 1497, but research has ruled out such an interpretation. The boat denoted the property of a shipowner.

From merchants to shipowners

On the site of a house from the 14th century a new house was built in 1604. Fires in 1624, 1648, 1679 and 1722 destroyed it, and relics of the earlier building have survived in the south wall, uncovered during research in 2013. In the late 18th century the owner was the merchant Johan Georg Friedrich Knötzelein, who together with Christian Friedrich Bahn founded a shipping company in Darłowo, then Rügenwalde. After his death the house was taken over by Bahn, and after Bahn, in 1834, by Eduard August Hemptenmacher. Under his direction the firm acquired the largest fleet of sailing ships in Pomerania, numbering 52 vessels. Later the house was managed by Eduard John and his son Paul John.

After 1945

At the end of 1945 the seat of the Soviet commandant was housed here, and in 1946-1950 the “Warszawianka” restaurant. From the 1950s the house served among other things as a factory common room, and since 1958 it has had residential functions. In 2009 commercial and service premises were separated off on the ground floor; for some time the Tourist Service Centre operated there, moved in 2016 to Gertrudy 8. The house has been revitalised since 2013.

Nearby

The house lies in the very centre of the town. A few dozen metres further stands St Mary's Church, and less than 200 metres further the Castle of the Pomeranian Dukes.

Practical information

• Address: Powstańców Warszawskich 51, Darłowo.
• The building is inhabited, so it is viewed from the outside, from the street.
• The plaque with the cog is in the side wall on the Rynkowa Street side.