Villa Wolf

Villa Wolf was an architecturally significant building in Gubin, Poland, designed by the German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. It is also known as Haus Wolf.[1][2] The property was developed in Guben, Germany, between 1925 and 1926 – two decades before the Oder–Neisse line divided the city to create Gubin – for Erich and Elisabeth Wolf. It was one of the pioneering prototypes of modern architecture in Europe, and is considered the first modern work of Mies van der Rohe.[1][3][4][2][5] It stood between two gardens parallel to the Lusatian Neisse river at Teichbornstraße 13 in today's Gubin, which at that time still belonged to Guben, but is now located in the Polish part of Lower Lusatia. It was destroyed during World War II in 1945 and there are plans to reconstruct it.[3][6]

Villa Wolf
Haus Wolf
View from the street towards the main entrance (1930s)
General information
TypeVilla
Architectural styleModernist
LocationGubin, Poland TT
Coordinates51°57′23.9″N 14°43′18.3″E
Construction started1925 (1925)
Completed1926 (1926)
Destroyed1945 (1945)
Design and construction
Architect(s)Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

History
Erich and Elisabeth Wolf commissioned the villa in 1925
The daughters Bärbel and Christine Wolf walking in the garden of the villa

The building was commissioned in 1925 by the cloth and textile manufacturer Erich Wolf (1883–1958).[7][8] He increased his wealth by marrying Elisabeth Wilke (1894–1987), who in turn had inherited a hat factory, in 1922.[8] He had chosen an elevation in Guben as the building site, from which one had an overview of the industrial plants running along the Neisse.[9] The narrow hillside plot ran along Teichbornstraße (today ulica Krolewska) and Grüne Wiese (today ulica Piastowska).[10][11]

With the advance of the Red Army in World War II the family fled in 1945.[12] They left everything behind, the building burnt down and was not rebuilt.[7] The remaining building materials were used for the reconstruction of buildings in Gubin. In the 1960s, the land was apparently leveled. The area was greened and integrated into the newly created Waszkiewicz Park in 1977.[9][13]

From 2001 onwards, on the initiative of the Internationale Bauausstellung Fürst-Pückler-Land under the direction of Lars Scharnholz of the Brandenburg University of Technology (BTU), the foundations were excavated and then measured and documented by the Museum of Modern Art.[14] Further investigations with ground-penetrating radar are planned in order to determine the structure of the building in more detail. In 2006, a "Mies-Memory-Box" in Gubin provided information about the building with historical photographs as well as shard remains from the Wolf's porcelain collection.[7] It was subsequently shown in Wroclaw, Berlin, Dessau and Stuttgart.[15] Today marks on the ground in the park are reminders of the villa.[13]

Following the idea of the city planner Florian Mausbach, a German-Polish initiative is striving to reconstruct the building.[3][16][7] The Government of Poland signaled its support in 2019.[17]

Architecture

The plans for the building envisaged a simple cubic, red-black clad clinker brick building with an asymmetrical design of flat cuboids of different sizes.[18] The house had around over 1000 m2.[4] The facade and interior walls were clad with flat ashlars. The front of the house was oriented to the west, the entrance was on the east side. The building had a "treasure chamber" to house the Wolf collection of art and paintings as well as a sculpture collection.[12] The open interiors were laid out to interplay with the nature outside.[1] Spacious terraces took up the feeling of space, which was to become a characteristic of the architect's later buildings of openness and flow.[9] However, Mies van der Rohe designed not only the building shell, but also objects for the interior decoration.[19]

After completion the facades were bare.[20] Vines were planted afterwards along it.[21]

Mies van der Rohe donated the original pencil drawings and sketches to the Museum of Modern Art in New York.[22] The museum also has a scale model created in 2001 that was shown in various exhibitions.[23]

Images
  • View from the street shortly after completion
    View from the street shortly after completion
  • Patio
    Patio
  • View from the river towards the terraced gardens
    View from the river towards the terraced gardens
  • Interior towards patio
    Interior towards patio
  • one of the rooms
    one of the rooms

