Transcript: #2 Architecture: from weaving cellars to embroidery facilities

Jeanne Devos

You are standing at position 2, looking north at the oldest row of houses in the village center. These buildings survived, at least in part, the village fire of 1796. Some façades were later redesigned. Originally weaving was done in the cellars. Few have been preserved as pure weavers' houses. At the three houses in front of you the high windows of the lower floor indicate that later embroidery machines were used in there. These windows provided good daylight which was essential for operating the machines. If on your walk through the village you will find houses with high basement floors or one-story extensions, you are most likely standing in front of a house where embroideries were produced in earlier years. The buildings were initially constructed in the Appenzell architectural style as wooden log houses. The uppermost of these three houses has a remarkably rich interior. A wealthy embroiderer must have lived here.

Further uphill this row of houses continues up to above the swimming pool. Around 1880 Jakob Hohl ran an embroidery business in one of these houses. Later it was expanded into the Lendenmann factory. The company was specialized in white embroidery. Houses where only weaving was done can still be found in some hamlets outside the village such as Kohlenrüti, Langenegg, Nord, or Ettenberg. The already mentioned «Urwaldhaus» in Robach is such a weaver's house. Typical of the weavers' houses are basement (cellar) floors with narrow bands of windows reaching down to the ground on the main front, and which could be closed with fold-up shutters. These older, rural houses from the linen-making era are usually associated with a farming sideline and provided with a stable extension. If you walk over the hills of the Appenzellerland, you will recognize such weavers' houses again and again. In Rehetobel there were highly specialized weavers who produced only the finest cloth. Later also weaving factories were established. Jakob Volkart ran one for decades, and his son Walter is about to tell us more about the diversity of the manufactured products:

«In earlier days we produced Marquisette. This is a fine fabric for curtains and partly also for dresses. I remember that we made nearly everything at that time: Corset fabric, since people still wore corsages, upholstery fabric, also brocade upholstery, and mattress fabric. But the big thing and our strength were the night curtains.»

Around 1900, the more modern cubic wooden houses in post and beam construction with high single windows and hipped roofs or cross gables were built for the embroiderers. We still encounter this type. The common feature of these houses are the high walled ground floors for the huge embroidery machines.

Marcel Anderwert

Now walk a few steps further on the street and you will reach the «Wöschhüsli», a former wash house. It is the small, stone cottage near the narrow passage.