Commercial property for sale • 375 m² without real estate, North Rhine-Westphalia

Below is the English translation of the text enclosed by the tag:

“All things have their time”

After more than 33 careful, creative, and successful years, we would like to hand over the Buchmühle to new, responsible owners. For three decades, the Buchmühle has been a labor of love.

As independent architects specializing in historic preservation and half-timbered buildings, we purchased and thoroughly renovated the Buchmühle in 1993.

From 2012 to 2022, it served the “bauoffice,” a collaboration of engineers and craftsmen as a showroom.

From 2018 to 2022, my husband and I completely modernized the Buchmühle once again and transformed it into an exclusive wedding venue with a café and conference rooms. High-quality, historically appropriate, breathable, and sustainable materials were used while state-of-the-art technical equipment was installed, both indoors and outdoors.

Today, the Buchmühle presents itself in top condition with a variety of rooms of different sizes and usages.

The citizens of the city associate positive experiences and memories with the building and appreciate the idyllic, beautiful ensemble with its charm that comes from lovingly maintained historic building fabric combined with sophisticated, modern architectural design. They gladly embrace the diverse cultural program at events, use the Buchmühle as a conference center, and celebrate life’s important occasions here—a place where a good spirit prevails.

The concept of an event location/seminar center, with a focus on weddings and milestone birthdays, a cultural program, and a café, offers one possibility to utilize the versatile indoor space of 370 m².

The outdoor area, featuring two terraces (one covered), a BBQ station, a garden house, and five private parking spaces, rounds off the spatial offer. Surrounded by green areas with parks and adjacent public parking lots, and with connections to the pedestrian zone as well as public transportation like buses and the S-Bahn, the location is unique.

All uses are approved under building regulations and cleared from a fire protection perspective. Licenses are in place, hygiene regulations are demonstrably complied with, and customs inspections have been passed without issue.

Other concepts focusing on a central location with access to green spaces, representative historic-modern architecture, sustainability, and individuality also find resonance and opportunities for implementation here.

The Buchmühle, a piece of city history:

As part of a former manorial estate, it was one of the first mills to harness the strong water power of the Strunde, initially operating as a gristmill for grain and later, as a “Bokemühle,” taking part in flax processing.

Historically, it was first mentioned in 1699 and several times changed ownership. It was used by private individuals, the parish, and the city as a mill, tavern, butcher’s shop, residential space, and music school.

At the end of 1993, the music school moved out. The city sold the building to architects Lisa Wendling and Oliver Weirich, who, in consultation with the monument authority, carried out a fundamental renovation. Since 2015, the couple Dieter Bille and Lisa Wendling have operated the historic property. Following extensive modernizations both interior and exterior, it now serves as an event location with an attached café, seminar center, and cultural venue.

Today’s ensemble consists of three parts: the historic half-timbered house—which, according to construction findings, dates from the 18th century; an adjoining brick building from around 1840; and a glass-wood extension with a green roof in a shed style dating from 1994.

The dendrochronology (tree-ring analysis) conducted in 1993 by the architects in cooperation with the state conservator determined that the wooden beams used in the old half-timbered house are over 400 years old.

Local Setting:

The free-standing ensemble of the half-timbered house is located in the center of Bergisch Gladbach, 200 m from the town hall square, next to the Laurentius Church with a public parking lot.

To the north of the building, in addition to private gardens, there is a newly designed public park with high recreational value. An open stream with seating and recreational areas, a children’s playground, a pétanque court, and an adjacent rose garden under monument protection with a fountain invite visitors to linger. Across from the Buchmühle, the adult education center operates its courses as well as its adjoining commercial outlet extending to the main street, which has been developed as a pedestrian zone.

On the northwest side, the Buchmühle is connected to Laurentius Straße, which was redesigned and expanded in 2025/2026. With more space for pedestrians featuring rest areas and green spaces, and an emphasis on cycling traffic, this connection has also become attractive.

To the east of the adult education center lies a vacant lot to be developed with residential and commercial buildings. Plans include an elderly-friendly, multi-generational house with a café and library (see the colored site plan).

The Buchmühle is located 200 m from Konrad–Adenauer-Platz (town hall square). Here, the upper and lower pedestrian zones of the main street meet in a central, large square, framed by a fountain and historic buildings. The town hall, Laurentius Church, the Bergische Löwe cultural center, the City Museum Villa Zanders, and buildings from the Gründerzeit period form the backdrop for regular large events such as fairs, trade shows, city festivals, marathons, Christmas markets, as well as twice-weekly popular street markets. Shops of all kinds, banks, cafés, snack stands, and restaurants are represented here.

