A house with many lives.
The story of a historic Pfronten farmhouse in a landscape shaped by living craft traditions.
434 stories · The house history
Almost 400 years. And the story is far from over.
The story of HOF 434 did not begin with a holiday apartment. It began with farmers, wheelwrights, blacksmiths, water and fire.
Research by the Pfronten local history society traces the property back to the mid-17th century. Historic house number 434 is itself part of that story; it is not today’s street address.
A farmhouse belonging to the Doser family.
Georg Doser, a wheelwright, is recorded as an early resident of the former property. The craft was practised across generations of the extensive Doser family. His son Martin later owned the property whose associated rights would eventually become number 434.
A number moves house.
Philipp Doser sold the old, apparently already dilapidated farmhouse to his neighbour Christian Mayr. Mayr had the building demolished. The associated property rights, however, remained and were transferred to his hammer forge in Ob. In 1784 these became property-rights number 434.
Water becomes power.
The hammer forge was powered by water. A channel branched off from the Gießbach stream at the Bläsismühle mill and carried water to the forge hammers. The original land survey of 1818 even shows an older channel running farther north. During restoration of the present house, we rediscovered traces of an old watercourse.
“Christianesse Jakob”.
Jakob Mayr took over the hammer forge and was still described as a weapons smith. In practice, he mainly made and repaired everyday items: tools, parts for Pfronten’s fire pump and other ironwork. The older house name “Christianesse” moved with him to the new property.
Fire in the forge.
The hammer forge burned down and was rebuilt. Fire was central to the craft and also its greatest danger. The forge burned again in 1868.
Hartmann.
Johann Baptist Hartmann, from Rubi near Oberstdorf, acquired house 434 and its hammer forge. He worked as a blacksmith well into old age. His name stayed with the house: later sources record “Hartmann” as its house name, still part of its identity today.
From Hartmann to Aletsee.
In 1883 the property passed to Hartmann’s son-in-law Martin Aletsee. Later, the farmhouse and hammer forge were divided within the family. Franz Aletsee farmed the property and made components for Pfronten’s precision-engineering businesses in a small smithy.
The forge moves on.
After flooding, the old forge’s water supply was abandoned. Rudolf Aletsee built a new hammer forge near today’s Kurpark, with a new channel around 400 metres long. The forge and HOF 434 thus went their separate ways. The historic forge near the Kurpark still survives.
The story remains visible.
Today the farmhouse stands naturally in its place again, with its timber façade, traditional proportions and a new purpose. Not a reconstruction of the past, but a house carrying its story forward.
434 stories · Discovery 01
Water beneath the house.
A masonry channel emerged when the foundations were uncovered. It recalls a time when water not only shaped the landscape but also drove heavy forging hammers.
We tell the story of how this discovery may relate to the historic watercourses in a separate chapter.
The story of water and iron →
Sources & historical context
This chronology follows research by the Pfronten local history society. Some connections, particularly the exact attribution of the uncovered channel, are historical interpretations rather than conclusively proven findings.
House history of Pfronten-Heitlern (PDF) ↗ · Forges in Pfronten ↗ · Land surveys of 1818 ↗