Haus Baaken
A listed half-timbered house in Tönisberg with a Dutch late-Baroque façade, serving as an inn for over 250 years.
In the centre of Tönisberg, a district of Kempen, stands Haus Baaken, a listed half-timbered building. For more than two and a half centuries it housed an inn.
Auf einen Blick
- Art
- Listed half-timbered building
- Lage
- Town centre of Tönisberg, part of Kempen
- Frühere Nutzung
- Over 250 years as an inn, later a museum and local heritage room
- Museum
- Museum of Lower Rhine Pottbäcker Ceramics (2008–2017)
- Besonderheit
- Dutch late-Baroque façade with a curved (Schweifgiebel) gable
- Historische Zugehörigkeit
- Belonged to the municipality of Schaephuysen until 1929
Baugeschichte
The oldest surviving parts, remnants of a two-storey timber frame, are dated by several indications to before 1600. The present main building incorporated this older structure and was itself built in timber frame; dendrochronology places it at 1611. A thorough renovation in 1750 gave the house its current façade, as documented by the ironwork gable ornament.
Architektur
Facing the streets, the exterior walls display Dutch late-Baroque styling. The building is topped by a curved gable (Schweifgiebel) with ball finials.
Vom Gasthaus zum Museum
The inn traded under the names Jägerhof and Restauration zum Hirschen; since the late 19th century it has borne its present name after its then-owner, Johann Baaken. A major renovation with structural changes took place in 1986; after the inn closed in 2002, owner Lutz Weynans reversed these alterations during the 2006/2007 restoration. From 2008 to 2017, the Museum of Lower Rhine Pottbäcker Ceramics displayed wall tiles and bowls in the former dining rooms.
Räume und Nutzung
The former guest rooms comprised a parlour with a Cologne ceiling, a fireplace room, and an Opkammer (upper chamber). In the oldest part of the building, the former taproom, the Tönisberg Heritage Association set up a local history room, featuring among other things a loom recalling the village's home-weaving tradition. The upper floors served as living quarters.
Wissenswertes
Because a municipal boundary once ran right through Tönisberg, Haus Baaken belonged to the municipality of Schaephuysen until 1929. In early 2017 the building changed hands for private use; the Pottbäcker Museum's collection went to the Rhenish State Museum, and the heritage room was cleared out.
Map
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Address
Bergstraße 2
47906 Kempen
Hours
Sa: 12:00–20:00
So: 12:00–20:00
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Sources & links
Auto-generated, last verified: 2026-07-07
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