By the end of 2025, Bergisch Gladbach’s population is approximately 114,000, making it a steadily growing large city. Bergisch Gladbach is located 15 km from Cologne.

By S-Bahn, the travel time to Cologne is 20 minutes. An expansion for a second track is in planning. The bus station is located right next to the S-Bahn terminal.

Bergisch Gladbach offers all types of schools, as well as a high number of kindergartens and daycare centers.

Location of the Property:

The property is accessible from all sides. On the northwest side of the building, there is an access to five parking spaces.

The public traffic area around the building was completely renewed and redesigned as part of the Regionale 2010 project. In doing so, the architecturally significant, monument-protected building was integrated into the design of the townscape.

This is a free-standing building at an urbanly significant location.

The property is level, and its proximity to neighboring properties is normal.

Along the northeast side of the property, there is an easement for pedestrians.

The boundary conditions are regulated.

The development complies with building regulations. There are building permits and change of use approvals from 1993 and 2020.

A detailed building description regarding fixtures and technical equipment can be found in the accompanying PDF document.

Information on the Area Breakdown:

Property area ...................................................... 388.00 m²

Gross floor areas

– Kitchen garden, garden salon, buffet room, gastro kitchen, and scullery (ground floor) .............. 114.00 m²

– Café (ground floor), crawl space basement ...................................................... 45.00 m²

– Small salon ........................................................................................................ 58.00 m²

– ‘Himmel’ (attic/loft) ......................................................................................... 56.00 m²

– Experience room (attic/loft) .............................................................................. 102.00 m²

Total .............................................................................................................. 375.00 m²

A comprehensive description of the Buchmühle with its rooms and usage possibilities can be found on the Buchmühle website (Google search “Buchmühle Bergisch Gladbach”).

Brief Building Description Including the Materials Used and Their Strengths:

The foundations consist of rubble stone and brick masonry.

The load-bearing external walls are made of brick, approximately 50 cm thick. In the area of the brickwork, a horizontal damp-proof course with paraffin was installed in 1994.

The half-timbered exterior walls are mostly infilled with masonry and equipped with interior, vapor-permeable thermal insulation. The extension is made of a glass-wood construction with a shed-style green roof.

The partition walls are largely half-timbered, otherwise masonry. The basement ceiling of the crawl space in what is now the café area is a masonry vault.

The floor ceilings are rendered wooden ceilings, partly “Kölner Decken” (stucco ceilings). A roof structure over the southwest wing was newly built in 1994. It features full rafter insulation of 20 cm in cellulose. The roof over the southeast wing is built doubly and also has full rafter insulation. The roofs are fully developed with additional lighting provided by long strips of glass. The roof tiles are hollow clay tiles (in accordance with monument standards).

Three chimneys are integrated into the roof and clad in natural slate. The historic main staircase is made of wood; the two connecting staircases within the units are modern steel stairs. The staircase in the experience room leads to a steel-glass bridge connecting two galleries. The floors on the ground floor are made of natural slate and wooden boards. In the upper floors, they are also made of oak/ash. The interior doors are wooden, with four being fire-rated and some featuring glass inserts. One T30 door is made of steel. The windows are monument-appropriate wooden mullioned windows made of oak on the ground floor with shutters. The windows in the extension are insulated glass. On the north side, there are two folding door systems that can open across the entire front.

The Buchmühle is a landmark that shapes the townscape and an important part of Bergisch Gladbach’s history.

An enclosed PDF document shows the monument certificate.

The Buchmühle building ensemble is one of the oldest buildings in Bergisch Gladbach and is under monument protection. Since 1993, it has been owned by an architect specializing in the renovation of half-timbered houses and monuments. Through numerous renovations over the past 30 years, the building has been maintained in accordance with monument standards, modernized, and outfitted with high-quality equipment in all rooms.

Thanks to the measures implemented under Regionale 2010, the Buchmühle was newly integrated into an overall urban development concept in 2013. The unveiling of the Strunder stream in the adjacent park and the redesign of the pedestrian zone right up to the historic building demonstrate its high recreational value as well as its close connection to the central town hall square with the registry office. With the redesign of Laurentius Straße featuring an expanded bicycle path and extended pedestrian zone, the Buchmühle also gains an attractive connection to further shops and gastronomy on its northwest side.