Factoring

The Trading House, dating from 1736, is one of the few buildings left from the first construction phase of the hut. This house has retained its function since its construction until today: The upper floors used to be the official residence of the administrator (factor, upper factor, administrator) of the Königshütte. On the ground floor were the offices, as they still are today. In 1914 the house got central heating and new pipes for hot and cold water.

It is remarkable that this house, like the other old hut buildings, is boarded up, in contrast to the open half-timbered construction of the old houses of Lauterberg. The reason for this is the ownership of the Königshütte at that time: the entire area of this hut was an extra-territorial area of the mineworkers (Berghauptmannschaft) in Clausthal. Diede zum Fürstenstein, the then mining governor, commissioned his local architects to construct a new ironworks near Lauterberg. The ironworks buildings were then planned and also built in the typical Upper Harz architectural style. In the Upper Harz, this type of construction is necessary because of the colder temperatures, but in the Lauterberg area this elaborate construction would not have been necessary. From this first construction phase, there are still construction plans for this house.

Above the main entrance you can see the sign of the royal ironworks: mallets and iron, surrounded by oak leaves and bordered on top by a royal crown.