Oltmanns The oldest shipyard in Brake was founded by the ship´s carpenter Hinrich Oltmanns in 1791. Up until its bankruptcy in 1901, some 143 wooden sailing ships were launched here, including galiotes, schooners, brigs, barques, fully-rigged ships and Weser barges. The shipyard was also well-known outside of the region, given the high quality of services, particularly in the construction of fast vessels. Accordingly, orders were placed by customers located beyond the Weser coastline, such as Hamburg and the Netherlands. Following the death of Ide Oltmanns senior in 1856, his widow Anna Rebecka steered the company for nearly 30 additional years. The villa of the Family Oltmanns, built in 1861, is a so-called “Helgenbaas-House” and has been maintained practically unchanged until today. [More]
Plan Street C Between 1780 and 1803, the regional economy boomed. The upturn caused by harbor business offered many new opportunities for earning money. The high price of real estate properties, on the other hand, discouraged many people from settling in the area. As a result, Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig von Oldenburg (1755-1829) decreed that land parcels between the Middle Dyke and the old street Heerstrasse be publicly purchased, and this led to the presence of more affordable properties along the so-called “Plan Street C” which led from the pier straight into the hinterland. This “Plan Street C” evolved into the “Breite Strasse” (literals “Wide Street”). Simultaneously, the “Plan Street G” and the later “Lindenstrasse” came into being. The properties were enormously popular. In 1793, Brake had a population of 850 residents. In the following 20 years, this figure was doubled. [More]
Maritime Museum - Haus Borgstede & Becker The packing house was built in 1808 by the ship broker and the subsequent shipyard owner Hinrich Oltmanns. It served as an interim storage facility of the company “Oltmanns & Seeman”, allowing freight and commercial goods to be temporarily kept until their further transport by ship. On the ground floor, a ship´s chandler store was opened from early on.As of 1818, the British Vice Consul and an agent of the North German Lloyd, John Saville MacNamara, lived here with his wife, who became entwined with countless legends. Following MacNamars death in 1845, Johann Hinrich Borgstede and Julius Ludwig Becker, two businessmen from Brake, purchased the building, and this became the exclusive property of Becker a year later, remaining in the family until 1979. In 1985, this house, known as “Haus Borgstede & Becker”, became the second site of the Maritime Museum of the Oldenburgian Lower Weser. [More]