Description
The property is a well-preserved example of upper-class villa urbana with a high architectural and historical value. It is a five-axis, single-storey plastered building with a basement and a converted attic (saddle roof). The property also has a tower and a side wing (kitchen and hall) with pent roofs on the west side of the courtyard. A staircase with a glass roof on filigree iron supports adorns the southern gable end. It was designed in a late neo-classical style with finely worked stucco elements. On the right a small, recessed, single-axis extension with a roof terrace behind which is the two-storey tower with triangular gables on all four sides can be seen. Further, windows framed by composite capitals and pilasters with imitation marble, as well as a rounded bay window were places – the whole emphasizes the central axis with curved eaves and fluted columns. Eaves, decorations of acanthus frieze and consoles as well as a strong peripheral cornice and base cornice are also noticeable. All windows, including the frontal one in the south of the hall extension, have been renewed. The windows of the main floor are adapted to the original shape from the era.
The inner spatial structure of the main floor has been preserved: the double wing doors, a wood-panelled ceiling in the passage room and two spacious rooms on the street side are one of the interior main elements. The smaller room features an enriched wooden ceiling and elaborate flower baskets and masks. The hall extension (winter garden) can be reached via a wide staircase decorated with decorated posts and sawn mastiffs. In the hall a tiled floor from the era and two iron supports, which originally supported a glass roof, can still be found.
Historical background
The villa, which is slightly set back in the row of houses on the south side of Berliner Str., was built around 1890 and is located just before the junction with Grün Str. The first owner of the property was Friedrich Wilke, a son of Guben’s most renown citizens Carl Gottlob Wilke and a honored personality himself. After his death in 1908, his son Max took over the villa and donated it to the city to set up a youth center. Thus, after the property was handed over on 16.06.1913, the villa became the first municipal youth center (Ger. Städtische Jugendheim) for young males in the province of Brandenburg. After 1945, the district leadership of the Free German Youth (Ger. Freien Deutschen Jugend) and later the People's Solidarity Club (Ger. Klub der Volkssolidarität) were located here. Since the end of the extensive renovation (2000-2002), the villa has become the headquarter of the Spree-Neisse People's Solidarity (Ger. Begegnungszentrum Volkssolidarität Spree-Neiße e.V.).
Berliner Str. 35, 03172 Guben, Germany
Friedrich's Wilke (today Begegnungszentrum Volkssolidarität Spree-Neiße e.V.) villa
Construction: 1890
Extensive refurbishment: 2000-2002
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.
