Villa Merkel
The Villa Merkel in Esslingen am Neckar was built in 1872/73 as an entrepreneur's villa and has served as the gallery of the city of Esslingen since 1973.
history
The villa was built by the Stuttgart architect Otto Tafel (1838–1914) for the industrialist Oskar Merkel in a landscaped garden right next to the Filstalbahn ( Stuttgart - Ulm railway line ), which was neither a problem nor was it unusual in the 19th century, which was a believer in technology. The villa was built in the immediate vicinity of the former company building.
Today the complex is a cultural monument due to the law for the protection of cultural monuments of the state of Baden-Württemberg .
architecture
The surrounding walls of the villa and its cellar ceiling are made of stamped concrete . This makes it one of the early residential buildings in Germany that were mainly made of concrete. The fact was forgotten and was only rediscovered during preliminary investigations for a repair in 2002. The interior walls, on the other hand, are half- timbered, the ceilings of the rising storeys with wooden beam ceilings. The German Foundation for Monument Protection funded the repair of the south facade with 50,000 euros in 2006.
In keeping with the taste of the Wilhelminian era , the house was designed in the neo-renaissance style. The entrance is on the north side and therefore faces the city and the railway line. It was designed as a set portico. The south side facing the park and Neckar has a stand bay. On the west side, the villa has a two-storey winter garden , the lower part of which consists of vaulted cellars. The windows in the upper part are only partially glazed. The vestibule with a mosaic floor and a gallery on the first floor also extends over two floors . Its columns are based on the Ionic and Corinthian order . The vestibule is illuminated by daylight falling in from above.
park
The park of the villa lies between the railway line and the Neckar . Here is the old gardener's house, which is to house the graphics collection of the city of Esslingen and the administration of the city galleries. Plastic works and an arch of the old Pliensau bridge are exhibited in the park.
Gallery of the City of Esslingen
The first exhibition Edvard Munch : Lithographs, Woodcuts, Etchings was opened in October 1974. Currently, 15 rooms of the villa with a total of around 500 m² are used for changing exhibitions of international contemporary art. In addition to the Villa Merkel, the city of Esslingen also uses the neighboring station keeper's house. Four rooms are used here to present the works of mainly young, unknown artists. There is also an apartment here for scholarship holders .
management
- Alexander Tolnay (1983-1991)
- Renate Damsch-Wiehager (1991-2000)
- Andreas Baur (since 2001)
Web links
- Villa Merkel
- On the building history and facade renovation ( Memento from March 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- Villa Merkel TV commercial
literature
- Julius Fekete: The Villa Merkel in Esslingen. A factory owner's house of the early days , in: Esslinger Studies 21, 1982, pp. 119-138
- Ferdinand Werner : The long way to new building . Volume 1: Concrete: 43 men invent the future . Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 2016. ISBN 978-3-88462-372-5 , pp. 130ff.
- Katharina Worst: The Merkel Villa in Esslingen. Stuttgart 2011
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 48 ° 44 ′ 3 " N , 9 ° 18 ′ 36.4" E