Villa Horion Dusseldorf

Villa Horion Dusseldorf is built in the neoclassical style (1910 – 1911) by Herrmann vom Endt, it was entered in the list of Dusseldorf listed buildings in 1984. The Dusseldorf architect Hermann vom Endt (1861-1939) studied at the Dusseldorf Art Academy and was a member of the Malkasten. Endt was responsible for more than twenty Dusseldorf monumantal buildings. His historicizing architectural style – often in neoclassical or neobaroque form – is comparable to that of Josef Kleesattel (1852-1926), who was active in Dusseldorf and built, for example, the neo-Romanesque Antoniuskirche in Dusseldorf Oberkassel.

Endt’s buildings in Dusseldorf include the Giradethaus on Koenigsallee, the former state house of the Rhineland provincial administration in Dusseldorf next to the Mannesmann Buildings, which adjoins the Villa Horion, and also smaller buildings with ornamental purposes such as the Dreimaedelbrunnen in Dusseldorf Golzheim.

Female nudes of the Dreimädelbrunnen in Düsseldorf-Golzheim, unchanged by User Wiegels, license CC BY 3.0.

Ornamentation and history of use

The ornamental relief figures Name Care and Agriculture on the side of the structure facing the Rhine are by Düsseldorf sculptor Hermann Nolte. His birthplace is Kurze Straße 10 in the middle of Düsseldorf’s old town. In 1930, Nolte copied the sculptures originally created by Anton Josef Reiss – the so-called Calvary figures at the Lambertus church – made of shell limestone. The reason for this was the severely deteriorated condition of the originals.

The villa was used as an officers‘ mess for the British Army from 1945-1956, completely renovated in 1959, and then put to use as the official residence of the Prime Minister of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (1961-1999). Today, the permanent exhibition „House of Parliamentary History“ is on display.

In front of the building is a cast-iron monument (by Anne Weers – Lacey, probably 2007) to the late Johannes Rau (1931-2006), who became President of the Federal Republic of Germany after his terms in North Rhine-Westphalia. Another sculpture (by Bert Gerresheim, 2012) of former and first Prime Minister Karl Arnold faces it in the form of a bust. The building is within sight of the Apollo Varieteetheater under the Rheinkniebrücke and the KIT bar (Art in the Tunnel).

Villa Horion, Johannes-Rau-Platz 1, 40213 Düsseldorf