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 () 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 the district reform of ...

in the German state of

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

. 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 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 ...

of a wealthy

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

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 ...

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

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

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), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

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 rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

by a

well A well is an excavation or structure created on the earth 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, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

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 sleeping 4–20 people, with shared use of a lounge and usually a kitchen. Rooms can be private or shared - mixe ...

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

military hospital A military hospital is a hospital owned or 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 m ...

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 German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

''. 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 (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 ...

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

Free German Youth The Free German Youth (; FDJ) is a youth movement in Germany. Formerly, it was the official youth wing of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. The organization was meant for young adults, both male a ...

on the foundation of the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

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

the Wende The Peaceful Revolution () – also, in German called ' (, "the turning point") – was one of the peaceful revolutions of 1989 at the peak of the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in the late 1980s. A process of sociopolitical change that led to, am ...

the house remained empty for several years. In 1997 the brothers Uwe, Helge and Karl-Ludwig Leonhardt bought the villa as ''Gebrüder Leonhardt GbR'' from the town of Hartenstein. With an

investment Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources into something expected to gain value over time". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broade ...

of 10 million

Mark Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a currenc ...

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 re ...

and

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

; 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 ''Stei ...

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 restaurants on a scale of 1 to 20, with 20 being the highest. Restaurants giv ...

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