Holländer Hof Hotel, Heidelberg
The Holländer Hof is a hotel in Heidelberg’s Old Town, located directly at the Old Bridge across the Neckar. There is evidence of an inn on this site as early as the late 16th century. The current name – “the Dutch(man’s) Inn” was introduced by Louis Spitz in 1836, as Dutch boatsmen and travellers formed the majority of the guests at the time.
The vinyl letters on the window above the entrance are from Claudius, or Claudius-Fraktur, a typeface based on calligraphic samples by Rudolf Koch. His son Paul finished a first cut in the early 1930s and used it in the printing workshop that he ran together with his sister Ursula in the Haus zum Fürsteneck. Further cuts were added by the Klingspor foundry, and the typeface released in 1937 – three years after Rudolf Koch had died. The typeface is named after the German poet Matthias Claudius.
Oriol Miró points out that the t was dully manipulated, compare to the specimen below. The lettering could date from around 1981, when the building was reopened as a hotel after extensive renovation work, having previously served as a Christian hospice.
Preliminary proof for a specimen of Claudius-Fraktur, showing the full character set of the metal foundry type in the 40 pt (Didot) size, handset by Farida Sunada of Ophelia Press and printed by Gerald Lange of the Bieler Press
