Villa Hügel
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The Villa Hügel is a 19th-century
mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word ''manse'' originally defined a property l ...
in Bredeney, now part of
Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...
, Germany. It was built by the industrialist Alfred Krupp in 1870–1873 as his main residence and was the home of the Krupp family until after World War II. More recently, the Villa Hügel has housed the offices of the (Ruhr Cultural Foundation), an art gallery, the historical archive of the Krupp family and company, and a concert venue. simply means "hill", as the
villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house that provided an escape from urban life. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the f ...
sits atop a hill. It was sometimes named , after the family.


History

In 1864 Alfred Krupp purchased the on the heights above Bredeney and had it rebuilt as a residence for his family. Over the following years, Krupp bought additional land around the estate and in 1869 placed an advertisement in ' looking for an architect who would turn his designs for a "large villa" into a viable blueprint. In the event, a number of architects worked on the project over the following years. Krupp himself continually intervened in the work with new ideas. His focus was very much on a modern and efficient house: design elements were secondary to him and he deemed most ornamental architectural features superfluous. The foundations were laid in April 1870 and up to 800 people worked on the construction project at a time. Since Alfred Krupp wanted a very modern home, the villa was intended to be fire-proof and well insulated from sun, wind, cold and heat. It featured double-paned windows, water heating and an early form of air conditioning. The temperature was intended to be independently adjustable for each room. A large complex of support buildings was erected nearby, including private water and gas works. Krupp pushed for a speedy completion, although the
Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...
and collapsing mining tunnels underneath the edifice slowed construction. On 10 January 1873, the family moved in; some of the technical features did not work as expected, however, so work continued after that. Alfred Krupp died in 1887. The family continued to use the Villa Hügel and Friedrich Alfred Krupp and his wife Margarethe made some significant changes to the house, adding sumptuous ornamentation. Among other heads of state and monarchs, Emperor
Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until Abdication of Wilhelm II, his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire as well as th ...
stayed at the Villa Hügel seven times and visited 9 times. The current appearance of the villa is mostly due to the next generation of Krupps, Friedrich Alfred's daughter Bertha and her husband Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, who hired Ernst von Ihne to work on the building after 1912. He added wooden paneling to the interior and the owners furnished the villa with numerous works of art. An annex called the Little House () containing sixty rooms was used to confine
Alfried Krupp Alfried Felix Alwyn Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach (13 August 1907 – 30 July 1967) was a German engineer and the last personal sole owner of the company Fried. Krupp. The eldest of eight siblings, he came from the Krupp family on his mother's ...
in the aftermath of the Second World War. Some parts of the villa were used to house members of the British post-war Control Commission, Germany (CCG) during 1946.


Description

The house has 269 rooms and occupies . It is situated in a park that overlooks the
River Ruhr __NOTOC__ The Ruhr () is a river in western Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia), a right tributary (east-side) of the Rhine. Description and history The source of the Ruhr is near the town of Winterberg in the mountainous Sauerland region, at a ...
and the . The main complex consists of the three-storied ('residence') – topped by a belvedere, which originally contained the air conditioning ducts – and a three-storied ('lodging house'). The two were linked by a
winter garden A winter garden is a kind of garden maintained in wintertime. History The origin of the winter garden dates back to the 17th to 19th centuries where European nobility constructed large conservatories that housed tropical and subtropical pla ...
, now a two-storied building. The construction is supported by an iron framework, which was very modern for the time. The overall style of the original building was a very austere example of a late- Neoclassical villa; later changes added more ornamentation. The interior of the main building's ground and second floors is dominated by the main hall of over . By contrast, the rooms of the first floor (which is not open to the public) were kept relatively simple.


Today

In 1953 the Krupp family opened their former residence to the public. Exhibitions have been held here since then. The Villa Hügel also served as a place of representation for the Krupp Group. In 1984, Berthold Beitz set up the Ruhr Cultural Foundation, which organizes major art and cultural exhibitions in the villa. The main building with many historical rooms can be visited today. The Krupp historical exhibition is housed in the adjoining building, the so-called Little House. The Krupp archive has also been located in the villa since 1905. The hall is also the regular concert venue of Folkwang Kammerorchester Essen, a chamber orchestra.


See also

* Via Krupp, Italy: commissioned by Alfred Krupp's son


References


Further reading

*


External links

*
Report by WDR from 2015

Find out more about Villa Hügel and Lake Baldeney in Essen

History of Villa Hügel and Lake Baldeney in Essen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Villa Hugel Museums in Essen Palaces in North Rhine-Westphalia Neoclassical architecture in Germany Ruhr Art museums and galleries in Germany German Industrial Heritage Trail sites