Landhaus Volkmann

Gazing at Landhaus Volkmann, one might imagine a royal tea party. King Friedrich Wilhelm III actually used this house in Potsdam’s Alexandrowka colony. It wasn’t originally intended for royalty. It was built for the caretaker of the Alexander Nevsky Memorial Church. The design was based on a village planned near Pushkin, Russia. This village was never built. Landhaus Volkmann became a place where the King hosted gatherings. Up to 40 people would gather in his tea room. A small, one-meter-high monument to Tsar Alexander I stood there from Friedrich Wilhelm III’s time. The King’s apartment within Landhaus Volkmann was simply furnished. Only the Tula samovar and the Berlin porcelain tea sets hinted at royal residency. A gift from Tsar Nicholas I, a gold-painted malachite plate, decorated with rural scenes, also adorned the space. Landhaus Volkmann’s exterior went through transformations too. Originally reflecting a Russian-folkloric style, it shifted to a Prussian aesthetic around 1832, likely influenced by Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Color restoration work revealed four main design phases. The oldest identifiable one bears Schinkel’s mark. Friedrich Wilhelm IV maintained this style, albeit with color changes. It was Wilhelm I who reverted the building to its original appearance. This unassuming house, Landhaus Volkmann, holds layers of history, from its humble beginnings as a caretaker’s house to a royal retreat.