Villa Neizert

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Villa Neizert (approx. 2000)
Demolition of Villa Neizert, Neuwied, Rasselstein (2002)

The Villa Neizert was a representative, upper-class residential building in Neuwied that was demolished in 2002 after a legal dispute that had lasted almost 20 years.

history

Around 1888 Friedrich Remy (1849–1903), the eldest son of the Rasselstein -Werke plant owner , Albert Remy, had a residential building with a spacious park for himself and his family opposite the sheet rolling mill he expanded in 1877, named in the land register as “palatial” erect.

The Remy family lived in the villa until 1903. After that, the Commerzienrat Carl Neizert (1881–1932) , who was related to the Remy family, moved into the property with his family. Since then the house has been known as Villa Neizert in Neuwied.

From 1960 to around 1970, the Rasselstein company used the villa for administrative purposes and as a laboratory and finally until 1980 as the office of the company's own health insurance company.

architecture

The villa was built in the style of historicism . Large round windows on the first floor, a central building protruding like a risalit, as well as the high mansard roof evoked the lush French baroque architecture . The two side fronts, which were extended to the rear, were also characterized by a medium- sized risalit and high gable structures . The outer walls were clad with yellow facing bricks and natural stone corner blocks. A projecting main cornice with a tooth cut adorned the facade. The formerly decorative roof structures have already been removed in the photo above.

The architect is unknown.

The Villa Neizert after 1980

As early as 1981, the company Rasselstein AG, now Rasselstein GmbH, applied for permission to demolish Villa Neizert from the Neuwied city council. The reason given was that there was no longer any economic use and that preservation of the building was unreasonable. The State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate then applied for a formal declaration as a protected monument. On June 14, 1983, the property was finally designated as a cultural monument by the district administration in accordance with Section 8 of the DSchPflG.

Rasselstein AG, as the owner, lodged an objection and received support from the district law committee who argued as follows:

"[...] With such a mix of styles as the" Villa Neizert "has, there are numerous other buildings in the Neuwied district [...]"

The administrative court in Koblenz, entrusted with the case, then appointed Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ingeborg Schild from the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule in Aachen as an expert reviewer. The expert opinion she prepared stated in 1985:

“The Villa Neizert is an excellent testimony to the artistic creation of the time it was created due to the previously presented specifics of its floor plan, its internal organization and design, its building structure and its facades. As an excellent example of a neo-renaissance villa based on the model of French palace architecture from the renaissance, there is a public interest in the preservation and maintenance of the villa Neizert for scientific and artistic reasons. "

On July 25, 1985, the Higher Administrative Court in Koblenz established a "public interest" and thus a protection of the Villa Neizert. The owner appealed against this judgment to the Higher Administrative Court of Rhineland-Palatinate and repeatedly referred to the financial unreasonableness of the building, which has now become dilapidated. Before the press the cost of a repair was given as "several million marks".

Rasselstein AG was accused of "controlled" decay of the villa. During a break-in in 1986, an entire marble staircase with hand-forged banisters disappeared from the villa. The Rheinzeitung on December 10, 1986:

"[...] According to the criminal police, marble steps and banisters can only be transported with a heavy truck [...]"

After the Higher Administrative Court of Koblenz confirmed the great importance of the villa as a cultural monument in a judgment of April 3, 1987, Rasselstein AG repeatedly appealed. On February 14, 1991, the Koblenz Higher Administrative Court suspended the appeal proceedings and referred the case to the Federal Constitutional Court .

In 1993 the State Monuments Office granted a grant of 100,000 DM to secure the roof in an emergency after Rasselstein AG had already declared in 1992:

"[...] that we stick to our previous opinion that the Villa Neizert is not a monument worth preserving and that at least restoration expenses can no longer be expected of us."

The Federal Constitutional Court ruled in 2002 in favor of Rasselstein AG and gave the right to demolish the "unreasonable" building by decision of March 25, 2002. The Rheinzeitung noted:

“Now it's final: Villa Neizert is being demolished. After more than 20 years of dispute over the possible preservation of the listed building, its fate is now sealed. "

popularity

Because of their "sinister" appearance, tales of accidents and of "ghostly apparitions", the villa Neizert, inter alia, as was Villa Rasselstein , in many haunting - and Spirits Board of occultists , occasionally also in popular belief, the "cursed haunted house transfigured". Shortly after the accidental death of the entrepreneur Carl Remy, his wife died. All residents who moved into the property afterwards fell seriously ill or died suddenly. The villa was known nationwide and its demolition caused consternation among citizens and monument conservationists.

Literature and Sources

  • Kurt Frein: Villa Neizert - The Consequences? In: Monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate. Volume 57, 2003, pp. 90-95.
  • Paul-Georg Custodis: The Villa Neizert in Neuwied - Chronology of a downfall. In: Monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate. Volume 57, 2003, pp. 96-100.

Both from:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jessica Boesler: The ghost villa. In: Halloween in the office. ( Memento from February 11, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) In: Financial Times Deutschland . October 31, 2012. Retrieved November 6, 2012.

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