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Blick von der Rheinseite auf den vorspringenden Rundsaal • View of the projecting Round Hall from the Rhine Grundriss Beletage • Floor plan beletage

Grundriss 1. Obergeschoss • Floor plan level +1 Grundriss 2. Obergeschoss • Floor plan level +2

I n 1905, Emil von Oppenheim had acquired an extremely spacious plot of land. With sion is supported by a solid concrete slab with a central hole on the solid masonry walls
the intention of building a representative office, he turned to one of the most renowned
of the 1st floor. The glass-roofed atrium supplies the central hall of the Beletage with day-
architects of international grand bourgeois and aristocratic building projects, Charles Fré- light. All other floors have no access to the listed atrium, whose steel construction was
dric Mewès (1858-1914). The palatial neo-Rococo building with its sweeping flight of steps, designed by Gustav Eifel. The roof was designed as a steel structure meeting strict sound-
view of the Rhine and ballroom was built between 1906 and 1908. Mewès had built and proofing requirements in order to make the vertical extension as light as possible. Origi-
furnished Ritz Hotels in Paris, London and Madrid, which were considered icons of good nally, the prestigious rooms of the elaborately decorated Beletage were only to be reno-
living and exemplary architecture at the time. The villa with a T-shaped ground plan has vated and reworked, but massive water damage forced a thorough refurbishment, as
a width of 30 metres facing the Rhine and extends 40 metres deep into a former English mould had formed behind the panelling. Two curved staircases with marble stone steps
park. Construction costs amounted to two million Deutschmarks (today around 12 million and wrought-iron railings lead to the central hall. The hall ceiling, which is connected to
euros). The building can best be understood as the owner's place of longing, bringing a central atrium extending over three floors, was renewed with special glazing. Two re-
Paris and London to the Rhine in the form of the great international social stages. Entire sidential units with 222 and 365 square metres of living space were realised on the exi-
room sequences were taken from the Ritz in London. After serving as an NSDAP commu- sting first floor and are accessed via a new staircase, formerly the servants' stairwell. The
nal centre, music school and club and event venue of the German Automobile Associa- historical gallery around the central atrium is assigned to flat 5 as a closet, music room,
tion, the 12,300-square metre property was sold to die developer Projektentwicklung dressing room or library. Generous ceiling heights, floor-to-ceiling doors and long corri-
GmbH. The core task of the subsequently initiated competition was to come up with a dors adjoining the living area and bedrooms with their continuous parquet floors and
solution that was compatible in terms of urban development and monument preserva- natural stone bathrooms give both apartments an extraordinarily luxurious touch. The
tion, implementing the integration of the listed villa, the park and the enclosure along two-storey extension accommodates three light-flooded, exclusive flats ranging from 110
the Rhine embankment into an overall urban development plan so that it could become to 220 square metres of floor space on each floor. Upon entering the flats, wall niches in
the basis for the development plan. Renner Hainke Wirth Zirn Architekten with RMP Ste- the corridors catch the eye. They can be used as places for artworks, for sitting or as war-
phan Lenzen Landschaftsarchitekten won this competition in 2009. Eleven luxurious drobes. Throughout the flats, floor-to-ceiling doors, surrounding wall joints and the play
apartments were to be implemented. The new two-storey roof structure with continuous of skirting boards are impressive. Moreover, we have developed an individual colour con-
lamella profiles achieves a good balance of building masses in relation to the new buil- cept for each flat. Each room has a different, very intense colour scheme depending on
dings at the rear of the site and a unique status for the Palais towards the Rhine. The pro- its orientation and storey. On the 3rd floor, the skylights make the flats even more spa-
nounced horizontal design follows the cubature of the historic mansard roof. The exten- cious and airy. The Rhine seems to flow right past the house.

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