Schloss Wolfsbrunn is the local name for an imposing hotel building in the village of Stein in the borough of Hartenstein in the south of

Zwickau district Zwickau (german: Landkreis Zwickau) is a district ('' Kreis'') in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. History The district was established by merging the former districts Zwickauer Land, Chemnitzer Land and the urban district Zwickau as part of ...

in the German state of

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

. It was built in 1911 as the

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

of a wealthy

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

businessman. Since 1997 it has been owned by the Leonhardt brothers (Leonhardt Group).

History

The villa was built in the years 1911–1913 in the Poppenwald forest not far from Stein Castle and near the river

Zwickauer Mulde The Zwickauer Mulde () is a river in Saxony, Germany. It is the left tributary of the Mulde and in length. The source of the river is in the Ore Mountains, near Schöneck, in the Vogtlandkreis. It runs northeast to Aue, then northwest to Z ...

as a property for the major industrialist and mining businessman, Dr. Karl Georg Wolf. The plans for this

art nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

structure were drawn up by Munich architect (''Baumeister''), Emanuel von Seidl. The interior decor, some of which is still in its original state, was carried out by well known Munich artists. The luxury villa with its L-shaped floor plan is surrounded by 6

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

s of

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

land. Here there are several well kept lawns and a wolf statue in red

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

by a

well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

, an artistic symbol of the name of the property. In 1934 the owner died and the estate became a communal property. After that, during the

Nazi era Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

the site acted as a

youth hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared ba ...

, a Reichsführer Interior School (''Reichsführerinnenschule''), a

military hospital A military hospital is a hospital owned and operated by a military. They are often reserved for the use of military personnel and their dependents, but in some countries are made available to civilians as well. They may or may not be located on a ...

for officers and quarters for staff of the ''

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

''. Fünf DeHoGA stars; details of the facility as at 2001
accessed on 1 June 2012 After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the house was initially used for evacuees, until it became a district youth school for the

Free German Youth The Free German Youth (german: Freie Deutsche Jugend; FDJ) is a youth movement in Germany. Formerly, it was the official youth movement of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. The organization was meant ...

on the foundation of the

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

. Later pioneer leaders were trained here, who qualified as junior teachers (''Unterstufenlehrer'') by taking additional instruction in education. After

the Wende The Peaceful Revolution (german: Friedliche Revolution), as a part of the Revolutions of 1989, was the process of sociopolitical change that led to the opening of East Germany's borders with the West, the end of the ruling of the Socialist Unity ...

the house remained empty for several years. In 1997 the brothers

Uwe Uwe or UWE may refer to * Uwe (given name) * University of the West of England, Bristol * UML-based web engineering * University Würzburg's Experimental miniaturized satellites for space research UWE-1 and UWE-2 * Uwe - Wreck in Blankenese Blank ...

, Helge and Karl-Ludwig Leonhardt bought the villa as ''Gebrüder Leonhardt GbR'' from the town of Hartenstein. With an

investment Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing i ...

of 10 million

Mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fi ...

they had it converted into a

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

and

nature park A nature park, or sometimes natural park, is a designation for a protected natural area by means of long-term land planning, sustainable resource management and limitation of agricultural and real estate developments. These valuable landscape ...

; it has also been used since as an example park (''Musterpark'') by the Free State of Saxony. On 1 March 1999 it opened as the ''Schlosshotel Wolfsbrunn''. Between 1997 and its reopening as a hotel, the refurbishment and renovation work carried out included the renovation of the facade paintwork. For this, the

Zschorlau Zschorlau () is a community in the district of Erzgebirgskreis in Saxony, Germany. Geography Location Zschorlau lies nestled in the gentle hills in the western Ore Mountains some 5 km from Aue and is overhung in the south by the ''Ste ...

paint firm of used high-grade silicone exterior paint. Stübner also did the stucco restoration and wall coverings in the restaurant area. Initially the hotel had two restaurant facilities, a gourmet restaurant rated at 14

Gault-Millau Gault et Millau is a French restaurant guide. It was founded by two restaurant critics, Henri Gault and Christian Millau in 1965. Points system Gault Millau rates on a scale of 1 to 20, with 20 being the highest. Restaurants given below 10 poin ...

points, and the Georg Wolf Restaurant. In the early part of the 21st century the hotel was converted again and since 2010 has been run as a high standard guest house or inn (''Gästehaus mit gehobenem Standard''). It employs 30 staff, of whom 5 are trainees.

External links

Homepage of the Schloss Wolfsbrunn hotel

Video of Wolfsbrunn - outside and in; at youtube.com

References

{{reflist Houses completed in 1911 Wolfsbrunn Art Nouveau architecture in Germany Zwickau (district) Art Nouveau hotels Art Nouveau houses