"Eckes Hus Ostereistedt"

The oldest farm building in Rotenburg (Wümme) County “Eckes Hus Ostereistedt” A tour of the building with explanations of the history of the building, changes made in it throughout the centuries, and efforts to secure it for future generations. The name “Eckes Hus” has acquired a good reputation among north German friends of farm buildings since a group of volunteers started out on a journey in 1989 to attempt to save this building, first from further decay and then from demolition. The name by which this farm building is known has an uncertain origin. The idea that a person named Eckehardt or Eike was the first owner/builder and thus gave his name to this house makes a certain amount of sense, but from a genealogical point of view it is unlikely. Another explanation suggests that the name derives from the possibility that the building was located on the edge or corner (= Ecke in German) of the old village. The farm building itself is 12.5 meters wide and 26 meters long. With these dimensions and with the kind of floor plan represented in the building it is considered a large Niedersächisches Hallenhaus, a term, which is frequently translated as a Low Saxon hall house or a Low German house. It is built in what is known in German as a Zweiständerbauweise, or a two-post construction (which features two interior rows of huge upright posts that run the length of the building). In its core Eckes Hus stems completely from the middle of the 16th century. It is still on the site where it was first built and has survived for 460 years with amazingly few changes. Even taking into consideration the various renovation phases that it has experienced, Eckes Hus is the oldest completely extant farm building in Rotenburg (Wűmme) County. The village of Ostereistedt, where it is located, lies between Bremen and Hamburg.