Decorative Fachwerk


Personality for your home

Each Fachwerk house has a distinctive flair and expression with the typical decorations in its wooden structure.

You can give your house its own personal design and appearance by choosing your favorite Fachwerk adornments.

At the Fuhrberger Zimmerei you can choose from a wide selection of original and outstanding handcrafted Fachwerk decorations.

Here is a link to a very nice project in Havelse: Late summer 2005 – A historical Fachwerk house from 1887 in Havelse got a new inscription on its main gable after four weeks of restoration. At the same time the original crest of Havelse was engraved in a beam.

Curled ornaments

Rossettes and foot angle ornaments

Bracers and head angle ornaments

Angle braces and block shear connectors

Gable flowers

Horse heads

Horse heads are often found as decoration on top of the gable of Fachwerk houses.
But what is the meaning of this old tradition and what does the orientation of the heads signify?

There are interesting folk tales about this:

  • Horse heads look outward: The house is not yet paid off.
  • Horse heads look inward: The house is privately owned.
  • Facing horses are a lucky charm.
  • Outside looking horse heads fend off evil.
  • Horse heads look inward: Symbol for harmony and peace in marriage.
  • Facing horse heads: All the men of the farm are at home.
  • Horse heads looking away from one another: All men of the farm are at war.
  • Inward looking heads indicate the man got married into the farm.
  • Outward looking horse heads indicate the female was married into the farm.
  • The position of the horse heads show whether the owner is independent by medieval standards.

These are just a few examples of interpretations.
People used to believe that the horse heads stemmed from pagan times.
Now it is understood that this type of gable decoration is probably only about 400 years old.