Fancy living in a villa overlooking the Templiner See? Villa Carlshagen stands before you. It is a protected monument at Olympischer Weg 1 in Potsdam, Germany. Once called Villa Karlshagen, it got its name from Carl Hagen, a Berlin banker who owned it.
Let’s turn back the clock to the 1800s. Moreau Ballette, a Berlin freight forwarder, bought land here. The land stretched from Louisenstraße to the Templiner See. In 1870, Ballette built a small tower villa. Otto Held, a Potsdam bricklayer, likely did the construction. Ballette bought more land in 1875.
Fast forward to 1900. Carl Levy, a Berlin banker, bought the property. In 1906, Carl Hagen changed his name to Carl Levy. Then, from 1909 to 1910, Hagen had this villa built. It became the Hagen family’s summer home.
Hagen was the father of banker Hermann Carl Hagen. Hermann was murdered at Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Hagen was also the grandfather of writer Hans Oliva-Hagen. Singer Nina Hagen and actress Cosma Shiva Hagen are his great and great-great-granddaughters. Carl Hagen died in 1938 at 81.
The Hagen family enjoyed the villa until 1938. The Nazi regime forced them to sell the villa and surrounding land. The City of Potsdam acquired 65,000 square meters.
During East Germany’s time, the villa became a radiology clinic. After 1990, it sat empty. It fell into disrepair, sadly. In 1995, Villa Carlshagen was declared a protected monument.
Since 2019, HMU Health and Medical University has used Villa Carlshagen as a study location. Friedrich Wilhelm Göhre designed Villa Carlshagen in the Neoclassical style. In 1909–1910, it was rebuilt and expanded. The expansion included a guest wing and a terrace. An oval dining room and an entrance hall were also added. Master mason Max Beyertt carried out the construction. After the renovations, the villa had 1,000 square meters of usable space.
The thirteen-axis building has one and two stories under a mansard hipped roof. The converted attic is lit by dormers. The main entrance is on the west side. A four-story stair tower and a risalit mark the central part. The risalit features an entrance hall with a round-arched doorway.
On the garden side, facing east, a semi-oval projection comes out from the building’s center. Behind its three round-arched windows is the oval dining room. It offers views of the Templiner See. A three-axis Altan is in front of the north side. Columns, pilasters and quadratures decorate the building. Semi-circular lunettes and rectangular reliefs adorn the window canopies.
The driveway starts at Zeppelinstraße. Walls made of red and yellow bricks form the enclosure along Zeppelinstraße. Decorative grilles with flower ornaments and pillars with ceramic crowns add detail. These date back to the first villa around 1870. Before Hagen’s redesign, a fountain with child figures stood in front of the villa. Villa Carlshagen has seen many changes. It stands as a reminder of Potsdam’s rich history.