Haus Schmelzle

About the museum

In 1953 the dentist Richard Schmelzle had the architect and painter Roland Kiemlen design a residence with an integrated practice on Bahnhofstraße in Bietigheim; the practice opened in 1954. In 1959 a larger waiting room with its own entrance was added. Schmelzle, who had already practised in the neighbouring house from 1936, treated patients here until 1998 – most recently at the age of 88.

After the practice closed, the equipment remained almost completely preserved: treatment chairs, drills, an X-ray machine approved in 1936, the laboratory and a waiting room with magazines from the early 1960s. The original tiles, travertine cladding, wall coverings and built-in furniture have also been preserved, which is why the building is now a listed monument.

His son Rainer Schmelzle, himself an oral surgeon, preserves the rooms as a private museum of medical history. On tours he combines stories about laughing gas, treadle drills and everyday life in the practice with Bietigheim's city history; documents are also shown about the difficulties his father had obtaining a licence during the Nazi era.

Highlights

• Fully preserved 1950s dental practice
• X-ray machine from 1936 and historic drills
• Waiting room with magazines from the 1960s
• Post-war architecture by Roland Kiemlen with original fittings

Operated by

Privatmuseum (Familie Schmelzle)

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