The history of the house
Villa Sigismund was built in 1936 and is a true child of its time. In addition to isolated elements in the strict Bauhaus style, the emerging formal language of 1930s architecture is evident with its much softer and more pleasing lines for private housing. The quality of the materials used in the interior and exterior as well as their craftsmanship is outstanding. The technical equipment was state of the art. The elaborate wrought-iron gates and window grilles, as well as the ceramic stone surrounds on the exterior doors, testify to the client couple's desire for prestige. The owner himself was a typical villa owner in Frohnau, as he was the owner of a flourishing supply company for the textile industry in the city center of Berlin, which was only a 30-minute train ride from Frohnau even back then. The current host acquired the property in 2017 from the estate of the previous owner, who lived there for almost 70 years, around 40 of them alone as a widower, and died in his house at the age of 100 ½. The building was in a desolate state, but its original structure was impressive. With the aim of "maximum preservation", the villa was renovated in its essential parts in line with its listed status and awakened from its slumber as "Villa Sigismund". It is now used as a law firm and for renting out an apartment with an additional guest room.
The garden city of Frohnau in Berlin
Inspired by the ideas of the English garden city movement, the garden city of Frohnau was developed as a newly founded country house settlement in the north of Berlin from 1908. To this end, a 40 km network of roads was laid out like a winding landscape park through an area of around 750 hectares of pine forest, some of which already had gas and water connections. Two large roundabouts were created on both sides of the existing railroad line, and further spacious green areas and a stately station complex with a casino and observation tower were added. The single-family house was defined as the basic form for the entire estate, embedded in a loosened-up building style with front gardens and trees that were largely to be preserved. Over the following decades, these guidelines led to the creation of an elegant residential area with a harmonious overall appearance from a wide variety of country houses and villas. Today, the Frohnau district in the borough of Reinickendorf is one of the top locations in Berlin, not least because of its excellent S-Bahn connection to the city center.
