Strehly House / The Strehlys

Strehly House, also, The Strehlys. . , Strehly House , This house combines the European half-timber construction with the local brick tradition. It is representative of the less affluent Germans who emigrated to Missouri in the early 19th century, survived frontier hardships, and prospered in the New World. Carl Strehly did well enough to add two rooms to his house, completing it in the 1860s., [Illustration captions read] , Timber-frame , A method of construction using jointed and pegged structural timbers filled in with nonstructural materials, Brick nogging , A technique in which brick is used as the nonstructural fill material in a timber-frame structure., Plaster and lath , An interior finishing technique in which plaster is smoothed over a wooden support lattice., Frame and weatherboard , An exterior finishing technique in which structural framing is covered with weatherboard. , , , , , , , , , , , , , , The Strehlys , On this site, the important radical journal Licht-Freund was published by Edward Muehl and his brother-in-law, Carl Procopius Strehly. Muehl, a freidenker (free-thinker), was opposed to slavery. His influential voice among Germans statewide helped Missouri to stay with the Union during the Civil War., The Strehly house is noteworthy for its attached commercial building. In 1855, Carl Strehly went into the wine business, which the city council had actively encouraged since 1844. He built an addition that included a wine cellar, production area, tavern, and dance hall., [Illustration captions read] , Dance Hall , The upper floor of the winery served as dance hall and erholung (entertainment center), in the 19th century., Wine Cask , The last-known carved wine cask in Missouri, this one is signed and dated 1875. It depicts Bacchus, god of wine., Vineyard , In the 19th century, vineyards were interspersed among the houses in this part of Hermann. The vines still growing behind the Strehly House date from the 1850s.