Description
The villa was built in neo-baroque style and is of high urban, artistic, and historical importance for the city of Guben. It is as a two-part, two-storey rendered building with an L-shaped floor plan and a hipped roof. Under the eaves cornice there is a surrounding block frieze with a decorative band. On the street side (south-west) a delicate central projection with a tympanum exhibiting two reclining mythological figures and a stylized coat of arms cartouche with the year 1879 were placed. The framed windows on the upper floor were finished with segmental arched roofs. On the ground floor of the north-east side there is a bay window with a triangular gable; on the upper floor a ridge-vaulted, three-bay loggia with round-arched openings can be seen. On the south-east side a representative main entrance with a staircase in front, pillar, and column-supported loggia-like were planned. All closed by basket-shaped wall opening and forged spandrel panels. On the east side a secondary entrance with a risalit, high arched windows and an iron canopy console can be seen.
From the north there a lower two-storey extension was located and finished with a flat gabled roof, exterior staircase, and garden terrace. The whole is decorated by illusionistic espalier painting (birds, blossoms, climbing plants).
Historical background
The described villa was built in 1879 for the cloth factory owner Friedrich Wilhelm Schmidt who was an important figure in Guben industrial development. As a city councilman and socially committed citizen he was Guben’s first manufacturer in the second half of the 19th century that patterned English-styled men's fabrics. The cloths were produced in a factory located right next to the villa. Schmidt’s entrepreneur talent led to his financial prosperity that was reflected i. a. through a wide real estate portfolio of properties located in the most representative Guben’s neighborhoods.
After his death in 1903, his son Friedrich took over the property. The villa was dismantled in 1946 as part of the reparations and converted into a polyclinic in 1948. The before mentioned cloth factory was converted into a hospital in 1949. "In 1992 the facility was merged into the Wilke Foundation (Ger. Wilkestift) and had functioned as a hospital until 2000s”. Since about 2006, after extensive renovation work, the villa has been used as a health care center and housing estate. The former cloth factory functions as a retirement home.
Berliner Str. 14, 03172 Guben, Germany
Friedrich's Wilhelm Schmidt villa
Construction: 1879
Conversion to polyclinic: 1948
Conversion and renovation: 2004-2005
Technology: massive, plastered
The villa is located in the heart of Guben's city center and can therefore be easily reached on foot and by bus lines 858, 870, 877, 890, 895. As it is a private property, it can only be visited from the outside.
