The history of the forge
The oldest settlement in the city of Schwandorf can be found at the intersection of Breite Straße, Ettmannsdorfer Straße and Brauhausstraße. The 210-meter-long Breite Straße is at its greatest width between the two houses at numbers 18 and 21. This place may be called the original Schrannenplatz. It was created long before today's market square was built between the settlement and the fortress from around 1350.
Between 1271 and 1285 Schwandorf became a market. Markets have also been held regularly since that time. Until the 20th century, the Breite Straße served as a trading center, especially for cattle, which is why it was popularly known as 'Saugass'. This street was also ideally suited for all kinds of trade and commerce. A blacksmith's shop with changing branches was located in property number 25.
1504
On August 14, 1504, the town of Schwandorf sank to rubble and ashes due to the fire during the Landshut War of Succession. Only five buildings survived this disaster. In the following period, in order to avert the greatest housing shortage, wooden buildings were erected or the remains of the fire sites were poorly prepared.
1573
The pine wood beam ceiling between the ground floor and the first floor in the property at Breite Straße 25 can be dated to 1573. Since this ceiling is a main, load-bearing structural element, the building in its current dimensions should have been built around this time. The room in the south-east corner of the house was originally covered with a vault with a fireplace in the middle. In this room we can assume the old workshop.
1617
On May 18, 2016, the coppersmith Johann Müller, who comes from Amberg, steps in front of the altar in St. Jakob with his bride, the daughter of a cooper, Anna Mayer. For the first time, the building can be clearly assigned to this couple.
1713
On November 20, 1713, Maria Anna Müller and her groom Johann Joachim Tretter stepped in front of the altar. The husband came from a farrier family on Regensburger Strasse and, like his two brothers, learned the trade from his father. Since only one person could take over the family business, he had to build his own existence as the middle son. He bought a blacksmith's righteousness as a livelihood, and the bride brought the house into the marriage.
There was no separate guild for farriers. The profession was seen as a side branch of the blacksmith's shop. It was also a profitable business. Because then as now, the horseshoe has to be changed every few weeks. The reasons for this are the regrowing horn of the animals and the stress on the iron. The shoeing was by no means limited to horses. Cows and oxen that were used as draft animals or work animals were also shod. And it was useful for business that there were cattle markets in front of the house.
1727
In the tax description of 1727, the Tretter estate was valued at fI 250. The property is described as a house with blacksmithing rights, plus a workshop, barn and stable, fields and a rock cellar in the city.
1766
On the occasion of Franz Josef Metz's marriage in 1766, his mother transferred the property at Breite Straße 25 unencumbered and took over. The property consisted of a brick house No. 76 with stables and a brick barn, as well as blacksmithing rights and fields.
1816
On November 10th, 1816 he was allowed to celebrate the rare golden wedding anniversary with his wife Catharina nee Schmaz, a miller's daughter from Schwandorf.Her daughter Anna Barbara has also made history. She married the Türmer in Schwandorf and gave birth to their son Konrad Maximilian Kunz as the fifth of six children. The later composer of the Bavarian State Anthem experienced the golden wedding anniversary at the age of four and will certainly have been present frequently in the house at Breite Strasse 25 when he visited his grandparents and later his uncle.
1839
When a general description of the property was carried out in 1839, the property was described with a dwelling house with a smithy, barn with stables and cellar, shed, pigsty, courtyard with a well. A rock cellar, a part of the Communbrauhaus and 16 pieces of land in the Schwandorfer Flur and others in Kronstetten were part of the property.
1863
The new owners of the building are the spouses Anton and Elisabeth Dormann in 1863.The eldest of her daughters married the master blacksmith Heinrich Lanzl from Nittenau. The property was transferred to the young bride and groom in 1875.1875-877 The new foreman in the house began to redesign the company. First he sold the share in the Kommunbrauhaus to his brother-in-law Anton Forster and thus stopped brewing beer. As early as 1877 the construction workers came to build a new hardware bridge.
1881
In 1881 he enlarged the workshop with a vaulted extension, relocated the fireplace and had a new fireplace built.
1912-1944
In 1912 a new litter shelter was built with a toilet in the yard. The fitting bridge was also up for renewal. In the business and address book of 1913, the Anton Lanzl forge is only one of three in Schwandorf. After Anton led the company through two wars and difficult economic times, another change of ownership was due in 1944.
1955
By way of succession, the property was passed on to his son Peter Anton. The business could not continue in its old form. Structural change in the economy and agriculture had to be accounted for. Da Adressbuch from 1955 shows the new product range: automobiles, car and motorcycle repair workshops, hardware, bicycles, household and kitchen appliances, agricultural machinery and blacksmithing.
1965
In 1965 the last blacksmith in this house died. The building went to a community of heirs. The daughters could not continue the business. Slowly the property sank into a deep sleep.