See also

References
  1. "Die "Mies-Memory-Box"" [The "Mies-Memory-Box"]. Deutschlandfunk (in German). 2006-07-29. Retrieved 2020-07-21.
  2. "Wieder Kuben in Guben" [Cubes again in Guben]. Blog-Netzwerk für Forschung und Kultur, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz (in German). 2016-03-08. Retrieved 2020-07-21.
  3. "Guben-Gubin zum Wiederaufbau der einstigen Villa Wolf am Neißeufer" [Guben-Gubin on the reconstruction of the former Villa Wolf on the banks of the Neisse]. Guben Online (in German). 2016-02-16. Retrieved 2020-07-21.
  4. "Die Lausitz und Mies van der Rohe: Streit um Erbepflege der Gubiner Villa Wolf" [Lusatia and Mies van der Rohe: Dispute about the inheritance of the Gubin Villa Wolf]. Lausitzer Rundschau (in German). Cottbus/Berlin/Guben. 2017-10-23. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  5. Wojtowicz, Wojciech (2018-06-01). "Willa Wolfa w Gubinie do rekonstrukcji?" [Wolf's villa in Gubin to be reconstructed?]. Urbnews.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  6. Bielinis-Kopeć, Barbara (2014-05-27). "Lubuski Wojewódzki Konserwator Zabytków - Inicjatywa odbudowy willi Wolfa w Gubinie projektu Miesa van der Rohe" [The initiative to rebuild Wolf's villa in Gubin, designed by Mies van der Rohe]. Lubuski Wojewódzki Konserwator Zabytków (in Polish). Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  7. Wiesmann, Gerrit (2016-03-31). "A Push to Rebuild a Modernist Gem by Mies". New York Times. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  8. "Modell der Mies-van-der-Rohe-Villa Wolf an das Naemi-Wilke-Stift übergeben" [Model of the Mies van der Rohe Villa Wolf handed over to the Naemi-Wilke-Stift] (in German). Naemi-Wilke-Stift Guben. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  9. http://www.carlosdemalchi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DEMALCHI_AR10342.pdf
  10. "ZEIT ONLINE | Lesen Sie zeit.de mit Werbung oder im PUR-Abo. Sie haben die Wahl".
  11. ""Bauhaus" in der Lausitz – Villa Wolf Gubin " ScottyScout". 11 May 2018.
  12. "Meine Mutter hatte auch so dunkle Augen wie das Mädchen auf der Bühne" [My mother had dark eyes like the girl on stage]. Lausitzer Rundschau (in German). Guben. 2003-07-02. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  13. "Villa Wolf in Gubin".
  14. "Projekt 18: Gubener Wolle - Neisseinsel - Haus Wolf" [Project 18: Guben wool - Neisse island - House Wolf]. Internationale Bauausstellung (IBA) Fürst-Pückler-Land 2000-2010 (in German). Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  15. "Eröffnung in Gubin: Mies-Memory-Box" [Opening in Gubin: Mies-Memory-Box]. Lausitzer Rundschau (in German). Gubin/Guben. 2006-05-18. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  16. Ronald Berg (2016-03-14). "Ausstellung zum Gubiner Haus Wolf: Die Funktion folgt der Form" [Exhibition on Gubin House Wolf: Function follows form]. Die Tageszeitung (in German). Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  17. Daniel Schauff (2019-08-24). "Unterstützung von Polens höchster Denkmalpflegerin: Villa Wolf in Gubin soll Teil von Architekturroute werden" [Support from Poland's highest monument conservator: Villa Wolf in Gubin to become part of architectural route]. Lausitzer Rundschau (in German). Gubin/Berlin/Warschau. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  18. Harriet Stürmer (2016-01-04). "Große Pläne für zerstörte Villa Wolf" [Big plans for destroyed Villa Wolf]. Schweriner Volkszeitung (in German). Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  19. "Rekonstruktion - www.villawolfgubin.eu".
  20. "English: Photo of Villa Wolf in Guben shortly after completion, main entrance street view".
  21. "Deutsch: Foto der Villa Wolf in Guben, Haupteingang. Die Kletterpflanzen wurden von Frau Wolf angesetzt um die Form weniger streng zu gestalten".
  22. "The Collection | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art.
  23. "Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Wolf House, Gubin, Germany, Landscape model. 1925–1927 (model 2001) | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art.

Bibliography
  • Scharnholz, Lars, ed. (2002). The Wolf House Project. Studies & Design. Cottbus: Internationale Bauausstellung (IBA). ISBN 3-9806704-6-5.
  • Schmidt, Leo, ed. (2001). The Wolf House Project. Traces/Spuren/Ślady. Cottbus: Brandenburgische Technische Universität. ISBN 3-9807583-3-8.
  • Blakwood, M. (Director). (1985). Mies [Motion Picture].
  • Cohen, J.-L. (1996). Mies Van der Rohe. London: E & FN Spon.
  • Davies, C. (2006). Wolf House. In C. Davies, Key Houses of the Twentieth Century- Plans, Sections and Elevations (pp. 58–59). London: Laurence King Publisher.
  • Franz Schulze, i. a. (1989). Mies Van der Rohe, A Critical Biography. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

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