History

1397. The first preserved record. EWERD WARENDORP sold his house ownership near the Great Coastal Gate. Already then the building had its longer side towards the street and its right end had an alcoved gate for entry into the courtyard. Warendorp had borrowed money from the Kanuti Guild and the Almshouse of the Holy Ghost Church, probably for replacing the former wooden house with a stone building.

1415. Shipmaster KERKOUWE became the owner of the building.

1433. Fire in the town. The building was probably damaged. In the course of the construction works that took place afterwards, the house got its three-part floor plan that it still has today: on the left a large residence with a triangular gable roof and a stone fireplace in the basement; on the right a storage shed with the width of one window; and an alcove with a gate. The most artful of the building details preserved from the 15^th century is the Gothic style ashlar window pillar in the family room on the courtyard side.

1439. Trader ANDREAS HOLTWISCH, having married the widow of the previous owner, undertook to care for the five children from the woman’s previous marriage, until they became of age. Both daughters were also to receive a bridesbed and two hacksilvers (416 g) worth of jewellery.

1456. HINRIK SPORMAKER (spurmaker) became the owner of the house. He was followed by mainly traders as subsequent owners, including several elders of the Great Guild, aldermen and a mayor.

1535. HANS HUDDE, having wedded a daughter of the family, CATHARINA, had renovation works made in the building, following the late Gothic style. The family room on the second floor has a twisting stone column in the double window looking towards the town wall; the twisting column bears his runic family mark and initials “H:H:”.

1611. The house and the courtyard went to trader PETER REIMERS. His second wife APOLLONIA lived longer than his two husbands.

1655- APOLLONIA and her children gave the house to PETRUS KOCH, a son of the family and a vicar of the Estonian congregation of the Holy Ghost Church. He married ELISABETH, a daughter of the vicar Salemann of the Holy Ghost Church; she died in 1702.

1702. Due to debts of the widow’s son-in-law, the house was auctioned and bought by alderman AREND VON MINDEN. He had come to Tallinn from Lübeck, became an alderman here in 1696 and died of plague in 1710, together with his wife. The house went to their son CHRISTIAN VON MINDEN who married DOROTHEA AMALIA, a daughter of dr. med Tobias Enizel.

1737. During the aftermath of the Great Northern War, the house had become abandoned. Now it got a new owner, HINRICH HÖPPENER, but the house had no luck with him. After his death in 1742, the custodians of his minor children auctioned the house. The buyer was NICOLAUS HETLING, a trader and secretary of the Orphans Court.

1762. The custodians of the children of the former owner gave the house to trader GOTTHARD FELSBERG who was an elder of the Great Guild. He or the next owner had a major overhaul made in the house.

1781. The house was bought from Felsberg’s widow by a successful trader CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH HIPPIUS (+1824) who became an alderman in 1797 and a mayor in 1811. He was married to ANNA MARGARETA, a daughter of Hageri vicar Wilcken.

At the time of Hetling or Hippius, the log ceilings, the doors and windows and the roof were renewed. The house also got its new front stairs which are preserved even now and have a Rococo style balustrade. Other elements preserved from that building stage are some Rococo style doors and a wall closet with a swan neck frontispiece. The more complex woodworking was probably performed by the cabinet-maker neighbour Johan Christian Brockman who lived in the house at the address of Pikk Street 64. The family room still displays the paintings on the ceiling beams. The style of painting the vines reflects the period of 1760-1780.

1825. In the year of Dorothea Margareta Elisabeth Hippius, a daughter of mayor Hippius becoming the owner of the house, the members of the Tallinn Engineering Commando drew the facades of the buildings on Pikk Street. Those drawings show that the house had even then preserved its saw-tooth triangular gable; the small storage shed and also the room above the gate alcove had been adapted to residential purposes by then.

1851. An influential trader ERNST CARL FRIEDRICH BAETGE, also being active as a consul of the Hannover Kingdom and later becoming a mayor of Tallinn, took over the house and started to modernise it. Unfortunately the design documents for the late Classical style makeover have not been preserved. The triangular gable was demolished; the street side got regular rows of windows with relief plaster framing. The richest design is visible on the plaster cornice under the roof edge. Regardless of the efforts at unification, the three-part design originating from Middle Ages is still barely visible behind the band façade. That façade layout has been preserved until today.

1895  The house was taken over by EDUARD BAETGE, a son of the previews owner.

1929. His daughters ELLINOR ARMSEN and ERNA KÖRBER soon sold the house and it was then taken into use as an office building.

1992. Before the ownership reform, the buildings at Pikk 66 and 68 housed the publishing office „BIT”. After „Bit” moved our, the building number 66 remained empty and the city gave it to the Constantinople branch of the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church.

2011. After another change of owners, the house was renovated into a hotel.