The Villa Rosa (1839–1945) was a former historical villa in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

, built in 1839 and destroyed in 1945. It was considered one of the most important villa buildings in Dresden, due to its architecture.

History

Villa Rosa, Innenansicht achteckiger Salon, Hist

It was built in 1839 by

Gottfried Semper Gottfried Semper (; 29 November 1803 – 15 May 1879) was a German architect, art critic, and professor of architecture who designed and built the Semper Opera House in Dresden between 1838 and 1841. In 1849 he took part in the May Uprising i ...

for the banker (1781–1863) and was a model for villa construction in Dresden for many decades. It was built as a summer residence for Oppenheim and his family. The villa design was modeled on the

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

villa, La Rotonda by architect

Andrea Palladio Andrea Palladio ( ; ; 30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be one of ...

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a thr ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. The name of the villa was in honor of Oppenheim's wife "Rosa", née Alexander (1792–1849). Martin Oppenheim died from a stroke at Villa Rosa on October 10, 1863, at the age of 83. The villa burned down during the air raids on Dresden in

World War II 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and was demolished in 1955. Today there is a primary school on the site. A bust of the architect Semper is in front of the school and a plaque on the

Elbe river The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of ...

side of the garden are reminiscent of the villa. The property was given a new house number several times: According to the respective address books, it was Holzhofgasse 15 from 1840 to 1875, from 1876 to 1892 its address was Holzhofgasse 20, then until 1932 Holzhofgasse 4. Most recently, Villa Rosa had the address Löwenstraße 2a, last owner was the city of Dresden. Other buildings by architect Semper for Oppenheim included the .

History

References

Further reading