The ensemble of buildings

Today’s ensemble of buildings at Schloßberg 2 originated with two neighbouring residential buildings at the Oberern Hauptmarkt and at the lower end of the Schlossberg. According to documents, they can be traced back to the 17th century. In 1643, the Ducal Chamber purchased the residence of the ducal cavalry captain Johann Breithaupt on the Oberer Hauptmarkt for 1,000 gulden. A few years later, it was acquired by the polymath and linguist Hiob Ludolf (1624–1704), who was appointed court counsellor in 1660. The building was probably largely rebuilt. After Ludolf’s departure from Gotha in 1675, the Ducal Chamber offered the house to the first senior court preacher Johann Christian Gotter (1607–1677) as his residence

While Gotter was still living in the building it was sold to the Ducal Chamber director Friedrich Born (since about 1688 Freiherr v. Born), who commissioned a remodelling of the house and had a uniform, stuccoed facade made. In 1716, the house belonged to the commander of the ducal bodyguard, Major General Heinrich von Westernhagen, who had probably resided there since 1699.

Around the middle of the 18th century, the estates of the Duchy of Saxe-Gotha acquired the building, but under pressure from the Ducal Chamber they had to lease it out and continued to hold their meetings in the town hall. It was not until 1764 that the Chamber, to which the building had reverted in the meantime, made it permanently available for use by the “Landschaft”, as the estates were also called. On 2 October 1848, the first state parliament with many civic members met there. In 1861–64 the hall, which had already been previously enlarged, was raised by one floor and the gallery was built. In the gallery, 175 balusters from the ducal theatre, which had been remodelled in 1860, were re-used. In 1888 the hall was renovated again and a parquet floor was laid. 

From the middle of the 19th century, various state authorities also moved in, initially parts of the Judicial Office and the Court Martial, around 1900 the State Credit Institute in Gotha and in 1912 the Insurance Department were provided with rooms on the upper floor. For a brief period it accommodated the parliament and government seat of the Free State of Thuringia (1918–20). Shortly afterwards, the building became the property of the newly founded Free State of Thuringia in 1920, which also housed various authorities here. Around 1930, the “Thüringischen Bakteriologischen Untersuchungsanstalt” (Thuringian Bacteriological Examination Institute) moved in, followed by the Gotha Police Directorate in 1935. In 1943, the Gauleitung in Thüringen of the NSDAP rented three rooms.