Hammerschmidt Villa () is a

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 ...

in the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

city of

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

that served as the primary official seat and primary official residence of the president of the Federal Republic of Germany 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 of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

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. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

of Bonn". It served as a political symbol of

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

and its capital,

. 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 The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

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 () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

, 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 ...

, 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

neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

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 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 Military occupation, also called belligerent occupation or simply occupation, is temporary hostile control exerted by a ruling power's military apparatus over a sovereign territory that is outside of the legal boundaries of that ruling powe ...

in Germany following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

(1945–1949) *

Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

(since 1950)

References

External links

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