Villa von der Heydt – Classicist Survivor of Nazi Plans

When I got off the M29 at Köbisstraße to visit the Bauhaus Archive, I spotted a beautiful, beautiful classicist mansion right across the street. I only took two quick shots and googled the place later on, as I was curious about the mansion's history.

Turns out it is named "Villa von der Heydt" and it is one of the few remaining villas in "Tiergarten" (name of this area of the city) to survive Nazi urban planning, as well as World War II.

Not particularly well-versed in German history, I was, up to the present day, totally unaware of the Nazi plan to transform Berlin into a Welthauptstadt Germania (World Capital Germania).

According to the Nazi perception, Berlin's architecture was much too provincial – as compared to Paris' splendor, for example – to become the desired World Capital after a no-doubt-soon-to-be-gloriously-won World War II.

So, a word and a blow: Along the lines of Haussmann's redesign of Paris, Albert Speer, the designated architect, wanted to demolish no less than 52,000 homes in order to make room for the ginormous project.

The surviving "Villa von der Heydt" looks back on a, so it seems, quite turbulent history.

Nowadays the seat of the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation), it was built in neo-renaissance style in 1862, by architect Hermann Ende, for Baron August von der Heydt.

After the Baron's sad demise in 1874, his heir rented the mansion out to a Chinese ambassador who – as word has it – used the location to run some kind of rather rambunctious tavern.

Oh, how I wish, I could travel back in time to take some wildly vicious shots of the sappy scenery ...

Afterwards the building was regained by one of the erector's grandnephews who transformed the site into one of Berlin's most brilliant salons.

After World War I the family sold the house to the "General German Sports Association" who, truth be told, didn't care much for work outs, but secretly established an illegal gambling den for its members.

In 1938 the house was bought by the Nazi regime and used as official residence for one of their ministers.

World War II put the beautiful house into ruins, leaving behind only the outer walls and the basement, where candy and chocolate was produced for a while, until the mansion was officially declared a landmark in the late 1960s, which finally led to its reconstruction in 1979.

American Hook Organ finds new Home in German Church

On my way to the America Memorial Library in Kreuzberg, I passed by a stunningly beautiful Gothic Revival style brick church with multiple svelte towers springing up into the sky: The Church of the Holy Cross.

 

According to the wishes of Emporer William I. of Prussia this monumental church was designed by Johannes Otzen, the son of an organist and village school teacher, and built from 1885 to 1888. Being too modest for the Emporer's taste, the unpretentious design priorly offered by architect Blankenstein had been rejected in favor of the four times as costly representative edifice. 

The church consists of a nave and a transept with a crossing tower which in about 20 meters height is topped by a dome.

World War II left the church in ruins after fire bombs had hit the building. In the years following 1945, pastor and parish were strongly opposed to governmental demolition plans and managed to enforce the building's reconstruction. The interior was kept much simpler from then on: The hitherto decorative brick work was plastered over, giving the space a somewhat sterile feeling.

In 1995 the structure was extensively renovated for prospective clerical and secular utilization. Apropos: As soon as I entered the churches vestibule, I was greeted by a vile stench and when I turned my head I saw a homeless man peacefully snoring in a corner surrounded by all his worldly possessions.

In 2001 the church received a unique instrument: The Organ op. 553 built in 1870 by Hook Bros., Boston. It is the only 19th-Century American organ in Germany. This gigantic instrument possesses 2370 pipes and is a genuine instrument of high romanticism.

Hook Organ
Church of the Holy Cross – Homepage

Old National Gallery

 

Pierers Universal-Lexikon, 1891 

Situated on Berlin's Museum Island (UNESCO designated World Heritage Site) the Old National Gallery harbors artwork treasures of the 19th century, namely Classical, Romantic, Biedermeier, Impressionist and early Modernist masterpieces (Friedrich, Schinkel, Monet, Manet, Renoir, Cézanne, Rodin, Liebermann, Corinth, Spitzweg etc). Currently the gallery is exhibiting the "Amalfi Sketchbook" by Carl Blechen.

The basis of the current collection was established in 1861, when the Swedish banker J. H. W. Wagener bequeathed 262 paintings to the Prussian king William I. Until the opening of the Old National Gallery in spring 1876, the collection was housed in the Academy of Arts.

The building itself (designed by Stüler, constructed by Strack) is shaped like a Corinthian temple (with attached apse) set on a high ashlar base with embedded rectangular windows. An impressive flight of steps leads the visitor up to the main entrance, through an open hall of pillars, while the bronze equestrian statue of the museum's founder, Frederick William IV, on the middle landing of the stairway is securing the building's front.




Heavily damaged during the air raids of World War II, the building was partly reopened in 1949. However, reconstruction work continued until 1969.

More photos
Homepage of the Gallery