Rheinlandhaus

Denkmal

The area of today’s Marienkirchplatz served as a cemetery of the parish of St. Quirin between 1797 and 1873. After the relocation of the cemetery to Rheydter Strasse, the local congregation built the Marienkirche church as the second inner-city parish church. Between 1904 and 1906, the Fire Insurance Company Rhineland (today RheinLand Versicherungs AG), which was founded in Neuss on 9 February 1880, was built on the newly created square around the church. It was a representative building in the Wilhelminian style with a dome-crowned stacked roof, designed by Neuss architect Carl Schaumburg (1867–1940), who designed numerous residential and commercial buildings in and around Neuss.

In the Second World War, parts of the ‘Rheinlandhaus’ and its surroundings were destroyed during two major bomb attacks in the years 1942 and 1944. After the end of the war, parts of the workforce took it upon themselves to start reconstructing the company’s headquarters, which was completed by the mid-1950s. The façade was reconstructed in simplified form, and the gap to the adjoining building on the left was eventually closed by a modern office building. In 1998, RheinLand Versicherungs AG abandoned the old buildings in favour of a newly constructed building on the site of the former Balatum factory.

In 2003, the Neusser Bauverein AG [Building Association of Neuss] acquired the empty building and converted it for residential purposes in accordance with the monument protection guidelines. As part of this process, the former stacked roof was also faithfully reconstructed. By 2009, a new residential and business centre with a quiet inner courtyard was built around the former historic administrative building through annexes and extension in three construction phases. Age-appropriate living, commercial space and publicly subsidised housing were combined in this way between Marienkirchplatz, Krefelder Strasse and Bleichgasse.

Sources and texts: Neuss municipal archives
Graphic design: Cornelius Uerlichs
Translation: A.C.T. Fachübersetzungen GmbH

This plaque was donated by: Neusser Bauverein AG