Historic project in Möllering villa in Lüneburg on the brink of collapse
The conversion of the historic Möllering Villa in Lüneburg has been halted. The property has been demolished as planned, except for the entrance area. However, for cost reasons, the project to create a documentation center for the formerly listed house in the Häcklingen district is currently not being pursued. In 1945, it was used by the British army to negotiate Hamburg's surrender with a Wehrmacht delegation.
"Prices and financing costs have risen," says real estate entrepreneur Manfred Schulte, who acquired the villa. "From today's perspective, it's finished for me, it's not presentable." Four units were to be created from the 500 square meter property: a showroom, which was to be rented out, and three terraced houses. Schulte has now withdrawn the planning application: "I've lost interest, it's unrealistic."
The building was erected in Häcklingen at the beginning of the 20th century and was initially used as an agricultural training farm. The subsequent owner, brewery manufacturer Alexander Möllering, carried out the first major renovations in 1935.
The Waldhaus has been a listed building since 2007 because the entrance area in particular, where British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery received a German delegation at the end of the war, seemed worth preserving as a backdrop. The Lower Saxony State Office for the Preservation of Monuments later removed it from the list of cultural monuments. The condition of the building was so bad that it was no longer possible to preserve significant parts of the building fabric in the event of any restoration work.
"The project is dead," museum director Heike Düselder told the Lüneburger Landeszeitung newspaper. The historical relics are now to be preserved in a different way and at a different location.
Despite its historical significance, the proposed documentation center for the Möllering Villa in Lüneburg will not be realized due to financial constraints. The villa, which has monuments of historical importance, such as the entrance area where Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery received a German delegation during the war, is in a state of deterioration.
Source: www.dpa.com
