Villa Maurer
Villa Maurer , today Villa Victoria , built in 1898/99 , belongs to the ensemble of listed villas that characterize the cityscape of Gera . It is located at Gagarinstrasse 14 (formerly Agnesstrasse), between Villa Feistkorn in the north and one of the villas of the Gera merchant Münch in the south. During the GDR era, the villa became known as the seat of the Kulturbund and the intelligentsia club .
history
The villa was built in 1898/99 by the architect Carl Zaenker for the Gera factory owner Emil Otto Maurer and, before he moved in, an extension was added to enlarge the kitchen. In the entrance area of the villa, the year 1900 is given as the time of completion in the sandstone . The Maurer family moved into the villa in 1901.
Emil Otto Maurer founded a woolen weaving mill with the merchant Gustav Adolph Fiedler in the period after the Franco-German War in 1871/72 . After Fiedler's death in 1889, Friedrich Wilhelm Elenz became his partner until 1914, then his former authorized signatory Hermann Sänger.
Emil Otto Maurer, who was living at Adelheidstrasse 2 (today Clara-Zetkin-Strasse) at the time, commissioned the architect Carl Zaenker in 1898 to build a villa as a residence for his family in the nearby Agnes-Strasse 14, which is part of the Time was on the outskirts of Gera, and thanks to its altitude it was a popular place for the construction of numerous entrepreneurial villas.
Carl Zaenker was an architect in great demand in Gera. He is the builder of numerous, today also listed villas in Gera , including the villas Späthe , Ramminger , Jäger , Rothe and Meyer .
Emil Otto Maurer lived in the villa until his death in 1917, which he gave to his widow Doris Susanne Maurer nee. Kohl inherited. The widow Maurer later rented parts of the villa, among others to the Hautboist Paul Hochmuth from the Reussische Kapelle and the well-known actor Rudolf Weisker.
After Doris Susanne Maurer's death in 1938, the merchant Robert Wohlmuth, who had been the authorized representative of the textile finisher Walther, Bach & Co. since the 1920s, bought the villa .
In the period after the Second World War , the villa was initially used as a residential building and in 1972 was assigned to the GDR Cultural Association as a new residence . Around the same time, the Villa Remy on Rudolf-Ferber-Strasse was demolished and the Intelligence Club “ Bertolt Brecht ”, which had previously been based there, found its new seat at the Kulturbund.
From then on, the villa served as a meeting place for intellectuals and artists , as a meeting place for specialist groups, an exhibition space, a lecture hall, discussion groups, workshops and also for celebrations.
After reunification and the clarification of ownership, the villa on the original was owner restituted . The Kulturbund found new accommodation in Ferber's house and the villa was acquired by a law firm in 1994, which, after the renovation and renovation of the building in 1995, used it until summer 2014.
After another extensive refurbishment and renovation in 2014/2015, the villa will once again serve cultural purposes. With the name of the villa is today to Empress Victoria of Great Britain and Ireland (1840-1901) , the wife of Emperor Friedrich III. remembered, after which Viktoriastraße in Untermhaus was previously named.
Buildings / structures
The villa was in the style of Neo-Renaissance built. The architect Carl Zaenker, who was also entrusted with the planning of the Villa Münch at the same time, used ashlar for both villas to highlight the plastered surfaces.
The villa was built on sloping terrain so that the cellar on the street side could be designed as a full , windowed storey , which is clad with Cyclops masonry made of sandstone. The two-story structure rises above this . The attic is fully developed. There is a loft directly under the roof .
Street side leads is a distinctive style element a stone staircase to the entrance, to which a massive windscreen from sandstone is upstream. The stairs are divided at garden height by a landing. There is a forged banister along the stairs that takes up the ornamentation of the fence.
A tower-shaped bay window on the northwest corner of the villa, which rises over the entire height of the house, gives the building its character. The bay window is hexagonal on the outside, inside the villa it gives the rooms a semicircular curve. Especially on the upper floors, this allows a wide view over the rooftops of the city to Osterstein Castle and into the Vogtland . The bay window was originally covered with a dome , which has been lost over time; today the bay window has a flat roof.
On the north side of the villa, immediately following the bay window, are the windows of the stairwell . Each floor is illuminated by three windows that are grouped together. The stairwell windows on the first floor are closed at the top with round arches , which in turn are supported by central columns.
The other windows of the villa are double-leafed and have round arches on the ground floor. On the first floor, only the window on the west side directly adjoining the bay window has a round arch, the other windows are square. The windows are framed with sandstone and have been preserved in the original.
The southwest side of the Villa is characterized by an extension that of the main floor of accessible and as a conservatory is configured; the floor is tiled, the side walls are fully glazed, the ceiling is decorated with stucco elements. On the south side, the winter garden has two arched windows, each with three wings, which are surrounded on the outside by three massive columns, which in turn, at the level of the upper window parts, are provided with forged building anchors that extend from column to column. In front of the winter garden is a spacious terrace , delimited with sandstone elements , from which a flight of stairs leads into the garden. Above the winter garden is a loggia accessible from the first floor , which is framed by a wooden, elaborately crafted balustrade with planters. These wooden elements continue up to the 2nd floor, where they form the parapet for an open balcony that allows a view of the towers of the town hall and the Salvatorkirche .
The middle part of the south side is provided with three high, arched windows at the level of the piano nobile and is characterized by an independently covered bay window that enlarges and illuminates the dining room . Above that, on the first floor, there are three angular windows framed with suggested pillars made of sandstone. The 2nd floor takes up this design, has two smaller windows, also provided with sandstone surrounds, but arched upwards, over which a high gable made in the neo-renaissance style protrudes.
In the wood-paneled foyer of the villa is the representative central wooden staircase with an approx. 10 m high coffered ceiling , from which high double doors lead into the individual rooms, which in turn are connected to one another with sliding doors made of solid wood. In the bel étage, the parquet floors and all elements fixed to the wall, in particular wall panels , doors including fittings , stucco ornaments, delicately designed stucco ceilings, wooden windows with original glazing, tiles and leaded glass windows have been completely preserved; they have been renovated and restored in accordance with listed buildings.
The dining room is decorated with a wooden coffered ceiling. The staircase leads into a gallery on the first floor , which opens up a view of the foyer and enables access to all rooms that are also connected to one another.
The property is fenced in by a massive retaining wall facing the street, which is necessary because of the slope of the site. Columns are placed on the wall , which are connected to the original forged iron railings. The single-leaf entrance door and the double-leaf gate have been lost, they have been replaced by new elements that have been designed according to the ornaments of the historic railing. Two sandstone pillars with spherical ends form the suspension for the door and gate. These are now the only access to the property, which used to have an access via Goethestrasse, which is now blocked by a newly built house.
The garden, which surrounds the villa mainly on the west and south sides, still partly shows its historical design. The villa has a living area of 435 m² and 175 m² of usable space.
literature
- Anja Löffler: Cultural monuments in Thuringia. City of Gera. (= Monument Topography Federal Republic of Germany. Volume 3). Sandstein Verlag, 2007, ISBN 978-3-937940-33-5 .
- Karin Lange, Bernd Germar: Villas in Gera. Rhivo Verlag, 1997, ISBN 3-932081-15-3 .
- Sabine Schellenberg among others: Villas and villa gardens in Gera. Wicher, Gera 1999, OCLC 247623269 .
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 52 '55.2 " N , 12 ° 5' 9.2" E