History

No archival records on the villa exist; therefore, the exact date of construction of the building and the name of its designer or contractor employed to build it remain unknown. However, the records in the relevant cadastre suggest that in 1865 a building owned by August Praussnitz, merchant from Głogów, was located on this site. The records show the value of the house (200 thalers), according to which the owner paid property tax. It is not certain whether that house looked like the current villa or whether alterations were made to it at a later date. The plot of land on which the building with a park is located originally covered an area of more than 3 ha. Further development of this part of the town was supported by Richard Leonhardt, who was the next owner of the complex and bought the villa with a part around 1894. Richard was one of the sons of Moritz Leonhardt, who was the owner of the spinning mill located in J. Dąbrowskiego Street. In 1893 Richard Leonhardt started the production of cognacs, which quickly gained consumer recognition, on the plot of land adjacent to the villa, on the site formerly occupied by a mangle wholesaler. After a few years Richard Leonhardt sold the company to the Scharlachberg factory from Bingen. The plant ceased to produce alcohol and the purchased rooms were adapted for use as a storage facility. Richard Leonhardt, however, remained the owner of the villa in the current Stefana Batorego Street together with the surrounding park, covering an area of roughly 0.5 ha, and surrounded it with a red brick wall to separate it from the former plant. In 1920, Kurt Raetsch who was a co-owner of the cognac factory at the junction of Sulechowskiej Street with Bolesława Chrobrego Street took over ownership of the villa. After the Second World War the building probably housed a medical centre, and then a students’ hall of residence. Since 1977 the villa is used as Municipal Kindergarten No. 19.

Description

The villa was built on a rectangular floor plan with central avant-corps. It has two storeys and a basement underneath some of its sections. The building is covered with a sheet metal gable roof. The avant-corps adjoining the front facade and from the side of the park terminate in triangular gables. The building features two wooden porches: the one facing a street, next to the side facade, has stone stairs with a single balustrade, and the other one from the side of the park is much smaller and similar in form. Lavish architectural detail on the facades: window surrounds, window heads and sills with decorative floral and geometrical motifs (such as rhombuses, rose windows, leaves, flowers). The decorative crowning cornice adorned with strapwork is pierced by rectangular openings. Beneath a pair of windows from the side of the main entrance there are artworks which image women and men. The building terminates in pinnacles. The villa on the street side is surrounded with a metal openwork fence. The entrance door features a high level of carpentry with its rectangular glass panels with openwork decorations and a transom light. Historical fixtures and fittings and the original decor have been preserved in representative rooms. On the ground floor all rooms can be accessed by large stairs adorned with decorations. Above two of them there are decorative lintels in the form of segmental cornices. The stairs leading to the first floor are lined with a wooden balustrade adorned with turned balusters. Five rooms on the ground floor and two on the first floor feature the original stucco. The original tiled stove measuring more than 2 metres in height has been preserved in the room on the first floor from the street side. The whole building is pierced by casement windows embellished with a pilaster with a base and capital.

Limited access to the monument.

Compiled by Krzysztof Słowiński, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Zielona Góra, 08-07-2014 r.

Bibliography

• Bujakiewicz Z., Krajobraz materialny i społeczny Zielonej Góry od końca XVIII do połowy XX wieku, Zielona Góra 2003.
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• Kaczmarczyk Z., Wędzki A. (red.), Studia na początkami i rozplanowaniem miast nad środkową Odrą i dolną Wartą, Zielona Góra 1970.
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