Foto: Stadtarchiv Drolshagen, Sammlung Felix Stahlhacke

24 House Baldus - Sparkasse Olpe-Drolshagen-Wenden

Hagener Straße 29

The house was built around 1840 by Andreas Schürholz. His granddaughter Maria married the owner of the "Drolshagener Metallwarenfabrik", Karl Baldus. Since then it has been called the "Baldus House".Baldus opened a household goods shop in the left part, which was later taken over by the Volpert family; the savings bank was rented in the right part.  After the end of World War II, the current Sparkasse Olpe-Drolshagen-Wenden acquired the house at Hagener Straße 29.

Before the town fire of 1838, there was a semi-detached house on that place where the Sparkasse now stands, which was occupied by the Bieker and Bertram families and was called "Schmiedefranzes". After the town fire, Drolshagen was completely rebuilt. In the middle of the town centre, directly opposite the market square, the merchant Andreas Schürholz (1816-1887) built a representative house, which was called "Andreses" after its builder.

Andreas Schürholz had two sons, Joseph and Matthias. The son Joseph married Magdalene Willmes from Heimicke. They had six children, one of whom was the daughter Maria. She married the factory owner Karl Baldus from Gummersbach. When they inherited the house on the market square, it has been called the "Baldus House" ever since. Baldus had taken over the Drolshagen metal goods factory in Hützemert between 1910 and 1912, but had to close the factory in 1927. In 1932, Baldus opened a hardware and household aritcles shop on the left-hand side of the ground floor and rented the right-hand side to the former Amtssparkasse Drolshagen.

Hans Vosshagen took over the business for a short time, followed by Paul Volpert and later his son Friedhelm. After World War II, the former Amtssparkasse bought the building and is still located in the house. The house, which has been renovated several times in the meantime, now shines again in its old half-timbered splendour, just as it was built by Andreas Schürholz after the town fire of 1838.