Villa Willmer

Street side of Villa Willmer on a historical photograph by Karl Friedrich Wunder , taken around 1890 ( location )

The Castle of Tears on Hildesheimer Strasse , view towards Döhren ; Photo around 1900

The Villa Willmer (also: Tränenburg or "Rittergutshaus Döhren") was a castle-like building in Hanover . The location of the “most magnificent and largest villa of the classic Hanover architecture school ”, built in the 19th century and demolished in 1971, was Hildesheimer Strasse at the corner of Güntherstrasse in the Waldhausen district , the site of today's car park near the Döhrener Tower .

history

Background and origin

The villa was created on the background of the biography of the entrepreneur Friedrich Willmer . He had acquired a brickworks on Hildesheimer Strasse through marriage and donation , and the site he was continuously expanding through acquisitions. After he had acquired the knighthood vote for the "Luttmersen II" estate in 1878 , he initially named his property "Rittergut Döhren II" and, from 1894 , the name "Rittergut Waldhausen" , in contrast to his competitor , the brickworks owner Carl Georg Fiedeler . .

In order to express his social rise from the bourgeoisie to the nobility , Friedrich Willmer lacked a representative and as widely visible mansion as possible . At the suggestion of the architect Conrad Wilhelm Hase , Willmer had included the production of facing and shaped bricks as well as terracottas in his own brickworks program. Now he commissioned Carl Börgemann , one of Hase's pupils, to build the desired “castle” with his own bricks.

Around 1900: The Döhrener Tower with the tram transfer station , behind it the teardrop castle;
colored postcard

From 1884 to 1886 , the "Tränenburg" was built on Hildesheimer Chaussee 2 (later: Hildesheimer Straße 200 ), on the property that was later enlarged to more than 106 hectares , but far away from the noise of the brick factory. The nickname for the villa with its around 75 rooms was given by the vernacular "probably because of W [illmer] s harsh treatment of his workers ": According to other sources , Willmer is said to have depressed contracted craftsmen in the price of supplies and services to such an extent that they "cried ".

Years of Reconstruction and Destruction

“ Protest !” - Advertisement against the demolition of the Villa Willmer monument and for a Lower Saxony Monument Protection Act ;
1970 in the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung

The castle of tears survived the air raids on Hanover in World War II relatively unscathed. Instead, it fell victim to the wrecking ball in 1971 because of the lack of a monument protection law for the state of Lower Saxony at the time - and because of the city building councilor Rudolf Hillebrecht : In the post-war reconstruction years, the Association of German Architects presented a replacement for the missing legislation in the form of a draft statute for the City Council of Hanover. A detailed list of buildings worthy of protection was attached to the draft in 1964, including the Villa Willmer. However, Hillebrecht had prevented such a protective regulation in order to avoid any restrictions whatsoever against the “redesign of our city”. After the heirs of Friedrich Willmers Tränenburg had sold the villa in 1970 to the Hanoverian industrial and housing support company Wolf KG , the company now applied for demolition for the purpose of building new apartments. Now Hillebrecht regretted that "he [lacks] any building regulations " to prevent the demolition. After all, the building historian Günther Kokkelink was able to take a few photos for posterity in the literal “last minute” of the place where there is a parking lot today.

literature

Günther Kokkelink , Monika Lemke-Kokkelink : Architecture in Northern Germany. Architecture and handicrafts of the Hanover School 1850–1900. Schlueter, Hannover 1998, ISBN 3-87706-538-4 , p. 139
Friedrich Lindau : Villa Willmer, popularly known as "Castle of Tears". An important building of the Hanover School of Architecture and its destruction. In: Hanover. Reconstruction and destruction. The city in dealing with its architectural historical identity , Schlütersche, Hannover 2001 (2nd edition), ISBN 3-87706-607-0 , pp. 215-251; Illustrated and described in detail, mostly online via Google books
Helmut Knocke : Castle of tears. In: Klaus Mlynek, Waldemar R. Röhrbein (eds.) U. a .: City Lexicon Hanover . From the beginning to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 2009, ISBN 978-3-89993-662-9 , p. 626.
Sebastian Scherer: "Villa Willmer" is only called "Tränenburg" on the Neue Presse page from September 15, 2009, last accessed on October 28, 2012

Web links

Commons : Villa Willmer - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Tränenburg & residential house of the Willmer family, Hanover, Hildesheimer Straße 200 / 1844/1886 / residential building, architecture in the picture index Photo Marburg

References and comments

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Helmut Knocke: Tränenburg (see literature)
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Waldemar R. Röhrbein : Willmer, Friedrich. In: Stadtlexikon Hannover , p. 680
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Friedrich Lindau: Villa Willmer, popularly known as "Tränenburg". An important building ... (see literature)
↑ Note: The location can also be found using the geographic coordinates (top right above this article, click there and then select a geospatial service provider)
^ Helmut Knocke: Börgemann, Karl. In: Stadtlexikon Hannover , p. 72

52.345696 9.761154Coordinates: 52 ° 20 ′ 44.5 " N , 9 ° 45 ′ 40.2" E

[SLH_Tränenburg-1] Helmut Knocke: Tränenburg (see literature)

[SLH_Willmer-2] Waldemar R. Röhrbein : Willmer, Friedrich. In: Stadtlexikon Hannover , p. 680

[Lindau-3] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Friedrich Lindau: Villa Willmer, popularly known as "Tränenburg". An important building ... (see literature)

[4] Note: The location can also be found using the geographic coordinates (top right above this article, click there and then select a geospatial service provider)

[5] Helmut Knocke: Börgemann, Karl. In: Stadtlexikon Hannover , p. 72