Documented
A feature’s presence or identity is directly supported by an architectural record or historical photograph.
Independent, descendant-led research project
Reconstructing Kaufhaus Reichenbach
The store is gone. The evidence is not.
A working 3D research model brings the connected Hoher Weg and Martiniplan buildings into a single spatial view after Paul Reichenbach’s 1910–1913 rebuilding.
Why this matters
A Jewish family firm, a modern building, a dispossession the record only partly explains
Founded in 1843, J. Reichenbach was woven into Halberstadt’s everyday economy. The firm advertised 1,500 winter coats in stock in 1902 and, in 1931, presented itself as the city’s leading house for men’s, boys’ and occupational clothing.
Under Nazi rule the firm was removed from family control. Surviving records make commercial succession visible by 1938, but do not establish every legal step. Halberstadt’s old town was largely destroyed on 8 April 1945, and the building did not survive.
Photographs, building files, advertising, scholarship and family-held material now make a careful spatial reconstruction possible without erasing what remains unknown.
What exists today
A reviewable foundation for professional development
The current v11.12 model is a plausible, proportional interpretation rather than a surveyed record. Documented and interpreted geometry remain distinct, making it a foundation for professional calibration and public interpretation, not a finished visitor experience.
Evidence boundary. The reconstruction is an interpretive working model: plausible and proportional, not surveyed or metrically verified. The museum photograph, model render and proposed public concepts on this page have different evidentiary status. Appearance here does not imply institutional sponsorship or endorsement; reuse terms for the historical photograph remain with the holding institution.
- v11.12
- Current research-model baseline
- 40 / 40
- Validation checks passed
- 51
- Canonical review cameras
- A–D
- Per-object evidence classes
How confidence is recorded
Every modeled feature carries an evidence status
The method makes uncertainty inspectable instead of smoothing it away. Unknown or unresolved areas remain marked as such, and independent professional review is still required.
Source-constrained
Evidence constrains position, proportion or relationship, but does not provide measured geometry.
Functional
A feature is needed for structural, circulation or weather logic and remains compatible with the record.
Interpreted
A historically plausible reconstruction fills a gap and remains explicitly provisional.
Proposed museum interaction · not built. A future visitor interface could move between a neutral view and an evidence-confidence view while preserving these classifications.
Four possible public doors
One reviewed asset could support several forms of access
These are proposed outcomes, not existing products or secured commitments. Their scope would be set with institutional and technical partners after review.
Proposed · not built
01Browser walkthrough
An online experience that could move between neutral geometry and an evidence-confidence view.
Proposed · not built
02Gallery kiosk
A museum-scale presentation placing historical sources and reconstruction side by side.
Proposed · not built
03AR street overlay
An on-site view at or near the historical address, subject to a formal feasibility study.
Proposed · not built
04Classroom modules
Source-literacy activities built from the store’s photographs, records and unresolved questions.
Museum and teaching value
A building visitors could explore, and a method educators could teach
A professionally reviewed reconstruction could connect Jewish commercial life, Nazi dispossession and the destruction of Halberstadt’s old town through a single documented place.
The educational value lies equally in the method: visitors and students can distinguish primary evidence from plausible interpretation, trace what the records establish, and discuss why unresolved gaps matter.
- 1
Distinguish documented evidence from plausible reconstruction.
- 2
Trace Jewish commercial life and Nazi dispossession through primary sources.
- 3
Explain how responsible reconstruction records uncertainty rather than concealing it.
Trust and stewardship
Every image travels with its status. So does the project.
The Reichenbach Family Archive is independent and descendant-led. Its responsibility is to make the work useful without turning interpretation into evidence or access into an implied reuse license.
- Source
- Exact object identifier, creator or stated unknown, holder, link and image treatment.
- Status
- Historical source, model output, interpretation and proposed concept remain visibly distinct.
- Rights
- Permission scope and pending reproduction terms are stated; no endorsement is implied.
- Version
- The model baseline, correction record and validation result remain documented.
- Continuity
- Professional deposit and governance arrangements would be developed with selected partners.
The first ask · Phase 0 only
A bounded review before production
The requested first step is designed to buy certainty: evidence review, records access, a shared production plan and an honest budget.
- 1
Participate in an independent scholarly and architectural review of v11.12.
- 2
Help secure access to Stadtarchiv Halberstadt files 2/2485 and 2/2486.
- 3
Join a scoping partnership to develop the production plan and budget.
- 4
Designate a staff liaison for the review-and-scoping process.
No production commitment at this stage
Review the evidence. Define the work together.
Phase 0 does not assume an existing partner, secured funding or a predetermined public format. Later phases would address records and calibration, professional production, public pilots and long-term preservation.
The historical record
Return to the store
The complete Store page presents the building, interiors, advertisements, surviving objects, property records and the documented history of dispossession.