Hammerschmidt Villa (german: Villa Hammerschmidt) is a

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 ...

in the

German 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 **Ge ...

city of

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

that served as the primary official seat and primary official residence of the

President of the Federal Republic of Germany The president of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: link=no, Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international corres ...

from 1950 until 1994. President

Richard von Weizsäcker Richard Karl Freiherr von Weizsäcker (; 15 April 1920 – 31 January 2015) was a German politician ( CDU), who served as President of Germany from 1984 to 1994. Born into the aristocratic Weizsäcker family, who were part of the German nobili ...

made Bellevue Palace in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

his primary official seat and residence in 1994. In German, the Villa is also called the "

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

of Bonn", and served as a political symbol of

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

and its capital Bonn. Since 1994, the Hammerschmidt Villa has been the secondary official seat and secondary official residence of the President of Germany. The President's standard is flown above Hammerschmidt Villa when the President is in Bonn. The villa is situated in the heart of the former government quarter of Bonn, bordering the river

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , source ...

to the north and opposite the zoological ''Museum Koenig'' to the south. It is also adjacent to the secondary official seat and secondary official residence of the

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

, the

Palais Schaumburg Palais Schaumburg is a neoclassical-style building in Bonn, Germany, which served as the primary official seat of the German Federal Chancellery and the primary official residence of the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1 ...

, to the west. The upper floor of the building houses a private apartment for the German President, while the ground floor consists of state rooms which are used for ceremonial purposes. Villa Hammerschmidt was built by August Dieckhoff in 1860 in Neo-classical style, as a stately home for a wealthy industrialist. It was redecorated in 1868 by the architect Otto Penner.

Past owners

Since its construction, Villa Hammerschmidt has been owned by: * Albrecht Troost (1860–1868) * Leopold Koenig (1868–1899), his son

Alexander Koenig Alexander Ferdinand Koenig (20 February 1858 – 16 July 1940) was a German naturalist and zoologist. Koenig was born at St Petersburg, Russia where his father was a successful merchant. He grew up in Bonn. Koenig became interested in nat ...

was the founder of the Zoologisches Reichsmuseum Alexander Koenig just opposite Villa Hammerschmidt *Rudolf Hammerschmidt (1899–1928) *Sold at auction and broken up into several flats (1928–1945) *Requisitioned by the British occupation forces in Germany following

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 ...

(1945–1949) *

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

(since 1950)

References

External links

* *
Museum Koenig
{{Authority control Presidential residences Official residences in Germany Buildings and structures in Bonn Houses completed in 1860